Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power In Southeast Asia

What can China’s railway initiative teach us about global dominance? The authors of the book Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power In Southeast Asia (University of California Press, October 2020) participated in a panel discussion.

The book illuminates the political strengths and weaknesses of the plan, as well as the capacity of the impacted countries to resist, shape, and even take advantage of China’s wide-reaching actions. Using frameworks from the fields of international relations and comparative politics, the authors of Rivers of Iron seek to explain how domestic politics in these eight Asian nations shaped their varying external responses and behaviors. How does China wield power using infrastructure? Do smaller states have agency? How should we understand the role of infrastructure in broader development? Does industrial policy work? And crucially, how should competing global powers respond?

Hosted by Asian Institute.