China’s economic rise was one of the most momentous developments of the twentieth century, changing the landscape of both regional and world politics. Its extraordinary growth has confirmed the power of free markets, yet it has also challenged neoliberal perspectives on what constitutes the foundations of a market economy. Is China establishing a new approach to international development and an alternative model for the developing world—especially in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis? Is the Chinese model unique to China, or can it be applied across national borders? How should we understand the characteristics of China’s growing global footprint? Two new books by Lina Benabdallah and Min Ye are welcome additions to the literature, endeavoring to explain the implications of China’s globalization in the developing world and how it might cause a shift in global power. With sophisticated theory and rich empirical studies, both books conclude that a globalizing China has given rise to a new paradigm for expanding economic and political power, inspiring new thinking that challenges existing stereotypes.

Shaping the Future of Power examines China’s increasing global presence through its evolving relationship with African countries to evaluate whether it is “trying to write a new global order” or “reinterpret parts of the existing one” (p. 144). As the title suggests, Benabdallah argues that China’s approach, centered on social networks, reveals a new model in foreign policy and power projection that contrasts with the approach of Western global powers. Taking inspiration from Qin Yaqin’s international relations theory on guanxi (social connections), she develops an original conceptual framework of “relational productive power” and highlights “people-centered diplomacy as power” (p. 8) in the study of global politics.

Benabdallah’s book consists of seven chapters. After the introductory chapter, it starts with an overview of present-day China–Africa relations (Chapter 2), emphasizing the importance of knowledge production, network building, and people-to-people diplomacy. The author introduces the theory of relational productive power and links relationality to the study of international relations and development in Chapter 3. The next three chapters document how relational productive power is built and maintained through case studies in military diplomacy and security trainings (Chapter 4), public diplomacy and trainings for journalists (Chapter 5), and cultural diplomacy and the Confucius Institutes (Chapter 6). The conclusion (Chapter 7) extends the discussion of China’s networks beyond Africa and evaluates the impact of China’s relational power on the international order.

The book’s most notable contribution to the field of international relations is its focus on nonmaterial capabilities in foreign policy. First, the author convincingly contests the limited scope of mainstream international relations theories on material capabilities through her well-developed empirical cases that study knowledge production and network-building that occur as part of human resource development initiatives. For example, China’s military presence and influence in Africa are much more far-reaching than material-based perspectives suggest, because those perspectives focus solely on the number of soldiers or military bases on the ground. In fact, China’s presence in Africa extends through comprehensive networks developed by way of military training, peacekeeping, and defense forums. Relational productive power, although less tangible than traditional military or economic measures of power, can be just as strong and should be considered alongside material power in assessing China’s growing global influence. Second, the book’s focus on people-to-people exchanges also challenges commonly held ideas in the West that China’s diplomacy in Africa is “neocolonialism” based on commercial ambitions, infrastructure building, and natural resource extraction.

Although this book provides rich empirical data that yields new insights into China’s modality of expanding power and diffusing norms, critics may wonder whether its relational approach to diplomacy is truly novel. One could argue that people-to-people connections and social networking have always been integral to diplomacy. As the author briefly notes (p. 86), other global powers such as the United States and the Soviet Union used professional training programs as part of Cold War public diplomacy. The book’s central argument could have been strengthened by contrasting China’s people-to-people diplomacy with similar initiatives by other emerging major powers such as India and Brazil, as well as with traditional global powers’ diplomatic programs. Additionally, the appeal of China’s development and governance model to the Global South should be balanced against its limitations. More attention to the African countries involved in these programs might have enabled readers to understand the processes of network-building and impact of China’s relational approach from the African participants’ perspectives. There are notable cases of backlash against China’s presence in some African countries such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Ghana, as well as mounting concerns about Chinese debt-trap diplomacy, which could lead to a reevaluation and reorientation of China’s diplomatic role. Further discussion of the effectiveness and sustainability of power projection through transnational networks would highlight the importance of the relational and ideational aspects of emergent rising powers in the Global South.

