Articles
New Article: Collision, Competition or Cooperation? China’s BRI and the EU’s Development Policies Towards Eastern Europe
Does China’s growing role in Eastern Europe challenge the EU’s approach to promoting development in the region? Tanja Börzel, Julia Langbein, Lunting Wu & Valentin Krüsmann explore this question in their latest open-access article in the journal Global Policy. Abstract Against the backdrop of China’s growing engagement in Eastern Europe, the Belt and Road Initiative
New Article: Land Reforms in Gilgit-Baltistan
From Khalisa Sarkar Land to Land Reforms: Legal Liminality, State Control, and Resistance in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan Nadia Ali’s latest article explores how infrastructural expansion under the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), alongside growing state and private interests in tourism and mineral extraction, has altered the region of Gilgit-Baltistan. Abstract This article examines the evolution of the
New Phase, New Connections: Our Journey along the BRI Continues
Since the De:link//Re:link research consortium formed in April 2021, there have been dramatic political changes in (Eur)Asia. Among them the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan later that year, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The expansion of the BRICS group of nations added to significant shifts in international relations. These
World Cafe and ZOiS Forum
On 28 November 2023, a World Café followed by a ZOiS Forum took place at the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS). At the World Café, entitled “New Insights about the Belt and Road from (Eur)Asia to (East)Africa: Strategies, Narratives and Reactions” (organized by PI Julia Langbein), scholars from all four of De:link//Re:link’s
Exploring Colonial Continuities, Human Rights and China in Tanzania
When Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president, spoke about Tanzania’s relations with China many decades ago, he already made one thing clear: Tanzania should see for itself what China intends to do with Tanzania. It should not let others tell it what to do. A lot has changed since then, but one thing has remained the same: Europe still tends to dictate to post-colonial countries what they should think about China, especially when it comes to the issue of human rights. But on what basis? Do human rights really apply to everyone in Europe or only to a select and lucky few? And how does this affect relations between Europe and African countries? This literary essay attempts to provide some answers by examining colonial continuities, the presence of China in Tanzania and the universality of human rights, especially LGBTIQ rights.
Transregional Dynamics of Cosmopolitan Memory Spaces Across Maritime Silk Roads
At the invitation of Gropius Bau and SAVVY Contemporary under the auspices of Berliner Festspiele, various artists, authors, musicians, filmmakers and thinkers participated in the international exhibition titled ‘Indigo Waves and Other Stories: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora’ that ran from 6th April until 13th August 2023. I was privileged to have been invited to showcase a section of my De:Link // Re:Link BRI research at Humboldt University of Berlin