A joint initiative between the University of Bergen
and CMI – Chr. Michelsen Institute
Welcome to a guest lecture on the New Silk Road.
Photo: CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Shutterstock China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the single largest infrastructure development project since the Marshall Plan with a scope and scale that has no precedent in modern history. The Silk Road Economic Belt facilitates the connectivity and integration of land regions in Central Asia, Africa, and Europe, while the 21st century Maritime Silk Road targets the maritime regions of Southeast and South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, and the Mediterranean.
In this talk, Dr Han Cheng will survey the expanding body of research on the BRI. He identifies three different understandings: the BRI as geopolitical discourse, as development project, and as everyday experience. Cheng argues that it is in this combined understanding of BRI’s multiple registers that a nuanced approach for critical engagement can be identified as the BRI edges to its second decade.
The talk will be followed by comments by Senior Researcher Elling Tjønneland (CMI).
The event is chaired by Post Doctoral Researcher Hang Zhou (CMI).
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Dr Han Cheng is a Max Weber Foundation Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. His research is focused on the changing dynamics of international cooperation and global development, especially the role of “rising powers”.
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Political scientist focusing on development and development assistance, rising powers and African development and a strong emphasis on South Africa and Southern Africa.
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Dr Han Cheng is a Max Weber Foundation Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. His research is focused on the changing dynamics of international cooperation and global development, especially the role of “rising powers”.
He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Cambridge and was a visiting fellow at Yale University’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.
Zhou is a postdoc fellow in the ERC-funded TransOcean Project at Chr. Michelsen Institute. His research focus in on everyday states in Africa, South-South cooperation, Africa-China relations, and maritime anthropology.
Political scientist focusing on development and development assistance, rising powers and African development and a strong emphasis on South Africa and Southern Africa.
Tjønneland is a political scientist with more than 30 years of experience focusing on a range of development issues and development aid and with a strong geographical focus on Africa, South Africa and Southern Africa. He has led numerous international assessment and evaluation teams commissioned by a range of Norwegian, international and African institutions.
He has field experience from many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This includes Angola, Botswana, Cambodia, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malawi, Mocambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Bergen Global is a joint initiative between the University of Bergen and Chr. Michelsen Institute that addresses global challenges.
