Peter Nolan – författare

Capitalist globalisation since the 1980s has produced immense benefits in terms of technical progress, poverty reduction and welfare improvement. However, it has been accompanied by profound contradictions, including ecological destruction, global warming, inequality, concentration of business power, and financial instability. Regulation of global political economy in the interests of the majority of the world’s population is essential if the human species is to avoid a Darwinian catastrophe. This book explores China’s rich history of regulating the market in the interests of the mass of the population. For over two thousand years the Chinese bureaucracy has sought pragmatically to find a Way in which to integrate the ‘invisible hand’ of market forces with the ‘visible hand’ of ethically guided government regulation. Instead of seeking confrontation with China, citizens and politicians in the West need to deepen their understanding of the contribution that China can make to globally sustainable development in the decades and centuries ahead.

Capitalist globalisation since the 1980s has produced immense benefits in terms of technical progress, poverty reduction and welfare improvement. However, it has been accompanied by profound contradictions, including ecological destruction, global warming, inequality, concentration of business power, and financial instability. Regulation of global political economy in the interests of the majority of the world’s population is essential if the human species is to avoid a Darwinian catastrophe. This book explores China’s rich history of regulating the market in the interests of the mass of the population. For over two thousand years the Chinese bureaucracy has sought pragmatically to find a Way in which to integrate the ‘invisible hand’ of market forces with the ‘visible hand’ of ethically guided government regulation. Instead of seeking confrontation with China, citizens and politicians in the West need to deepen their understanding of the contribution that China can make to globally sustainable development in the decades and centuries ahead.

Is there any truth to this idea? Or is this just scaremongering by Western commentators who have little interest in a balanced presentation of China''s role in the global political economy?

In this short book Peter Nolan - one of the leading international experts on China and the global economy - probes behind the media rhetoric and shows that the idea that China is buying the world is a myth. Since the 1970s the global business revolution has resulted in an unprecedented degree of industrial concentration. Giant firms from high income countries with leading technologies and brands have greatly increased their investments in developing countries, with China at the forefront. Multinational companies account for over two-thirds of China''s high technology output and over ninety percent of its high technology exports. Global firms are deep inside the Chinese business system and are pressing China hard to be permitted to increase their presence without restraints.

By contrast, Chinese firms have a negligible presence in the high-income countries - in other words, we are ‘inside them'' but they are not yet ‘inside us''. China''s 70-odd ‘national champion'' firms are protected by the government through state ownership and other support measures. They are in industries such as banking, metals, mining, oil, power, construction, transport, and telecommunications, which tend to make use of high technology products rather than produce these products themselves. Their growth has been based on the rapidly growing home market. China has been unsuccessful so far in its efforts to nurture a group of globally competitive firms with leading global technologies and brands. Whether it will be successful in the future is an open question.

This balanced analysis replaces rhetoric with evidence and argument. It provides a much-needed perspective on current debates about China''s growing power and it will contribute to a constructive dialogue between China and the West.

The different approach taken by China and the West towards finance and the real economy rests upon philosophical foundations that have diverged fundamentally since the Ancient World. Since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997–98 a tremendous transformation has taken place in the financial systems in both China and the West. China has persisted steadily with reform of its financial system but it remains heavily protected from international competition. In the West regulatory structures have been progressively dismantled, permitting an unprecedented secular expansion of asset prices and debt relative to GDP. The structure crashed to the ground with the collapse of asset prices in 2008–09. In the decade since the GFC asset prices and debt in the West have rebounded. The West’s financial system stands on a knife- edge. In 2018 China announced the intention to accelerate the opening up of the country’s capital markets. The way in which the Chinese and the West’s financial system interact constitutes a central issue in global political economy in the years ahead.

The different approach taken by China and the West towards finance and the real economy rests upon philosophical foundations that have diverged fundamentally since the Ancient World. Since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997–98 a tremendous transformation has taken place in the financial systems in both China and the West. China has persisted steadily with reform of its financial system but it remains heavily protected from international competition. In the West regulatory structures have been progressively dismantled, permitting an unprecedented secular expansion of asset prices and debt relative to GDP. The structure crashed to the ground with the collapse of asset prices in 2008–09. In the decade since the GFC asset prices and debt in the West have rebounded. The West’s financial system stands on a knife- edge. In 2018 China announced the intention to accelerate the opening up of the country’s capital markets. The way in which the Chinese and the West’s financial system interact constitutes a central issue in global political economy in the years ahead.

The second edition of The Routledge Handbook of the Belt and Road encompasses the many recent developments across the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from 2019 to 2021, while retaining the comprehensive introduction to BRI from the first edition.The Handbook is a comprehensive review of the theory and practice of the BRI, the contributors to which are leading researchers in their fields. It illuminates the intentions and principles, history and current status, basic knowledge and latest studies, and promotion mechanisms on the whole BRI. This edition includes 132 entries in total, with a supplementary section on the Belt and Road forums for international cooperation, 22 brand new entries, and 13 revised and updated chapters, reflecting current progress. The book provides an authoritative and up-to-date overview of the BRI, and thereupon an explanatory interpretation of China’s development strategy and international policy stance.Already serving as the essential “encyclopaedia” of the BRI, this second edition will be a must-read for members of global think tanks, policy makers, and observers involved in the BRI□ construction, as well as researchers interested in international relations, Chinese economics, politics, and international policy.

The second edition of The Routledge Handbook of the Belt and Road encompasses the many recent developments across the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from 2019 to 2021, while retaining the comprehensive introduction to BRI from the first edition.The Handbook is a comprehensive review of the theory and practice of the BRI, the contributors to which are leading researchers in their fields. It illuminates the intentions and principles, history and current status, basic knowledge and latest studies, and promotion mechanisms on the whole BRI. This edition includes 132 entries in total, with a supplementary section on the Belt and Road forums for international cooperation, 22 brand new entries, and 13 revised and updated chapters, reflecting current progress. The book provides an authoritative and up-to-date overview of the BRI, and thereupon an explanatory interpretation of China’s development strategy and international policy stance.Already serving as the essential “encyclopaedia” of the BRI, this second edition will be a must-read for members of global think tanks, policy makers, and observers involved in the BRI□ construction, as well as researchers interested in international relations, Chinese economics, politics, and international policy.