European Perspectives on the New Silk Roads - A Transcultural Approach

As an ambitious project, the New Silk Roads create global value chains in a network that connects Europe, Asia, and Africa and that are characterised by maximum diversity in languages, traditions, values, as well as political, social, and economic systems and settings. As one of the most fascinating and risky developments driving the formation of a global society, this initiative not only seeks the economic integration of more than 70 countries, but also involves many political and cultural challenges. Accordingly, it represents a global economic, political, social, and cultural experiment with potentially beneficial, but also potentially disruptive, consequences for all involved.

It is against this backdrop that this book focuses on European perspectives: regarding the geo-political and economic implications of the New Silk Roads for, on the one hand, Europe’s and the EU’s role in the world and, on the other hand, for Europe’s coherence as a political and economic regional network. In this way, this book aims to contribute understanding of what the New Silk Roads means in economic, political and cultural terms for the European countries involved.

Contents

Part I: Perspectives on BRI

Josef Wieland
Transcultural Challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative

Li Ma, Hao Wang
What the Belt and Road Initiative is and is not: A Researcher's Perspective

Jonathan Keir
Historical and Cultural-Philosophical Perspectives on the New Silk Road(s)

Matthias Niedenführ
The Belt and Road Initiative - A Chinesestyle Globalization Based on Chinese Values

Patrycja Pendrakowska
Disenchanting the 17+1 initiative

Pawel Behrendt
Geopolitical Implications of the New Silk Road(s)

Julian Caletti
Trust and Understanding - a Geopolitical Perspective on the Relations between China and Europe

Part II: Research Projects on the Impacts of the BRI on Europe

Patryk Szczotka
Paradiplomacy with Chinese Characteristics. The Relational Governance Model in Sino-European Substate Relations.

Florian Horky, Paulina Kintzinger, Izabela Szczecinska
Dynamics and Developments of Chinese M&A Transactions in the Wake of the BRI

Lorenz Bokari, Karolina Pajączek, Aleksandra Kozerska
Legal Challenges Accompying the Belt and Road Initiative in Poland and Germany with the Focus on International Trade Law

Jessica Britzwein and Aleksandra Balasińska
Civil Society Interaction with the Belt and Road Initiative. The case of Germany and Poland.

Katharina Hahn, Sandra Krawczyszyn
Adding a Gender perspective to the BRI – the Case of Poland and Germany

Tobias Ilg, Natalia Ziółkowska
Public Opinition

Part III

Harald F. Müller, Julika Baumann Montecinos
The Transcultural Leadership Summit as a Platform for Diversity and Cooperation of Disciplines