Theodor Tudoroiu

• University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

This chapter presents the book’s findings and conclusions. It first shows how, due to regime continuity, the 21st-century-style postmodern global power identity had to develop as a new identity layer instead of simply replacing the 19th-century-type territorial empire identity. It then briefly examines the drive to maturity of the former identity a...

In this chapter sets up the book’s theoretical apparatus. It starts by discussing the concept of identity, as well as its understanding and use by thin cognitivist Constructivists, while insisting on the multiplicity of each actor’s identities. The process of international socialization is then analyzed based on Jeffrey Checkel’s views of Type I an...

This chapter uses the Chinese presence in the Solomon Islands to study the interplay of China’s two identities. The Belt and Road Initiative was used by China the postmodern global power to socialize the Pacific Islands political elites in power. Less predictably, the riots that periodically target the increasingly large Chinese diaspora were instr...

This chapter provides an in-depth analysis of the 19th-century-type territorial empire identity that present China inherited from the Maoist period. Due to regime continuity, Deng’s reforms did not put an end to China’s perceived vulnerability to external threats. Events ranging from the fall of communism in Eastern Europe to the American intervent...

This Chapter analyzes China’s socialization in multilateral institutions that resulted in the emergence and development of its 21st-century-style postmodern global power identity. To ensure the success of economic reforms, the post-1979 leadership in Beijing embraced multilateralism and international institutions. Details are provided of China’s pa...

This chapter analyzes the consolidation of China’s 21st-century-style postmodern global power identity associated with the construction of a new, Chinese-led international order. The latter relies on a set of Chinese multilateral institutions that prominently include the Belt and Road Initiative. The process of Chinese socialization it enacts is ex...

This book argues that China’s Belt and Road Initiative should be seen more as a geopolitical project and less as a global economic project, with China aiming to bring about a new Chinese-led international order. It contends that China’s international approach has two personas – an aggressive one, focusing on a nineteenth century-style territorial e...

Globalizations from Below uses a Constructivist International Relations approach that emphasizes the centrality of normative power to analyze and compare the four globalizations ‘from below.’ These are: (1) the counter-hegemonic globalization represented by the ‘movement of movements’ of alter-globalization transnational social activists, who try...

This book scrutinizes the frequently ignored agency of Global South sub-national actors in their interactions with China, using a multidisciplinary approach and eleven case studies. Contributors examine China’s presence in the Global South on a country-by-country basis, analyzing how various non-state and sub-state actors are responding to the rise...

This chapter engages the theoretical literature on development assistance and tied aid in order to assess, on the basis of interviews conducted in Trinidad, the local perception and consequences of China’s development assistance. Trinidad and Tobago has the highest connectivity with China in the Commonwealth Caribbean and is a major recipient of Ch...

The concluding chapter constructs a unifying conceptual framework for China’s multifaceted impact on the Global South illustrated by the contributions to this volume and uses it to analyze their findings. I explain the Chinese growing influence in the developing world as a projection of normative power that uses a specific set of norms to shape und...

This chapter serves as a concise general introduction to the volume, which scrutinizes the frequently ignored agency of the Global South sub-national actors in their interactions with rising China. Far from being passive recipients of Beijing-constructed images and cooperation models, these actors are fully aware of their identity and interests and...

This book analyzes the Chinese-centered globalization ‘from below’ brought about by China’s entrepreneurial migrants and conceived of as a projection of Chinese power in the Belt and Road Initiative partner states. It identifies the features of this globalization ‘from below,’ scrutinizes its mutually reinforcing relationship with China’s globaliza...

Chapter 3 analyzes the transformation of the modest flows of Chinese petty traders who, in the late 1980s, started to shuttle between their home towns in Northern China and the Soviet side of the border, into the present massive migration that sustains China’s globalization ‘from below.’ The chapter scrutinizes key features of the Chinese migratory...

Chapter 2 sets the book’s conceptual framework. It starts by noting China’s paradoxical double identity that brings together the features of two very different types of great power. The Western-centered globalization ‘from above’ and the three globalizations ‘from below’ are briefly presented. Beijing’s efforts to change the present international o...

Chapter 8 scrutinizes New Zealand, a developed country that joined the Belt and Road Initiative and whose Chinese-socialized National Party elites adopted a pronounced pro-Beijing attitude between 2008 and 2017. A points-based immigration system led to the massive arrival of Chinese entrepreneurial migrants, many of whom reached prominent social po...

Chapter 4 examines the policies put in place by the Chinese state in order to stimulate the outflow of entrepreneurial migrants and to shape the relationship with overseas Chinese in ways beneficial to its interests. The active use of ‘state transnationalism’ is a key part of the heavy involvement of the Chinese authorities in emigration- and diasp...

