China's Belt and Road Initiative and Special Economic Zones in Africa; Geo-Strategic Ambitions or a Pragmatic Approach to State Building in the Modern Era?

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent to which the Chinese have expanded their global presence in the international system through the implementation of their "going global" strategy dubbed "The Belt and Road Initiative." In particular, the BRI utilizes Chinese established banks, political institutions, and new alliance networks to recreate the global economic trading cycle with an Eastern orientation. In establishing a complex network of trade systems across the globe, the Chinese have increased their global presence and have stimulated heightened national growth by increasing the extent to which under developed nations increasingly turn to the Chinese for help in developing infrastructural networks and transforming national institutions with the hope of solving important widespread problems within their countries. As this paper argues, however, the BRI has allowed Chinese entrepreneurs, state owned enterprises, and private businesses with the ability to increase the extent to which Chinese goods and services have flooded foreign markets. In doing so, the Chinese have grown their global brand and continue to dominate the political and economic networks of numerous regions across the globe. This paper analyzes a specific element of this new strategy, primarily the implementation of Special Economic Zones in Africa, which are essentially enclave spaces for Chinese companies to operate out of themselves in these foreign nations. This paper ultimately analyzes the ways that this new BRI has the potential to alter the nature and characteristics of the international order and discusses the challenges that American leaders now face as a result of renewed Chinese global power.