Events

Polycentric regimes of social-ecological system governance have largely been associated with positive outcomes, even though empirical evidence towards it remains scant especially over the long term. In this paper, we use critical historical discourse analysis of official speeches to demonstrate that polycentric regimes can maladaptively reproduce inequities and power imbalances. In keeping with the notion that power relations in the colonial present permeate our understanding of the world, we argue that urban environmentalities shaping Mysore’s urban futures are today recognisable in the archives of the colonial princely state. Taking the case of Mysore’s engagement with modernity via changing arrangements of polycentric urban water governance during the first half of the 20th century - we demonstrate that discourses of environmental governance were used to construct, frame and implement different arrangements of polycentric arrangements of water management in major and minor cities according to their importance to the princely state and colonial regime. Polycentric regimes in prominent cities reproduced hegemonic colonial British ideologies through top-down mechanisms, while minor cities, continued to favour traditional decentralised community led management through bottom-up mechanisms b) Power inequities were reproduced and exacerbated as a consequence, empowering British and native rulers while disenfranchising minor cities, and local communities in major cities and c) within polycentric regimes, the subjectivities of both colonial discourses as well as subaltern identities of actor groups become entangled to produce diverse and trajectory dependent urban governmentalities.

Zoom

Effective climate adaptation requires not just policies but strong institutional mechanisms that sustain action across governance levels. This study critically examines the institutionalization of climate adaptation plans and policies within Nepal’s federal, provincial, and local governance structures, specifically focusing on urban contexts. Employing an explanatory qualitative case study approach, we gathered insights from key informants spanning political, governmental, and development sectors. Our findings reveal a stark contrast between a well-established national framework and weaker institutional structures at provincial and local levels, hindering vertical governance effectiveness. Institutionalization is shaped by political will, bureaucratic leadership, resource allocation, intergovernmental coordination, and stakeholder engagement. Notably, our research differentiates between institutional presence and functionality, emphasizing that mere policy existence does not guarantee effective adaptation. By integrating both formal and informal mechanisms, this study advances the discourse on institutionalization, offering critical insights for embedding resilient climate adaptation governance in urban settings.

Zoom

This research foregrounds the housing sector in Nairobi to explore the investments of Chinese developers in the local market and understand the role of local agency in the transformation of Nairobi’s upper-middle class neighbourhoods by Chinese construction companies (CCC). Drawing on the assemblage approach, it addresses a notable gap in the literature on political geography by focusing on urban spaces in the context of Chinese investments in African countries. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, including semi-structured interviews with 51 participants, participant observations, and a survey to examine the scale and distribution of CCC and their estimated arrival time on Nairobi’s urban landscape. It aims to display the power dynamics between Chinese companies and the local enablers and the complex interaction between actors, both horizontally (Chinese SOEs to private companies) and vertically (local architects/ engineers/ consultants to Chinese developers to government-municipal institutions). The research argues that Chinese-built urban development projects in Nairobi result from intricate dynamics where some Kenyans seek reliable and fast income, social status, and solutions to the housing deficit problem while others are adversely affected. Chinese companies, on the other hand, achieve high profit margins thanks to the networks formerly established between Kenyan government institutions and Chinese firms since 90’s and China's strong credibility in Kenya. The findings contribute to the emerging literature on Chinese real estate investments in Africa and deepen our understanding of ordinary people’s relational power in the field of critical geopolitics.

Bio

Melike Toprak is a PhD student at the Development Planning Unit at UCL. Her search focuses on the convergence of Kenyan and Chinese actors in Nairobi’s housing industry since 2002 and the outcomes of their interaction on individuals, the city’s development and the local housing sector. 

