Authors : Tirta N. Mursitama and Pamungkas A. Dewanto
Abstract: China’s role as a donor country has been debatable in the political economy scholarships. Some prior discussions successfully addressed material imperatives as the most important empirical findings in Africa. However, the manner in which China’s Foreign development assistance policy to Southeast Asian countries is conducted remains a matter that receives less attention. This study discusses this matter by analytically discussing the fourfold conception of power posited by Barnett and Duvall. This study suggests that China successfully conducts its compulsory, structural and productive power in some specific development assistance as a form of maintaining social relation with Southeast Asian countries. However, there is no empirical evidence showing that China is institutionally successful in dealing with them. This study is conducted by also showing how interactions in the specific development assistance field occur between Beijing and its Southeast Asian counterparts that in turn exemplify the essential use of power.
Tirta N. Mursitama and Pamungkas A. Dewanto, 2016. The China-Way: Power and Development Assistance in Southeast Asia. The Social Sciences, 11: 3224-3237.