The Impact of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on Pakistan’s Federal System

Abstract

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is often portrayed as the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. While much attention has been devoted to its geopolitical repercussions, its impacts on Pakistan’s federal system and interprovincial relations have not yet been explored. Organized around interviews conducted in 2015, 2018, and 2019, this article demonstrates that the construction of the economic corridor is acting as a centripetal force in Pakistan’s federal structure, despite the potential for such a large external investment to redress the disparities between provinces.

Demanding Power: Do Protests Empower Citizens to Hold Governments Accountable over Energy?

“…Section 6 concludes with a discussion of the research, policy, and practice implications. (Kitschelt 1986;Plows 2008;North 2011;Hendrix et al 2009); contentious politics is also informed by the concepts and methods of social history, in particular work on the moral economy justifications for food riots, or popular ideas about the roles of public authorities during periods of dearth or price rises (Thompson 1971(Thompson , 1991Bohstedt 2010Bohstedt , 2014; on the moral economy of fuel price protests, see Guyer and Denzer 2013).…”

China as a Responsible Power Amid the COVID-19 Crisis: Perceptions of Partners and Adversaries on Twitter

“…In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, Pakistan decided not to follow other countries in evacuating their citizens from Wuhan, demonstrating solidarity and complete trust in China’s measures for dealing with the coronavirus while also donating aid (ChinaDaily 2020 ). In addition, Pakistan’s National Assembly praised China’s efforts against COVID-19, 12 and an even stronger message of amity and cooperation was delivered during Pakistani President Arif Alvi’s visit to China in March 2020, 13 which came at a critical time for China in its fight against the coronavirus (Boni and Adeney 2020 ). Nonetheless, China repaid this kindness by sending medical and research teams to Pakistan.…”

Investigating the Impact of the External Environment and Benchmark Characteristics on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s Construction: A COVID-19 Perspective

“…It is expected that CPEC projects will play a major role in the country's economic development (Khalique et al, 2020). Both Chinese and Pakistani authorities regard CPEC as a game-changing project, with 27 economic zones spread throughout both countries that will support industrialization, economic growth, and several developments in the energy sector in Pakistan (Raza et al, 2018;Boni and Adeney, 2020). Scholars and policymakers have also stated that CPEC not only promotes trade between China and Pakistan but also with the rest of the world (Kanwal et al, 2020b;Saad et al, 2020).…”

“…According to policymakers, CPEC promises hope and stability for Pakistan's struggling economy (Ashraf et al, 2017;Kanwal et al, 2020b;Xiaolong et al, 2021). It will benefit Pakistan's infrastructure, as well as its trade, education, and information technology sectors (Boni and Adeney, 2020): several contributions have been identified as a result of the development of CPEC. Enhanced economies have a broad influence on CPEC's contributions (Farooqi et al, 2020;Hao et al, 2020;Nadeem et al, 2020).…”

“…China-Pakistan Economic Corridor consists several projects which include road and transportation construction, the development of the Gwadar port, airports, the energy sector, educational institutions, and health infrastructure (Hussain, 2018;Nand et al, 2019;Boni and Adeney, 2020). Previous research has shown that multiple projects, project density, politics, and local cultural considerations may all have an impact on a project's development (Elawi et al, 2016;Durdyev et al, 2017;Altarawneh et al, 2018;Farooqi et al, 2021).…”