International Perspectives on the Belt and Road Initiative: A Bottom-Up Approach

International Perspectives on the Belt and Road Initiative investigates the most significant global-scale international trade expansion and capital investment program since the Second World War.


This book focuses on the multi-national perspectives of BRI to interrogate the Chinese government's representation of BRI as a symbol of 'peace, cooperation, development and mutual benefit'. With specific focus on the interrelationship between geopolitics, infrastructure investments and urban regional development, the book reflect on 12 in-depth countries' experiences, including Iran, Pakistan, Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and Ethiopia, amongst others, specific to their economic development levels, political systems, power dynamics and socio-environmental issues. The book clarifies and contributes new knowledge on the nature of BRI concerning its relationship to globalism, neo-colonialism, the notion of developed vs developing countries, their institutions, macro-micro benefits and impacts. In doing so, the book offers a balanced account between antagonistic geo-political narrative of socio-political conflict and the collaborative framework of real socio-economic flows and development.


The book will appeal to academics, researchers and policy-makers globally with an interest in the Belt and Road Initiative and its impacts on politico-economic development and urban, regional and spatial systems and in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.