The role of identity and strategic narratives on public perceptions of China: the case of the New Silk Road in Kazakhstan
Land S. Neafie J.E. Courtney M.G.R.
2024Routledge
Area Development and Policy
2024#9Issue 4568 - 590 pp.
As China attempts to fulfil the cooperation priorities of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), criticism has mostly focused on developing people-to-people connectivity. Through Silk Road strategic narratives, China seeks to contend with public perceptions that do not always see the benefit of Chinese investment. By strategically dubbing the BRI the ‘New Silk Road’ in Chinese foreign propaganda, has China been able to operationalise geopolitical imaginaries to affect local perceptions? Based on a representative survey sample of 965 Kazakhstani citizens, this study assesses whether the citizens’ historic beliefs linked to identity influence their current perceptions of the BRI and China’s economic, political, and technological influence in the region. Findings suggest that geopolitical discourse is most successful when it evokes local identities through historical narratives and discourses.
A13 , Belt and Road Initiative , China , critical geopolitics , geopolitical discourse , Kazakhstan , Silk Road
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Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Head of Institutional Research & Analytics, Office of the Provost-IE, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Faculty of Humanities
Department of Political Science and International Relations
Head of Institutional Research & Analytics
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