Zenel Garcia

We are thrilled to issue the call for applications (global.upenn.edu/future-of-us...) for our fourth fellowship cohort, made possible by generous support from @carnegie.org and the Henry Luce Foundation.
Applications are due March 17.

Cover of the "European Journal of International Security" featuring the hashtag #OpenAccess on a dark background.

#OpenAccess from @ejisbisa.bsky.social -

Rethinking survival in IR: Ontological security and narrated statehood - https://cup.org/4qrdmVN

- Eteri Tsintsadze-Maass

#FirstView

The Chinese Province Reshaping AI in Southeast Asia - China Media Project Guangxi represents the most concerted government effort so far to push the nation’s AI products abroad. A chatbot created for the Malaysian government is evidence of how AI can help reshape the region...

China's Guangxi province is spearheading the most concerted government effort yet to export Chinese AI abroad.

A chatbot built for Malaysia's government reveals how these ventures can help reshape Southeast Asia as a Chinese sphere of influence.

New Special Issue competition for @risjnl.bsky.social just dropped:

www-cambridge-org.eux.idm.oclc.org/core/journal...

Deadline 3 February 2026. If you have a cool IR idea + a diverse (but cohesive) collection of topics and authors, send it our way!

@mybisa.bsky.social @edinburghpir.bsky.social

Associate Professor of Chinese politics (290742) | University of Oslo Job title: Associate Professor of Chinese politics (290742), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Tuesday, February 3, 2026

My department is hiring an associate professor in contemporary Chinese politics. Come and join me in Oslo! www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

South Africa and China Launch Joint African Modernization Initiative South Africa and China announced a new joint initiative aimed at boosting African modernization. The initiative was announced on Sunday during the closing of the G20 summit in Johannesburg. The text o...

South Africa and China launch an Africa-China Modernization Initiative aligned with Agenda 2063/AfCFTA, prioritizing African ownership, mineral value-addition, skills transfer, and peace-and-security cooperation.

South Korea's Flirtation with Nuclear Latency In 2024, Lami Kim wrote “South Korea's Nuclear Latency Dilemma,” where she argued that while South Korean attitudes toward nuclear latency were growing

It’s behind a paywall, but I wanted to share my latest article in War on the Rocks. warontherocks.com/2025/11/sout...

China’s manufacturing edge isn’t just low-cost labor; it’s the sheer density and speed of its industrial clusters. China has built ecosystems where inventors can source every part they need within a day.

Watch - tinyurl.com/3apasck6

Chinese versus U.S. Foreign Direct Investment in Africa Deborah Brautigam, a prominent expert on Chinese global financing flows, responded to recent discussions about comparisons in Chinese and U.S. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Africa. It was spark...

Deborah Brautigam’s 2024 data challenges claims that US FDI to Africa beats China’s, revealing volatile flows and the difficulty of tracking real investment.

Here’s How the AI Crash Happens The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.

so @matteowong.bsky.social & I wrote on data centers: arguably the most important buildings in the world & are, in a way, holding the economy hostage. Byzantine financial instruments, private equity, depreciating tech, hype, $trillion valuations. it’s all there. an ai crash prob starts here.

The new issue of the Made in China Journal is out! This time we explore what it means to come of age in China today, at a moment when the paths to adulthood are increasingly uncertain, yet the pressure to succeed remains relentless. Download the whole issue at madeinchinajournal.com/2025/10/27/b...

ANU Press New Release. Cover image of Made in China Journal: Volume 10, Issue 1, 2025

What does it mean to come of age in a society where the paths to adulthood are increasingly uncertain, yet the pressure to succeed remains relentless?

Find out more in the latest issue of ‘Made in China Journal’: doi.org/10.22459/MIC...

Colorful poster for AAS-in-Asia Lahore conference from September 25-27, 2026, themed 'Centering Asia: Refiguring Connections, Recharting Futures'.

AAS and Lahore University of Management Sciences are teaming up to co-host the AAS-in-Asia 2026 conference in Pakistan! We are now accepting proposals for organized panels and roundtables; submit yours by November 13.

aasinasia.org

America, the Bumerang Master How Washington Built Chinese Leverage Over...Washington (on Tan, Dallas, Farrell, Newman)

Washington thought coercion would keep China down. But as @yelingtan.bsky.social @Mark Dallas @himself.bsky.social & @abenewman.bsky.social show, it did the opposite. Dependence became danger — and China learned to turn US pressure into its own power. geoeconomic.substack.com/p/america-th...

ANU Press Coming Soon. Cover image of Made in China Journal: Volume 10, Issue 1, 2025

This upcoming issue of ‘Made in China Journal’ dives deep into how a generation is navigating constraint, competition and creativity, from digital platforms to poetry and from co-living to basketball courts.

Register your interest to learn more doi.org/10.22459/MIC...