Chapter 9 uses the findings of the four case studies to identify and analyze the main features of the Chinese-centered globalization ‘from below.’ It starts by presenting in detail its working and then discusses its definition. The second subchapter scrutinizes the relationship between each of the other globalizations and China’s ‘from below’ one,...

Chapter 6 presents the case study of Suriname, where loan-financed infrastructure projects calculated to be inaugurated shortly before elections were used by Beijing to successfully socialize the political elites in power. The ensuing acceptance of China’s social norm resulted in considerable numbers of ‘new’ Chinese entrepreneurial migrants enteri...

Chapter 7 presents the case study of Kyrgyzstan, whose political elites were socialized by China’s state-owned firms through the payment of huge bribes to the corruption-based patronage networks that often replace Kyrgyz institutional structures. But this was very negatively perceived by the citizenry, which also harbors strong anti-Chinese sentime...

Chapter 5 focuses on Ghana as a case study representative for the Chinese presence in Africa. The partnership initiated in 2001 has been marked by the usual large Chinese loan-financed infrastructure projects - which helped to socialize the political elites in power - and by Chinese-triggered deindustrialization. The massive inflow of Chinese entre...

This book argues that China’s international socialization of the political elites of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner states is an exceptionally effective instrument of China’s current foreign policy. It shows how the BRI-related process of socialization generates shared beliefs in the legitimacy and therefore in the acceptability of a Chines...

Chapter 10 Analysis and Conclusion Chapter 10 analyzes the findings of the six case studies and comes to the conclusion that the socialization of political elites represents a key element of the Belt and Road Initiative and of China’s associated effort to reach global hegemony. BRI elites tend to respond positively due to normative suasion that in...

Chapter 6 Debt Trapped: China and the Elites of Sri Lanka Chapter 6 analyzes the case of Sri Lanka, widely known as an example of Chinese debt trap but also illustrative of the perfect fit between the BRI and the political needs and economic ambitions of an authoritarian regime. Incentives used in China’s very successful socialization process incl...

Chapter 3 China and the Belt and Road Initiative Chapter 3 provides an in-depth analysis of China’s rise as a global power, of its leaders’ views of the present international order, and of related features of the Chinese foreign policy. China as a socializing normative power is then scrutinized. Special attention is paid to its complex normative a...

Chapter 7 Leftists and Profiteers: China and the Elites of Argentina Chapter 7 presents Argentina, which is not a formal BRI member. However, its strong relationship with China already includes large Belt and Road-branded Chinese-financed and constructed infrastructure projects: ‘to join the BRI is a matter of when and under what terms.’ Chinese s...

Chapter 4 The Voluntaristic Leader: China and the Elites of Tanzania Chapter 4 examines Tanzania, whose elites had already been socialized by communist China during the Cold War. After a period of neglect, the Chinese ‘re-entry into Africa’ led to the development of an impressive partnership after 2005. In addition to a typical ‘aid for resources’...

Chapter 8 The Unexpected Importance of Values: China and the Elites of New Zealand Chapter 8 studies the first developed country that became a BRI member, New Zealand. This is a free trade-oriented small state with strong primary sectors that has a marginal position within the West. Its efforts to take advantage economically of China’s rise have c...

Chapter 9 A Savior with an Interest in Ports: China and the Elites of Greece Chapter 9 deals with another developed Western country, Greece. This country has a peripheral position within the European Union and was dramatically affected by the post-2008 economic crisis. China is mainly interested in the transport corridor linking the port of Piraeu...

Chapter 2 The International Socialization of Elites: A Theoretical Framework Chapter 2 introduces the book’s theoretical apparatus, which is based on International Relations Constructivism and uses Jeffrey Checkel’s definition of Type I and Type II socialization. The state-society complex is chosen as the unit of analysis while emphasizing the imp...

Chapter 5 Prestige Projects: China and the Elites of Trinidad and Tobago By Theodor Tudoroiu and Amanda R. Ramlogan Chapter 5 scrutinizes China’s socialization of the political elites of Trinidad and Tobago. The entire region initially became an object of Chinese attention as part of the Beijing-Taipei ‘diplomatic duel.’ However, socialization was...

Using a Caribbean case study and a Constructivist theoretical approach, The Myth of China’s No Strings Attached Development Assistance shows that the frequently mentioned “no strings attached” nature of China’s development assistance to its partners in the Global South is nothing more than a myth. This claim is supported by empirical data from Trin...

Using the case study of Trinidad and Tobago, this article analyzes the process of reciprocal international socialization that allows Beijing to construct a cognitive and normative space conducive to a new regional order in the Caribbean which should be politically friendly, economically profitable, and socially open to its government, companies, an...