Speaker: Weidi Zheng, Postdoc Researcher at the Digital Humanities, KCL

The world’s information systems are arguably owned by American and Chinese companies. So far, studies on China’s globalising Internet adopt either monolith approach or fragmented approach, lacking a comprehensive image to capture the architecture of China’s global information systems. Critically adopting the metaphor of ‘platformisation tree’, this article maps China’s network of global platform ecosystems and identifies its main stakeholders, based on a 2022-2023 ethnography with Chinese tech personnel and venture capitalists in Shenzhen, Indonesia and Vietnam. It argues that China’s globalising Internet shows a triangulation of China, the US, and recipient countries. Similarly to how vines grow and spread using various climbing strategies, Chinese tech companies have developed their ecosystem of digital infrastructures, intermediary platforms, and sectional apps. However, they significantly depend on the GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft)-led ecosystem, interact with their surroundings, and embed deeply into recipient countries’s digital geographies. This research provides a grounded, empirical perspective to the contemporary debate on China’s digital expansion, highlighting varying techno-mediated positionalities and socially driven innovation in the Global South. It contributes to the conceptualisation of ‘global platform ecosystems’ as a relational and ecological social technical system, situated within a dynamic integrity of ‘centre-periphery’, ‘online-offline’ and ‘human-non-human’.

Bio

Weidi Zheng recently completed her postdoctoral research in Digital Humanities at King’s College London, serving as the lead researcher (China) on the ERC-funded project ‘Digital Infrastructures along the New Silk Road’. She earned her PhD in Global Media and Post-national Communications from SOAS University of London where she laid the interdisciplinary foundation of media studies and culture anthropology. Her PhD involved a year-long ethnographic study on the discursive competitions surrounding China’s BRI infrastructures, working with Kenyan- Chinese reporters, SOEs, expatriates, and small traders in Nairobi and Beijing. Her research interests include media anthropology, platform economy, digital infrastructure, and the values and politics of technology. She has published in leading journals such as China Quarterly, International Journal of Communication, Information, Communication & Society, and Journal of African Cultural Studies.

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2698-3893

Speaker: Oyuna Baldakova, (Research Associate at the KCL DIGISILK Project)

Drawing on "globalisation from below," which emphasises grassroots, localised, and often informal processes of global interconnectedness, this talk examines the evolving dynamics of formal and informal trade in Kazakhstan. It focuses on traders who source goods from China and sell them locally through marketplaces like Kaspi and digital platforms such as Instagram. Based on fieldwork interviews conducted in 2022 and 2023 with local traders, Kaspi developers, and logistics experts in Kazakhstan, I examine how traders leverage Kazakhstani diasporas and personal networks abroad and combine technological infrastructures originating from China, Russia, the USA, and Kazakhstan to navigate regulatory frameworks and sustain their sales operations.

The article explores how small- and medium-scale traders employ global and local platforms, including apps like WeChat, AliExpress, Pinduoduo and 1688 for procurement, and Yandex, Kaspi, and Instagram for sales. These platforms enable traders to source goods from international markets and sell locally, operating across a spectrum of formality and informality. The findings reveal varied levels of (in)formality: some traders adhere to regulatory frameworks by using formal logistics routes and marketplaces, while others leverage the flexibility of informal channels such as “cargo” transportation and social media to bypass bureaucratic constraints. This variety highlights the fluidity between formal and informal economies, which are being reshaped by digital transformation.

Bio

Oyuna Baldakova is an associate researcher on the ERC-funded DIGISILK project in the Digital Humanities Department at King’s College London. Her research focuses on various aspects of the Digital Silk Road and its diverse actors in Kazakhstan, including telecom infrastructure development and the role of Huawei, as well as domestic electronics production and its connections to Chinese suppliers. She is also finishing her PhD studies at the Free University of Berlin, where her dissertation examines the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure and industrial projects in Kazakhstan.

