Confucius Institute for Scotland

2020 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Lecture Series

China's New Silk Road and Global Digital Dreams. 11th March , 6pm, registration starts from 5:30pm

Location: Main Auditorium, Business School, University of Edinburgh (29 Buccleuch Pl, Edinburgh EH8 9JS)

Professor Nele Noesselt from the University of Duisburg-Essen,

China’s investment and activities along the New Silk Road corridors have refueled old and new threat perceptions. Neorealist scholars tend to predict a substitution of the liberal international order by a “Chinese” model of development. This presentation will shed light on an often-overlooked dimension of China’s New Silk Road Initiative – digital connectivity and “smart” governance solutions. Moreover, it will undertake a critical analysis of the main (geo) strategic patterns and calculations behind these digital Silk Road projects. What are the main conceptual underpinnings and mind maps determining China’s (global) AI initiatives? Who are the main actors and architects of China’s digital Silk Road? The presentation concludes with some reflections on the increasingly fragmented global AI landscape and possible implications for Europe.

Nele Noesselt is Professor of Political Science with a special focus on China and East Asia at the Institute of Political Science and the Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Since 2017, she is the speaker of the AREA Ruhr Graduate School “Transnational Institution Building and Transnational Identities in East Asia” (joint PhD program of the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Ruhr University Bochum). Her research agenda ranges from general issues of com­parative politics and domestic governance to world politics and theories of international relations.

The event is free but booking is essential. Please book HERE to reserve your place.