Chinese Companies Are Changing the Way They Operate in Africa By Elisa Gambino and Costanza Franceschini For most of the past 25 years, Chinese construction companies operating in Africa could count on generous financial backing from Chinese banks. Between 2000 ...

Even as Chinese state banks pull back, Chinese construction firms are thriving across Africa. Their edge? Flexibility, local alliances & deep networks that let them win projects, with or without Beijing’s money.

Proud to launch the Digital Library of Chinese Classics! 510 texts, 20 years of research, 500 scholars, 282 vols, in one comprehensive digital collection, empowered by Brill’s renowned dictionaries. Check it out:
marketing.degruyterbrill.com/DGB_DLCC?utm...

scholarlyeditions.brill.com/product/dlcc/

Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa are often seen as rigid, but host governments can shape terms. Skilled negotiation on loans, resources, and repayment helps determine whether deals drive development or increase fiscal strain.

Latest article in the series - tinyurl.com/4sdnrbp5

Ports, Politics, and Power: The Messy Reality of China’s Overseas Port Investments What if China’s global port empire isn’t the master plan Washington fears, but a patchwork of messy deals shaped as much by local politics as Beijing’s

The truth about China’s port empire isn’t in the headlines — it’s in the messy details.

Ports, Politics, and Power: The Messy Reality of China’s Overseas Port Investments What if China’s global port empire isn’t the master plan Washington fears, but a patchwork of messy deals shaped as much by local politics as Beijing’s

In @warontherocks.bsky.social @zenel25.bsky.social & I argue that Beijing may have strategic aims for port investments, but #SOE, provincial, & host-country goals & rivalries keep things complicated & not guaranteed. States retain #sovereign power to steer & control what happens tinyurl.com/4ratufkz

We argue that even where Chinese firms hold large stakes, local governments often retain legal authority to limit use, including military access.

For the U.S. and others, the key isn’t alarmism but helping partners strengthen transparency, regulations, and sovereignty.

Ports, Politics, and Power: The Messy Reality of China’s Overseas Port Investments What if China’s global port empire isn’t the master plan Washington fears, but a patchwork of messy deals shaped as much by local politics as Beijing’s

In @warontherocks.bsky.social Dr. Meise and I argue that China’s port investments aren’t a single, coherent strategy for global dominance. Beijing has strategic aims, but projects are shaped by SOEs seeking profit, provincial rivalries, and host country politics. warontherocks.com/2025/09/port...

The Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia (Scopus-indexed) seeks reviewers for: 1) Geopolitics at the Internet’s Core (Springer, 2025) & 2) Innovation-Development Detours for Latecomers (CUP, 2024). Reviews: 3–5 pp. Info: jceasia.org Volunteer: jceabooks@gmail.com

The Technopolitics of China’s Yarlung Tsangpo Dam Project and the Paradox of Hydropower | Made in China Journal Three years after announcing their intent to construct a mega-dam along the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River as part of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan, Chinese officials gave their approval to proce...

In our piece for @madeinchinajournal.com, @pguer.bsky.social and I examine the paradoxes of China’s hydropower: a technology meant to solve problems that often deepens them. Using the lens of technopolitics, we show how technology reshapes power itself. madeinchinajournal.com/2025/09/04/t...

The Technopolitics of China’s Yarlung Tsangpo Dam Project and the Paradox of Hydropower | Made in China Journal Three years after announcing their intent to construct a mega-dam along the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River as part of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan, Chinese officials gave their approval to proce...

From Sanmenxia and Three Gorges to the Yarlung Tsangpo Dam, China has long relied on monumental hydropower to prove state capacity. @zenel25.bsky.social and @pguer.bsky.social show how such projects, while promising development and security, often deepen the very insecurities they claim to resolve.

Excited to be offering our bespoke fieldwork methods course "Doing Fieldwork in Challenging Contexts" with @xiananj.bsky.social for @komex.bsky.social next February, alongside a truly fantastic line-up of courses - with something for every methodological persuasion!

Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads Philosophers are fond of saying that their field boosts critical thinking. Two of them decided to put that claim to the test.

Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads theconversation.com/studying-phi...

NEW ANALYSIS: Record solar growth keeps China's CO2 falling in H1 2025, extending a decline since Mar 2024

☀️212GW added in H1 alone (US only has 178GW, in total)
⚡Power CO2 down 3%
🏗️Steel/cement falling too
🏭Coal-chemicals only sector to rise

www.carbonbrief.org/...
1/8

Summary of American Conquest: The Northwest Indian War and the Making of US Foreign Policy. Promo code: SZAREJKO20

A new flyer and promo code for 20% off my forthcoming book at the @stanfordpress.bsky.social website: www.sup.org/books/politi...

🚨Open Session submitted for the upcoming RSA & ANZRSAI Conference 🚨

S01: Rethinking Talent Geographies in Shrinking and Peripheral Regions: New Methods, Global Patterns, and Policy Innovation

For more information on this session and the conference:

💻 bit.ly/4okCnlk

Abstracts by: 19 September