The Belt Road and Beyond, in contrast, invites readers to engage in the domestic political dynamics behind China’s mode of globalization by examining why Chinese leaders launch ambitious nationalist strategies. In its answer to this question, the book presents a novel conceptual model—state-mobilized globalization (SMG)—that argues that China’s globalization strategies originate from the authoritarian leaders’ defensive responses in times of economic crisis to ensure their hold on power. China’s most significant globalization campaign is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), through which Beijing has made massive infrastructure investments in 70 countries to increase its connections with Eurasia, South Asia, and the Middle East. Within China’s domestic political sphere, communist leaders initially frame globalization strategies in politically ambiguous terms to mobilize broader coalitions in the policy announcement phase. Then, subnational actors take advantage of bureaucratic fragmentation within the Chinese system to interpret the central strategy in the pursuit of their own interests and improvise in the implementation phase. Ye’s analysis of the cyclical and adaptive interplay between nationalist mobilization and discretionary local implementation reveals the fundamental drivers, processes, and outcomes of globalization in China and by China.

The book is divided into three parts. “Part I: The Theory” (Chapters 1 and 2) outlines the SMG as a new capitalist framework that explains two key mechanisms of China’s national strategies: state mobilization from above and the bottom-up market response. “Part II: The Strategies” applies the SMG framework to three globalization programs from 1998 to 2018: the Western Development Program (Chapter 3), China Goes Global (Chapter 4), and the BRI (Chapter 5). “Part III: Subnational Actors” unpacks variations across local governments (Chapter 6) and business sectors (Chapters 7) in interpreting and implementing nationalist policies. Ye employs a mixed-method approach, weaving together statistical analysis, process tracing, archival analysis, and fieldwork. Chapter 8 concludes with the “roads” and “roadblocks” in the BRI. What Ye terms the Chinese mobilization state has worked for globalization in China, but it is “counterproductive as a driver of globalization by China” (p. 226). From within, this system delays structural reform in China and boosts the autocratic leader’s power. Abroad, “the ambiguity and ambition—two characteristics of China’s strategy—are counterproductive” (p. 224), generating backlash at the regional and global levels.

Ye makes valuable contributions to the field of Chinese studies and comparative politics. First, her emphasis on the domestic political and economic conditions underlying China’s globalization strategies counters the popular portrayal of the BRI as a cohesive strategy by President Xi Jinping with expansionist aims (p. 26). Second, she brings renewed attention to the highly fragmented nature of the Chinese state that has long influenced its policy, challenging the common perception of Beijing as a unitary actor capable of coordinating state agencies and firms across its vast territory. Ye provides insight into the opaque policy making and implementation shaping China’s national strategies for globalization. Third, Ye’s rich literature review situates the SMG in a conceptual framework of cross-national comparative perspectives alongside liberal market economies, coordinated market economies, developmental states, and state capitalism.

However, the book’s efforts to build a “holistic” framework of Chinese capitalism (p. 14) could be bolstered by including how the Chinese state has mobilized transnational actors, in addition to the Chinese state-owned and private enterprises that have greatly contributed to China’s globalization. Both foreign businesses and talented Chinese expatriates have facilitated China’s integration into the global economy through years of experience, expertise, and knowledge transfer. Moreover, future research could extend the scope of Ye’s empirical cases to increase the generalized validity of the SMG framework by making cross-city comparisons (especially with relatively less-developed cities) within China and cross-national comparisons with other fragmented economies. Lastly, although the focus on China’s internal factors enriches our understanding of how politics and economics have interacted to drive China’s globalization, subsequent studies should cover how Chinese citizens perceive China’s globalization strategies, as well as how Chinese investment abroad affects other countries and foreign citizens.

Both authors offer fresh approaches to China’s foreign policy and economic globalization, making timely and powerful contributions to the discussion about the future of international development and global balance of power at a time when existing power structures are being reconfigured. They expand our conceptual understanding of China’s globalization model, provide context for current tensions in US–China relations, and offer reflections on the current mode of globalization and shareholder capitalism, the potential for decoupling of the United States and China, and the reform of the existing international trade regime. These two new books are worthwhile reads for both general and specialist audiences who are interested in the complex dynamics behind the grand strategies of contemporary China.