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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Kean Fan Lim
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
The portrayals of “new state capitalism” in both the popular media and policy-making circles have become a potent geopolitical category. This politically realist categorization is understandably popular because of its simplicity—states proactively participating in capital accumulation are construed as threats to institutions underpinning the “free market”. This paper complicates this portrayal by framing what appears to be a “rise” of state capitalistic maneuvers from China as a dynamic sovereignty–accumulation nexus. Specifically, Chinese state capitalism—and arguably state capitalism in general—constitutes the reproduction of sovereign rule. Underpinning this tension-filled process is territoriality: the use of territory for political, economic, and social ends. This dynamic relationship will be illustrated through an examination of how and why Yunnan, a southwestern Chinese province that was economically marginalized for several decades, emerged as a geostrategic platform for facilitating new rounds of capital accumulation. Through large-scale infrastructural investments in Yunnan, the Chinese state generated new territorial configurations that (a) enabled the positioning of Yunnan as a “bridgehead” of Chinese economic statecraft and (b) encouraged investments aimed at capturing new growth opportunities. While this state-led developmental process partially resolves tensions generated by previous rounds of capital accumulation, it also generates new tensions. Building on this case study, the paper demonstrates how Chinese state capitalism more accurately exemplifies a state-building process that is embedded in and is constituted by a central contradiction between the territorial and capitalistic logics of power. It concludes by presenting two directions for future research on Chinese state capitalism.
Author(s): Su X, Lim KF
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
Year: 2023
Volume: 55
Issue: 3
Pages: 697-715
Print publication date: 01/05/2023
Online publication date: 18/04/2022
Acceptance date: 24/03/2022
Date deposited: 16/05/2022
ISSN (print): 0308-518X
ISSN (electronic): 1472-3409
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X221093643
DOI: 10.1177/0308518X221093643
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