The concluding chapter analyzes the most likely future trajectories of the East European security complex. Four main scenarios are identified; in the most probable one, Eastern Europe becomes the arena of a mainly three-cornered rivalry whose actors are Russia, the Franco-German axis and later Germany, and the USA in alliance with the UK and certai...

This chapter constructs the book’s theoretical framework, which is based on Stefano Guzzini’s view of neoclassical geopolitics enriched with elements from the Regional Security Complex Theory. The resulting thin cognitivist approach accordingly combines materialist and ideational elements. Its object of study is the East European regional security...

Chapter 3 analyzes in what way the need for domestic legitimacy of President Putin’s authoritarian regime and the deep impact of neoclassical geopolitics on the development of Russia’s identity as an international actor have turned Moscow into an aggressive revisionist power that seriously endangers the stability of the East European regional secur...

This chapter scrutinizes ‘civilian power’ European Union as a mature tightly coupled security community that lacks a fully ‘communitized’ foreign policy. Brussels’ efforts to export its Kantian, win–win geopolitical vision to the Eastern neighborhood—which include the Eastern enlargement, the European Neighborhood Policy, and the Eastern Partnershi...

This chapter analyzes the role of the USA in the East European security complex and its possible future evolution. At the systemic level of analysis, there is the key linkage between the ‘pivot to Asia’ required by China’s geopolitical rise and the ‘reset’ of the relations with Russia needed in order to transfer resources to the Pacific. At the ind...

This chapter identifies a hierarchy among European states’ ability to influence geopolitical interactions within the East European security complex. The Franco-German axis will likely acquire unprecedented influence by taking control of the European Union. If—or rather when—both the axis and the Union decline, Germany will become the prime West Eur...

Chapter 7 shows the importance of small state agency within the CIS using the case study of Moldova. The tiny post-Soviet republic is marked by poverty, corruption, state capture, the frozen conflict of Transnistria, and the failed frozen conflict of Gagauzia that was almost reignited during the 2014 Ukrainian crisis. Moscow has made considerable e...

This book analyzes the combined consequences of Brexit and of the new US foreign policy under President Trump on the geopolitical situation of Eastern Europe. It perceives the evolution of the East European regional security complex as a struggle between the European Union's Kantian, win-win geopolitical vision and Russia's neoclassical geopolitics...

This article introduces the concept of a "valve" state as an instrument in the study of transit migration. A "valve" state is defined as a transit state that, due to its geographical position, to a specific regional political and geopolitical configuration and to key changes in its migration control policies, can play a decisive role in significant...

Based on a public office definition of corruption, this article uses the case studies of doctoral plagiarism of German Minister of Defence Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Hungarian President Pàl Schmitt, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to show that, by shattering citizens’ confidence in and respect fo...

The rich and complex recent International Political Sociology (IPS) literature on state recognition has completely ignored the process of de-recognition. The present article uses the case study of Taiwan’s efforts to preserve its ‘diplomatic allies’ in the Caribbean in order to fill this gap. Taking advantage of the IPS development of the constitut...

This book uses the case studies of Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and Hugo Chávez in order to introduce the concept of revolutionary totalitarian personality, and to show that this type of personality is decisive in choosing a totalitarian regime-building project and shaping the ensuing totalitarian process.

This article tries to advance the theoretical study of non-alignment through the use of a political psychology-based approach related to the important but seldom mentioned influence of political leaders’ personality traits on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Key non-aligned leaders were highly charismatic and voluntaristic individuals whose personal...

The dispute for regional influence between Russia and the European Union has resulted in dramatic events in Ukraine. Less visibly, a similar situation has developed in the southern Moldovan autonomous region of Gagauzia. In the context of Moldova’s signing of an EU Association Agreement in June 2014, calls were made to take up arms and erect barric...

This article argues that the Damascus–Moscow partnership has been since 1970 a reciprocal constitutive relation that has influenced considerably the actions, interests, and identities of the two partners. After the US invasion of Iraq, the patterns of renewed bilateral cooperation have mirrored, at least in part, the Cold War ones. The Arab Spring...

In power since 2009, Moldova's pro-democracy and pro-European ruling coalition has been unable to implement effectively much-needed reforms. Presenting the details of recent key events and using quantitative assessments, this article argues that the main cause of Moldova's present problems is state capture. Cynical elites have engaged in a fierce c...

The Arab Spring's 'Facebook dimension' has already received unprecedented attention. New technology was presented as an instrument used by protesters to build extensive networks, create social capital, organize political action locally and nationally, and put in place transnational links. A debate ensued between the views of 'cyber-enthusiasts' and...

This article compares the surprisingly similar personalities and political trajectories of Adolf Hitler and Fidel Castro in order to define a specific, ‘revolutionary totalitarian’ type of personality. This is a union of authoritarian personality, revolutionary tendencies, and genuine charisma. Moreover, it can develop only in a modern context allo...

