OBOR and the Silk Road Ethos
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2057891117753771 |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Research articles |
Research article
OBOR and the Silk Road Ethos:
An ancient template for
contemporary world politics
LHM Ling
The New School, USA
Alisha C Perrigoue
Independent Scholar
Abstract
Most analyses of China’s “One Belt, One Road” policy focus on the Chinese government or
transnational elites. Rarely do the localities receive any attention. Three conceptual failures
follow: (1) conventional analyses fail to appreciate any local agency in negotiating with external,
globalizing forces; consequently, they (2) fail to perceive local changes taking place not just
empirically but also normatively, politically, and culturally; and, they (3) fail to understand local
constructions of a new political economy, if not world order. In brief, conventional analyses erase
the OBOR Other. This article amends the record.
Keywords
Silk Road Ethos, World Politics, Co-Production, Alternative Epistemology
Introduction
Most analyses of China’s“One Belt, One Road”(OBOR, 一带一路,yi dai yi lu)initiativefocuson
its geopoliti cal and/or geoeconomic implic ations (Ling, under review a). After all , OBOR declare s a
grand ambition: it aims to connect three continents—Asia, Europe, and Africa—with almost US$1
trillion of hard-cash investments in infrastructure building (Perlez and Huang, 2017). The Chinese
government callsOBOR its “new Silk Road.”The US government, in turn, has a Silk Road policyof
its own. It seeks to bring states like Afghanistan and Iraq—and by implication Pakistan and Iran—
under the US economic, political, and security umbrella (McBride, 2015). Many worry, accordingly,
Corresponding authors:
LHM Ling, The New School, Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs, New York, NY 10011, USA;
Alisha C Perrigoue, Independent Scholar.
Emails: lingl@newschool.edu; Perrigoue@post-politics.com
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics
2018, Vol. 3(3) 207–218
ªThe Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/2057891117753771
journals.sagepub.com/home/acp
To continue reading
Request your trial