Tayyab Safdar (Global Studies) has a new article published in Asia Europe Journal on December 3, 2025. The citation and abstract are given below:

Safdar, Muhammad Tayyab (2025) "Structural transformation within a neoliberal state architecture: Evidence from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor," Asia Europe Journal

Abstract

China has emerged as an important development partner for many developing countries, especially after the Belt & Road Initiative’s (BRI) launch in 2013. The BRI’s supporters argue that China aims to contribute to long-term structural transformation in host countries through a holistic development model which includes trade, aid and investment. Through this model, informed by China’s development experience, the Chinese seek to promote long-term structural transformation in partner countries in the global South. While China’s motivations for promoting such a development model have received substantial attention in the literature, this paper addresses the issue of structural change and industrial policy from the perspective of host countries, especially those that have remained peripheral to the dynamic process of industrialisation in Asia. Using evidence from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the BRI, the paper critically evaluates the host state’s capability to bring about structural change. Despite substantial Chinese investment in Pakistan’s power sector under CPEC, industrial linkages remain limited. The country is not part of the dynamic value chains that link China with regions like Southeast Asia. The paper argues that the lack of Chinese investment in Pakistan’s manufacturing sector is a function of the country’s political settlement, which promotes unproductive rent-seeking. It shows that decades of neoliberal reforms in Pakistan have hollowed out the state’s ability to develop and implement an active industrial policy. The interaction of neoliberal reforms with the local political economy generates perverse incentives whereby policymakers promote investment in rent-thick areas like power generation and real estate. Without state capacity within the host countries, the paper questions Chinese policymakers’ ability to contribute to long-term structural change in developing countries like Pakistan and looks at the long-term implications for the BRI’s sustainability.