Securing Local Effects in Globalization through Multi-level Governance: Evidence from Steering the New Silk Road

Abstract

The New Silk Road (NSR), in combination with global challenges on climate action, trade wars, and the COVID-19 Pandemic, requests a new understanding of the “local” in more sustainable globalization. Being far more than an infrastructure initiative, China takes a leading role in future globalization. However, the NSR faces an implementation gap in sustainably generating local effects. In this line, experts call to implement joint governance, leading to the research question: how can multi-level governance assist in securing local effects along with the countries of the NSR? Building upon theories on governance and regionalism across spatial scales, this article introduces the results of a qualitative content analysis on international expert interviews. The analysis reveals the potentials and challenges of the NSR for local effects but also includes suggestions for transnational cooperation and governance, which finally leads to defining the role of supranational institutions and the necessity of local support in terms of a governance design.