Belt and road: a Chinese world order

‘When imagining new worlds we often start with a map’ (p. 1). This is the central premise to Bruno Maçães's Belt and road: a Chinese world order. The author brings a fresh perspective to his attempt to shed light on today's political atlas. He discusses the new powers that have emerged in Eurasia and examines the role that China has played in bringing the region together through large-scale geopolitical projects. The book views China's ‘belt and road initiative’ (BRI) as a means to build a new world order that will replace the current United States-led global system. Therefore, the project is not just an initiative, but rather a concerted effort by China to expand its sphere of influence. Maçães's focus on geopolitics sets his argument apart from other works that explore the subject-matter. Scholars often view the BRI as an effort to increase international cooperation. They tend to focus on how the project can prove advantageous to all parties on both a political and an economic level, with little discussion given to the impact the initiative might have on the United States’ standing within the region. There has been a willingness to look at China's policies in this area through rose-tinted glasses without critically engaging with the wider implications of the BRI. In contrast, Maçães provides a comprehensive analysis that takes into account the intricacies of the issue.