China’s increased presence within the UN and its peacekeeping missions shows its will to be a responsible actor, whilst shifting away from the China threat theory that has fed Western thought....Show moreChina’s increased presence within the UN and its peacekeeping missions shows its will to be a responsible actor, whilst shifting away from the China threat theory that has fed Western thought. However, little research has been done on how power is perceived within this field. The state claims to be non-interventionist but still sent an increasing amount of combat troops to Africa. It is unknown if the end goal is to provide aid or if there is more to it. This study intends to research what China’s model for peace and development within the mission of South Sudan entails, both theoretically and practically, and how it might use an underlying strategy of smart power. Herein, Nye’s concept of smart power is a way for a nation to maximise its strength through a combination of hard and soft power. In order to measure smart power, the components of military, economic, and affective and normative soft power were used. Military and economic power exist on as spectrum ranging from hard to soft power, whilst soft power is also devised into tangible and intangible assets. To research power, the thesis has used a variation of academic sources, databases, newspapers, and official governmental papers. These were chosen as to examine official reporting and factual outcomes. The results showed that the Chinese model for development contains soft power elements, whilst its activities in South Sudan employ both soft and hard power. The results therefore suggest that China might pursue a smart power strategy to safeguard its own interests. The realist concept of power still holds up today and might prove valuable to research more areas of power in UN missions on the African continent.Show less
The EU currently faces a challenge to adopt a unified approach to control Chinese IFDI in the CEE region. It is commonly assumed that the securitization of Chinese influence and the measures in...Show moreThe EU currently faces a challenge to adopt a unified approach to control Chinese IFDI in the CEE region. It is commonly assumed that the securitization of Chinese influence and the measures in place obstruct efficient regulation of (Chinese) IFDI. This thesis aims to determine to what extent the EU can respond in a uniform way to protect European strategic infrastructure assets from China’s investment ambitions in the CEE region. More specifically, this research will analyse the effectiveness of the current measures adopted by the EU to control Chinese IFDI and it will examine the possible obstruction of a uniform approach towards regulation by considering the West-European bias, in particular the Franco-German dominance. To answer the research question, the research will make use of an in-depth case study on the Budapest-Belgrade railway project and will use neoliberal institutionalism as the theoretical framework. The results revealed weaknesses in the EU measures and shortcomings in the EU’s effectiveness as the result of a fragmented Union and a biased approach to regulate Chinese IFDI. The results suggest a re-evaluation of the EU’s strategy to ensure an effective and unified approach.Show less
