THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE AS A DISCOURSE CONSTRUCTION: A CRITICAL GEOPOLITICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which the People's Republic of China announced in 2013, is still one of the critical topics of discussion in international politics. This article takes a critical geopolitical approach to the initiative and analyses the discourses on BRI produced by Chinese officials and academics from Chinese universities. For this purpose, the article analyses the texts produced by Chinese official authorities and academia through content and discourse analysis to reveal the characteristics of the discourse on the BRI and the relationship between power and academia in the process of discourse construction. The article problematizes the knowledge produced by the Chinese government and academia to portray the BRI, shows that these two discourses are complementary and the information produced is instrumentalized to serve China's interests. In this way, it is revealed that China carries out its spatialization practices towards the BRI geography through official and academic discourse.

Keywords

• The Belt and Road Initiative
• Critical geopolitics
• Knowledge-power nexus
• Discourse
• China

SÖYLEMSEL BİR İNŞA OLARAK KUŞAK VE YOL GİRİŞİMİ: ELEŞTİREL JEOPOLİTİK BİR ANALİZ

Abstract

Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti tarafından 2013 yılında duyurulan Kuşak ve Yol Girişimi (KYG) halen uluslararası siyasetin önemli tartışma konularından birisidir. Bu makale, girişimi eleştirel jeopolitik bir yaklaşımla ele alarak Çin resmi makamları ve Çin üniversitelerine mensup akademisyenlerin KYG’ye yönelik ürettikleri söylemleri incelemektedir. Bu amaçla makalede, Çin resmi makamları ve Çin akademyasınca üretilen metinler içerik analizi ve söylem analizi yoluyla incelenerek KYG’ye ilişkin söylemin ve bu söylem inşası sürecinde iktidar ile akademya arasındaki ilişkinin niteliklerini ortaya koymak amaçlanmaktadır. Makalede Çin hükümeti ve Çin akademyasının KYG’yi tasvir etmek adına ürettiği bilgi sorunsallaştırılmakta, bu iki söylemin tamamlayıcı nitelikte oldukları ve üretilen bilgilerin Çin’in çıkarlarına hizmet etmek üzere araçsallaştırıldığı gösterilmektedir. Bu yolla Çin’in KYG coğrafyasına yönelik alansallaştırma pratiklerini resmi ve akademik söylem aracılığıyla gerçekleştirdiği gözler önüne serilmektedir.

Keywords

• Kuşak ve Yol Girişimi
• Eleştirel jeopolitik
• Bilgi-iktidar ekseni
• Söylem
• Çin

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