China’s rise in the global south

Abstract

Dawn Murphy aims at assessing the state of analysis on Chinese activity in the Global South and identify trends as well as gaps (theoretical and practical) in the coverage of Beijing’s social, political, and financial activity particularly in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia in order to answer the driving question; are the Chinese attempting to shape an alternative world order through all this activity? Given the enormity of this question she breaks it down to a few more manageable questions and topics to consider whether or not China is competing with the US or acting more cooperatively, are Chinese strategies typical of the current world order or reshaping it, and if the latter what are the new characteristics? How does China portray itself on the world stage? Murphy considers these questions in the context of a post Cold War China 1991-2019 suggesting at the onset that while China does not seek to change the world order it almost necessarily competes with the United States and the West challenging the liberal world order, resulting in an alternative order revolving around China as the newest great power.