The Pattern of China’s Global Activity: Foreign Policy Instruments in Central Asia and Africa

Akbikesh Mukhtarova

doi:10.22151/politikon.24.7

Authors

Akbikesh Mukhtarova Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.24.7

Keywords:

Africa, Central Asia, foreign policy instruments, classification of power

Abstract

In this work, first, the question of conceptualization of “Power” in the Theory of International Relations will be analyzed. Secondly, I will investigate which type of “power” China is exercising in the neighboring Central Asian region as well as the geographically remote African continent. To be exact, I will apply the classification of power suggested by researchers Barnett and Duvall (2005): compulsory, institutional, structural and productive power to analyze the question: which instruments or type of power is using China in order to spread its influence in the aforementioned areas? In closing, this paper argues that both in Central Asia and Africa China is not using any kind of compulsory power instead prefers to exercise other forms of power such as, for instance, institutional and productive powers.

Author Biography

Akbikesh Mukhtarova, Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague

Akbikesh Mukhtarova, 30, is a graduate who received her Bachelor Degree with Merit at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2008. In 2010, she obtained a Masters Degree in Peace and Security Studies (M.P.S) at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH)/University of Hamburg. She wrote her Master thesis on “A Comparative Analysis of Confidence and Security Building Measures in European and Asian Security Structures: the OSCE and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization” and currently as an Erasmus Mundus scholarship holder (2012-2014) she is doing her second Master`s Degree in Public Policy at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), the Hague, the Netherlands and the Institut Barcelona d`Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), Barcelona, Spain. Her research interests include peace and conflict studies, public policy, in particular, institutions and institutional change and political behavior.