Where Rising Powers Meet: China and Russia At Their North Asian Border

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ContextOver the last decade world attention has focused on Russia and China as two of the world's four rising economies (BRICs), but there has been little focus on their interface. Furthermore, in the studies that have been done analyses have rarely extended beyond the disciplines of economics, history and political science. They have largely focused on state policies and changes at macro-level and have paid little attention to the myriad social transformations now taking place within and between these two multi-ethnic societies. Yet, since the demise of Soviet socialism in 1991 and especially in the last decade, the line of contact has become a site of rapid transformations and ever widening contrasts between the two countries. The 'twin-cities', notably Manzhouli/Zabaikalsk, Heihe/Blagoveshchensk and Suifenhe/Ussuriisk, that have mushroomed along the border are assuming utterly different characters. Meanwhile, the extraction of strategic resources (mining in particular) is attracting global economic interests, overturning traditional occupations, and drawing in new populations.Aims and ObjectivesThe proposed project, based in social anthropology, will seek to address these developments. A series of case studies will be carried out by an international team with an in-depth knowledge of the region and its languages. The project will study comparatively social and economic practices in their political environments in the two countries. We aim to highlight and identify the key factors, including cultural attitudes to entrepreneurship and the market, that drive their evolution and future trajectories. We suggest that borders and peripheries can shed light on the internal dynamics within great post-imperial states that are not visible from the metropolis; ground level studies reveal emergent forms of global modernity that are symptomatic and may be predictive of future general trends.Specifically, case studies of the transforming 'twin cities' will investigate the highly divergent forms of citizenship and the contrasts in economic affordances and wellbeing emerging on either side - along with the migration flows and new non-state hybrid spaces that cross-cut state governance. Our project will also investigate interventions in neighbouring Mongolia, where Russia and China operate as global actors alongside others. We will seek to understand their different modes of operation in a developing country and their potential political, social and environmental consequences. Finally, the regional focus of the study will also highlight the ethnic dynamics of this border region inhabited by indigenous groups that were traditionally nomadic and Buddhist. The project will examine to what extent minority people negotiate border regulations differently from Russians and Chinese, and in what circumstances kinship, ethnic and religious ties do (or do not) trump national loyalties.Potential BenefitsThis project will be the first of its kind and its primary contribution will be to provide new kinds of information about a strategic region, which until now has remained largely out of the public eye. The research on attitudes and practices regarding citizenship rights, history, ethnicity, well-being, property, employment, sustainability, and consumption of local and foreign goods will shed light on the fundamental values of the diverse populations of the Rising Powers - and therefore will be of interest to the general public seeking to gain a better understanding of these two countries. It will also be of direct benefit to researchers from a range of disciplines (e.g. anthropology, sociology, politics, economics, international relations, ethnic and development studies) and will interest the growing number of stakeholders with a focus on the region, in particular foreign policy makers in the UK and abroad, development banks, media and information agencies and NGOs.