This article argues that during the Arab Spring social media served as a tactical tool of mobilization, communication, and coordination; as an instrument of domestic and international revolutionary contagion; and, critically, as a means of enhancing pan-Arab consciousness which, in turn, was fertile soil for that contagion. These three interrelated...

This article compares the regional foreign policies of the four Black Sea non-great power post-communist states. It is argued that the prominent roles played for a time by Georgia and Romania and their unprecedented influence on Black Sea political and security developments were due to foreign policy options stemming from the “new populist” charact...

Using the Regional Security Complex Theory and developing its regime-related dimension, this article analyses the involvement of external powers in Arab Spring conflicts. Libya, Syria and Bahrain are used as case studies showing that Western support for the incumbent regime or for its adversaries was not based on a choice between democracy and auth...

This article tries to identify the key elements that determine the success or failure of revolutionary contagion processes. Using three case studies of mutinies that took place in the first half of the twentieth century aboard fleets operating in the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, it concludes that the result of the revolutionary contagio...

Brazil–Russia–India–China–South Africa (BRICS) is a popular yet poorly conceptualized group. This article builds a parallel between BRICS and OPEC in order to assess the former using a weak cognitivist version of the regime theory. The five countries created an international regime whose members cooperate in view of acquiring, collectively and indi...

In recent years, increased European Union interest in its eastern “neighborhood” has been hailed as a possible solution of the Transnistrian frozen conflict. The fall of the communist authoritarian regime of Chişinău and the internal crisis of the Smirnov regime in Tiraspol also modified the conditions of the nineteen-year conflict. However, the Eu...

The first goal of this article is to define the neo-communist regime as a specific type of undemocratic post-communist construct. Three case studies analyzing the regimes led by Zhan Videnov in Bulgaria, Ion Iliescu in Romania, and Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Belarus are used to identify its main characteristics. The second goal is to show that the pr...

This article assesses Egypt's chances of democratization. A parallel is drawn between the processes of civil society mobilization that led to the overthrow of the authoritarian regimes of Zhan Videnov in Bulgaria and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. In the latter case, democratic, secular civil society has to compete with the larger, better organized and mo...

For most of the first decade of the present century, Moldova was governed by the Party of Communists of Moldova, led by Vladimir Voronin, who displayed impressive political skills as the president of the republic and party leader. In office, the party engaged in a political reorientation towards Europe in 2004–5 and an ideological transformation in...

This article examines the state of and perspectives on democracy in the Republic of Moldova. The fall of its communist authoritarian regime in 2009 – sometimes compared to a colour revolution – went against the trend toward heavy authoritarianism now visible in the Commonwealth of Independent States. However, the regime change in Moldova does not n...

Using a theoretical approach inspired by Alexander Wendt's International Relations constructivism, this article argues that the main engine of post-communist democratization and democratic consolidation is represented by external factors. A triple international structure including the Conference/Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,...

Vladimir Meciar used a geopolitical theory positing Slovakia's unique strategic importance to support his ultranationalist regime. He believed that Slovakia could ignore EU and U.S. democratization demands because it would be the linchpin of a new Russo-German axis.

Since the fall of communism and its replacement with a pro-Moscow neo-communist regime in December 1989 the question of Russian influence has been a sensitive matter for most Romanians. Accession to NATO (2004) and the European Union (2007) seemed to distance Romania from the Russian sphere of influence. However, the bitter dispute between Presiden...

This article examines the largely neglected post-1990 Romanianimmigration to Canada. During the 1990s, most Romanians selected by Canadian immigration offices were highly skilled, university-educated professionals. As they ignored important details of the Canadian labor market, about three quarters of them became kindof lumpen-intellectuals. In rec...

In 2003–2005, democratic revolutions overthrew the Georgian, Ukrainian, and Kyrgyz post-Soviet authoritarian regimes. However, disillusioned citizens witness today their new leaders creating a Bonapartist regime, entering into open conflict with former revolutionary allies or being forced to accept cohabitation with leaders of the previous regime....

This paper argues that a part of the undemocratic post-communist regimes can be reasonably labeled 'neo-communist' as they share specific features, the same ideology, and similar links with the communist past.

This paper assesses post-Mubarak Egypt's chances of democratization. A parallel is drawn between the processes of civil society mobilization that led to the overthrow of Zhan Videnov's authoritarian regime in Bulgaria and Hosni Mubarak's one in Egypt. The first case is one of a classical, civil society-triggered successful democratization. In the s...

[From the introduction]. On January 1st, 2007 the accession of Bulgaria and Romania completed the enlargement of the European Union (EU) to ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) states. The same countries have also become NATO members. Other former Communist states, however, are far from sharing this privileged position. While the Western Balkans...