Local States of Play: Land and Urban Politics in Reform-Era China

Meg  Rithmire

Chapter | Inside Countries: Subnational Research in Comparative Politics | 2019

Local States of Play: Land and Urban Politics in Reform-Era China

Abstract

Book Abstract: Although comparative politics is conventionally seen as the study of politics across countries, the field has a longstanding and increasingly prominent tradition in national contexts; focusing on subnational units, institutions, actors and processes. This book offers the first comprehensive assessment of the substantive, theoretical, and methodological contributions. With empirical chapters from across the contemporary Global South, including India, Mexico, and China, as well as Russia, the contributors show how subnational research provides useful insights about substantive themes in political science, from regimes and representation, to states and security, to social and economic development. In addition to methodological chapters with specific guidance about best practices for doing subnational research, this volume also proposes a set of strategies for subnational research, assesses their strengths and weaknesses, and offers illustrative empirical applications.

Format: Print

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Citation:

Rithmire, Meg. "Local States of Play: Land and Urban Politics in Reform-Era China." In Inside Countries: Subnational Research in Comparative Politics, edited by Agustina Giraudy, Eduardo Moncada, and Richard Snyder. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.

Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2019 (Revised April 2019)

Chinese Infrastructure Investments in Sri Lanka: A Pearl or a Teardrop on the Belt and Road?

Meg Rithmire and Yihao Li

In 2015, a surprise presidential election result seemed to imperil Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, which were associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative to build global infrastructure. In the previous decade, China had undertaken two major projects in the country: the construction of a port in the poor district of Hambantota (also the previous president’s hometown), for which Sri Lanka borrowed 1.2 bn USD from the China Ex-Im bank, and a major real estate project outside of Colombo. The new administration pursued renegotiation of both contracts. In 2016, a Chinese state-owned company purchased the asset of the Hambantota port, generating concerns about sovereignty in Sri Lanka and Chinese naval ambitions in Delhi and Washington, DC. This case explores the dynamics of China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, a large-scale infrastructure and connectivity project launched under its powerful leader, Xi Jinping, as well as the politics and economics of sovereign borrowing in the age of Chinese lending. Did Sri Lanka fall victim to a sort of “debt diplomacy,” or did the Chinese side fail to understand Sri Lanka’s domestic political landscape? Was the sale of the asset the right choice for Sri Lanka? The right investment for China Merchants Group, which bought the 99-year lease?

Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative; Investment; Infrastructure; China; Sri Lanka;

Citation:

Rithmire, Meg, and Yihao Li. "Chinese Infrastructure Investments in Sri Lanka: A Pearl or a Teardrop on the Belt and Road?" Harvard Business School Case 719-046, January 2019. (Revised April 2019.) View Details

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The Chinese leadership under Xi Jinping has announced its intentions to transition the economy from one driven by investment and exports to one driven by domestic demand. The main strategy to achieve this transformation involves massive state-led urbanization. This essay explores whether the strategy will save the Chinese economy or generate social and political problems that imperil the country's growth and stability.

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Local States of Play: Land and Urban Politics in Reform-Era China

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