Oyuna holds a Master’s degree in Modern East Asian Studies from Goethe University Frankfurt and has a diverse background in international development, including experience with EU International Partnerships and UNESCO Bangkok. She has conducted research and written for several organizations, including the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Carnegie Endowment, Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), International Transport Workers’ Federation, and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In May 2024, Delhi experienced record-breaking heatwaves, with temperatures crossing 50 degrees in some parts. Within a month, this was followed by record-breaking rainfall of 228.1 mm within 24 hours (Kunal, 2024; The New Indian Express, 2024). Both events reported casualties across the city (Jaiswal, 2024; DTE, 2024). While climate change was mentioned in the news, what grabbed the headlines were various governance issues like access and availability of potable water during heatwaves and lack of clarity about who controlled which part of the city’s drainage (Kaul & Lakhera, 2024). In my presentation, I will delve into Delhi's disaster management governance structure, specifically focusing on the role of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA). Despite its coordination efforts, the DDMA operates within a larger governance framework that limits its authority. This structural context significantly impacts how essential services are accessed during heatwaves, contributing to varied experiences across Delhi's population. By examining these disparities, I aim to highlight their implications for the effectiveness and public perception of heat action plans. Overlooking these disparities not only undermines the DDMA's response capabilities but also hinders efforts to address climate change adaptation comprehensively. I argue that prioritizing access and inclusion is pivotal in evolving current heat action plans into robust adaptation strategies tailored to Delhi's heatwave vulnerabilities. This discussion seeks to underscore the importance of governance reforms in enhancing resilience and equity in urban climate adaptation initiatives.

Zoom

Speaker: Dr Yuezhou Yang (Research Fellow, LSE-Fudan Global Public Policy Hub)

Abstract:

The new wave of ‘global China’ scholarship investigates the intricate entanglements between domestic China, global China, and the world. Taking a relational perspective, my paper contributes to this scholarship by examining how the experience of entrepreneurship of Chinese migrants entangles with the histories, institutional changes, and broader socio-political dynamics in Tanzania and Zambia. Using descriptive data collected from interviews and field site observations, and the ‘mixed embeddedness’ approach, I investigate the interplay between the specific set of resources of individual Chinese migrants and from their group relations and the opportunity structure created by various property relations. I argue that different property relations explain why many Chinese ‘would be migrants’ eventually stayed in Zambia, whilst very few opened farms in Tanzania in their path of migration. The findings both contribute to the recent literature on Chinese migrants in Africa and the scholarly debates on epistemological moves to grounding global China studies.

This seminar will be hosted in hybrid format, via Zoom (https://lse.zoom.us/j/82109719675) and in-person at LSE Connaught House 7.05, LSE.

Abstract

Infrastructure investment is often assumed to be pursued on the basis of (bounded) rationality which reflects the ‘interests’ or negotiated interests of participating actors. As such, emotions seen as irrational factors are either ignored or explained away by such rational reasoning as economic benefits and geopolitical influences in the context of China’s overseas infrastructure investment. This paper challenges this view by proposing an analytical framework that examines three pathways through which emotions influence its conceptualisation, development, and experience. Employing emotion discourse analysis, the paper applies this framework to COSCO’s Piraeus Port investment (CPPI), revealing complex emotional dynamics among local, national, and international actors. The analysis demonstrates that emotions influence transnational infrastructure development when they provide affective frames that shape cognitive processes and interpretations of events, ideas, and relationships, when they are used as catalysts to drive collective actions and policy changes, and when they become embedded in political institutions. This paper contributes to the literature on emotions in International Relations by providing a systematic analysis of what emotions do, and how, in foreign policy processes, and to China studies by illuminating the emotional underpinning of its overseas infrastructure investment. The findings suggest the need to reconceptualise transnational infrastructure development as socio-economic-emotional assemblages, acknowledging the critical role of emotions alongside economic and political factors.

Bio

Dr. Hu has a PhD in Politics from the University of York (2022). His research focuses on critical International Relations theories, grand strategy, Chinese Foreign (Economic) Policy, and the Indo-Pacific international relations. He is interested in developing an interdisciplinary and cross-regional understanding of Chinese engagements across Europe and their different political and geopolitical implications from a pan-European perspective.  

