FIR Experts start a new project of GAČR

Starting January 1, 2022, a team composed of experts from the Faculty of International Relations under the supervision of doc. Garlick will research China’s regionalising normative influence in Asia and Europe.

GAČR project: “China’s regionalising normative influence in Asia and Europe.”

Registration number: 22-12355S

Implementation period: 1st January 2022 – 31st December 2024

Team Leader: doc. Jeremy Alan Garlick, M.A., Ph.D. (Jan Masaryk Centre for International Studies, Prague University of Economics and Business)

The project aims to examine China’s attempts to generate regionalising normative influence in the five regions of Asia and Europe central to the Belt and Road Initiative: Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Abstract: This project aims to use the concept of normative power to analyse China’s regionalising foreign policy under the umbrella of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), specifically in five regions of Asia and Europe: Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Norm-setting attempts to shape relations with other states take the form of the introduction of regional platforms for cooperation. These regional cooperation platforms are intended to encourage the formation of a ‘community of practice’ through the recognition and renegotiation of practices introduced by China. However, the degree to which practices and norms introduced by China are accepted by regional actors is likely to vary across regions, necessitating comparative analysis to draw out the similarities and differences.