Power and industrial policy under China’s Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), since its announcement in 2013, has emerged as a transformative force reshaping economic, political, and strategic landscapes across Asia, Africa, and beyond. Or has it? Our article and six others in this special issue attempt to shed light on the consequences of the BRI at driving structural transformation across the Global South, emphasizing how the initiative mutually constitutes diverse national strategies and development trajectories. The analysis is structured around the interlinked perspectives of global value chains and industrial policymaking. First, we consider how China’s reconfiguration of production and trade networks creates (or impedes) opportunities for host states to capture niche markets and develop comparative advantages. Building on this, the role of state-led industrial policy in facilitating capability upgrading is unravelled. Collectively, the articles illuminate how the BRI challenges conventional models of globalization and offer fresh insights into dependent development, national growth models, and the resulting structural transformation along global value chains.