Speaker: Dr. Yuan Wang, (Assistant Professor at Duke Kunshan University)

Chair: Dr Yuezhou Yang (Research Fellow, LSE-Fudan Global Public Policy Hub)

Abstract

What is the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in state-owned enterprises’ (SOEs’) overseas operations? Extensive literature have examined the functions of Party in Chinese SOEs, particularly focusing on CCP’s efforts in maintaining control over the increasingly powerful businesses and whether the Party institutions contribute to the effectiveness of corporate governance. The roles of CCP institutions in overseas SOEs remain rarely examined, however, and this paper serves as an initial attempt to fill this gap with innovative evidence. We argue that Chinese Party organizations in overseas SOEs penetrates in various aspects of project management and in professional, social, and even personal life of Chinese employees, to the level that it may no longer be possible to distinguish the Party structure from the corporate management structure. Variegated forms of party-building activities serve not only to demonstrate political loyalty, but also provide mechanisms for social mobilization targeting Chinese employees for effective project implementation, as well as resource mobilization for financial and diplomatic support from their headquarters and government. Internally oriented, these party activities do not aim at ideological spreading to host countries; in fact, these party activities are carefully concealed from their local employees and host communities. Empirical data is collected through one-month participatory observation in a Chinese construction SOE in Ethiopia in August 2024 and multi-year fieldwork in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola, Pakistan and Beijing on Chinese SOEs’ overseas operations. These primary data is triangulated with online ethnography of the social media accounts of Party organizations in various SOEs as well as policy and media documents. This study represents one of the first attempts to understand CCP’s role in overseas SOEs by detailing several grassroot party-building activities and their rationale and functions drawing on original physical and digital ethnographical work and multiyear interview data. This study also seeks to contribute to an emerging call in the field of Chinese political economy to “bring the party back in,” and discuss the daily realities of “party-state capitalism” beyond China. 

Bio

Dr. Wang is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Duke Kunshan University starting from July 2022. Her teaching and research interests include global China, African politics, and comparative political economy of development. Her research covers African state effectiveness and China’s economic and political engagement with Africa. Her book The Railpolitik (Oxford University Press) investigates why Chinese-financed and -constructed develop into starkly different trajectories in different African countries.

How to attend

This seminar will be hosted in hybrid format,via Zoom (https://lse.zoom.us/j/82109719675) and in-person at LSE Connaught House 7.05, LSE

Organisers

Dr Tanvi Deshpande | LSE-Fudan Global Public Policy Hub

Dr Tahmina Yasmin | University of Birmingham

Workshop overview

South Asia, comprising of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, is diverse in terms of its topographies, climates, histories, socio-cultural practices, economies and politics. Cities in South Asia host a significant proportion of global urban population who are severely impacted by interconnected issues of development deficits, climate change and disaster risks. Moreover, existing governance structures, often manifestations of colonial legacies, are largely disconnected from the socio-cultural, economic and environmental realties of South Asian cities. Rapid urbanization and escalating climate impacts, particularly in South Asian cities, necessitates a critical evaluation of existing governance mechanisms as the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approaches.

Workshop objectives

Theworkshop brought together early-career researchers (ECRs) to share their research on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, sustainability, and/or urban development in diverse South Asian cities. ECRs critically engaged with urban governance scholarship and identified the need for contextual and innovative urban governance mechanisms to build sustainable and resilient cities. This workshop enabled cross-learnings and explore collaborations across the region, which is otherwise challenging due to regional geopolitics. 

Workshop outcomes

•  Established a network of early career researchers working on urban governance (development/climate change/disaster risk reduction) in South Asia

•   Co-developed a multi-authored perspective on urban governance in South Asia (submitted to Urban Studies journal)

•  Launched a virtual and monthly webinar series on ‘Urban governance in South Asia’ for early career and mid-career scholars to share their research and receive feedback

•  Exploring research collaborations through conferences, workshops and publications