This essay deals with the Chinese mega-project Belt and Road Initiative and investigates whether itis possible that it could have a positive impact on regional peace. Previous research, as well as thetwo major IR-theories realism and liberalism, have assumed the project will lead to more tensionand even increase the likelihood of war in the future. According to the constructivist securitycommunity theory this does not have to be the case. By applying Adler and Barnett's rendition ofDeutsch classical theory to the case of BRI through a literary analysis the possibility of a peacefuloutcome is investigated. The analysis concludes that at the moment of writing BRI does not live upto the criteria necessary to be classified as a nascent security community. However, three of the fourindicators, establishing of multinational institutions, coordination of inter-state relationships and acore power leading the integration are fulfilled. Only when it comes to expression of sameness inpolitical, cultural, ideological or social areas is BRI lacking. If more focus is placed on cultivating acommon identity, the possibility of BRI developing into a security community can not be ruled out.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:fhs-8359 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Aste, Sofie |
| Publisher | Försvarshögskolan |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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