Connectivity and infrastructure development are key to processes of regional integration, and can result in cooperative, synergetic linkages in numerous fields. However, connectivity is also increasingly becoming an area of great-power competition. China has applied a geo-economic strategy to use infrastructure development in order to create spheres of influence, after which other actors have responded by proposing competing strategies. Connectivity thus also functions as a means of contention and contestation. The aim of this roundtable discussion is to explore connectivity as a concept, assess and compare the connectivity strategies of key global actors, and examine the role of development lending.
This roundtable discussion is part of the FIIA project “Superregionalism and Contentious Connectivity in Asia”.
PROGRAMME:
Opening remarks:
Mikael Wigell, Research Director, FIIA
Panelists:
Bart Gaens, Leading Researcher, FIIA
“Much ado about connectivity”
Mikael Mattlin, Adjunct Professor, University of Turku; and Mikko Rajavuori, Adjunct Professor, University of Eastern Finland
“Chinese investments in the Nordic region: Normative Economic Statecraft and its policy reactions”
Jyrki Kallio, Senior Research Fellow, FIIA
“The Ideational Underpinnings of China’s Belt and Road Initiative”
Kristiina Silvan, Postdoctoral Fellow, FIIA
“Russia’s multiple connectivity strategies in Asia: Politics over economy”
Tyyne Karjalainen, Research Fellow, FIIA
“The European approach to connectivity in the post-Covid-19 era”
Discussant:
Julie Yu-Wen Chen, Professor, University of Helsinki
Moderator:
Mikael Wigell, Research Director, FIIA