Etel Soligen, ed., Geopolitics, Supply Chains, and International Relations in East Asia : (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 299p. $99.99 hardback; $34.99 paperback
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Abstract
Global supply chains (GSCs) have emerged as a salient feature of the global economy
in the past decades. The rise of trade in intermediate, rather than final goods, along
with heightened geopolitical and geo-economic tensions in East Asia, provide excellent
opportunities for scholars to assess the implications of this phenomenon for interstate
cooperation and conflict in the region. This volume tackles this question, emphasizing
the importance of not only geopolitics, but also domestic political, economic, and
social factors for shaping the region’s GSC relations. The findings highlight the
drivers of evolving GSC structures, and the wide range of strategies that firms, industries,
and governments have adopted to cope with exogenous shocks such as the United States
(U.S.)-China trade war and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Part I of the book focuses on the impact of geopolitics on the dynamic changes in
GSCs in East Asia. Contributing authors address how geopolitical tensions in the U.S.-China
relationship have accentuated the vulnerability of China-centered GSCs, affected the
trade and investment patterns of Japanese firms and the development of the phone/smart
phone industry in the region, and created pressures for contractionary or diversionary
shifts in GSCs. They additionally document how the Chinese government has increasingly
turned towards an inward-oriented strategy by promoting self-reliance in GSCs and
how the U.S.-China economic competition has generated spillover effects in other world
regions such as Africa through GSCs.
Part II shifts to the domestic drivers of GSC policies. This part of the book examines
not only the interests and incentives shaping China’s responses to Western-led GSCs,
but also corporate responses to the trade war and the rhetorical framing of GSCs in
the political debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the United States. The
last two chapters in this part analyze how states’ relative strategic position within
GSCs influence decisions to (de)escalate geopolitical conflicts and the implications
of GSC expansion for Chinese workers’ ability to enhance their structural power and
to engage in transnational cooperation.
Contributing authors utilize a variety of methods, including case studies, surveys,
and statistical analysis to support their contentions. Collectively, they paint a
rich picture of the complex interactions between geopolitical tensions and GSCs, which
represent relatively new forms of international economic interdependence whose political
and economic implications have so far remained little understood. At a time when East
Asia’s integration into GSCs made possible by the adoption of outward-oriented strategies
is increasingly threatened by the rising popularity of inward-oriented ones, this
book provides a timely assessment of the degree to which efforts to decouple the U.S.
economy from that of China may be effective in altering existing GSC structures. In
highlighting the distributional costs and benefits of GSC restructuring, this book
advances our understanding of the impact of geopolitical tensions on transnational
economic relations. The findings point to the resilience of GSCs and the potential
for increased GSC regionalization.
While the book sets out to explore the reciprocal interactions between geopolitics
and international economic relations, how GSC integration may affect the potential
for interstate conflict and cooperation has received less attention. Chapter 11 by
Phoebe Moon addresses this question, showing that leaders of states that occupy a
more critical position in lower value-added segments of GSCs may be more likely to
escalate conflicts due to the greater likelihood of GSC replacement. Are there any
other features of GSCs that may either enhance of hinder the prospect of interstate
cooperation? If conventional trade (i.e., trade in final goods) tends to dampen the
potential for conflict, as the “commercial peace” theory would lead us to expect,
then can the same be said of intermediate goods trade? The book could have probed
these issues in more detail.
Given the book’s emphasis on the impact of geopolitics on the GSC landscape, the focus
on the domestic drivers of GSCs came as a little bit of a surprise and could have
been better integrated into the overall theoretical framework. Both the international
and domestic dimensions are obviously important to the formation and spread of GSCs,
and the latter could have received more analytical attention.
The book has devoted some attention to how GSC integration may affect domestic socio-economic
outcomes such as inequality or labor rights attention. While these issues deserve
more systematic analysis, it is understandable that such an endeavor would be beyond
the scope of this volume.
These quibbles aside, this book represents a valuable addition to the literature on
the relationship between economic interdependence and interstate conflicts as well
as to the study of the international relations of East Asia. It is highly recommended
for scholars, students, and practitioners interested in better understanding the changing
geopolitical and economic landscapes in the region.
is Professor of Political Science and Director of International and Global Studies
at the University of Arkansas. Her research focuses on China’s role in the global
economy, in particular Chinese trade policy, China’s behavior in the World Trade Organization,
and China-related trade dispute dynamics. Dr. Zeng is the author or coauthor of
Trade Threats, Trade Wars (Michigan, 2004),
Greening China (Michigan, 2011), and
Fragmenting Globalization (Michigan, 2021).
Journal
Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Chin Polit Sci
Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Chin Polit Sci
Title:
Journal of Chinese Political Science
Publisher:
Springer Netherlands
(Dordrecht
)
ISSN
(Print):
1080-6954
ISSN
(Electronic):
1874-6357
Publication date
(Electronic):
4
May
2022
Pages: 1-3
Affiliations
GRID grid.411017.2, ISNI 0000 0001 2151 0999, Department of Political Science, , University of Arkansas, ; 428 Old Main, Fayetteville, AR 72701 USA
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