Zara Albright

Defining the Belt and Road: How Ideas and Interests Shaped Argentina’s Approach to the Initiative Abstract How do ideas and identities affect how countries evaluate joining China’s Belt and Road...

Check out the open access article to learn more about key moments and decisions, and to dig into the data (including some exciting maps)!

doi.org/10.1590/0034...

Why does this matter? Leaders do not only calculate material costs and benefits of their foreign policy – they also consider the symbolic costs and benefits.

On the other hand, the Fernández government saw it as a symbol of autonomy from the US and IMF, so they decided to join.

The Macri government perceived the BRI as contradictory to their notion of Argentina as a ‘Western’ country, so they didn’t join.

I show that Argentina’s BRI membership was less about financing for specific energy or transportation projects. Instead, it was about how the current leaders saw the country’s international identity.

Defining the Belt and Road: How Ideas and Interests Shaped Argentina’s Approach to the Initiative Abstract How do ideas and identities affect how countries evaluate joining China’s Belt and Road...

Why have Latin American countries joined 🇨🇳China’s Belt and Road Initiative? My new open access article in the Brazilian Review of International Politics traces 🇦🇷Argentina's negotiations to join the #BRI between 2017-2022.

doi.org/10.1590/0034...

Bridging the Pacific: Chile and Uruguay’s positioning in the face of China’s rise Since the arrival of China to Latin America, initially as a key trade partner and later, as a source of investment, finance, and technology, South American countries have pursued different strategi...

Unfortunately the article is not open access, but I have 50 author’s free e-prints available here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/SVGCB...

This research highlights the nuances in smaller state strategies and the importance of cross-regional research on approaches to great power competition.

Our 58 interviews show bridging results from 1) economic dependency on China, 2) commodity exporter lobbying to reinforce that dependency, and 3) high institutional capacity.

We argue no. 🇨🇱Chile and 🇺🇾Uruguay are bridging – not choosing a side, but maximizing the benefits of competition and seeking to be China’s ambassadors in Latin America.

Most states aren’t choosing a side in #USChinaCompetition. But are they all hedging?

Thrilled to share my new article with Diego Telias in The Pacific Review introducing the notion of #bridging as a strategy for smaller states navigating 🇨🇳China’s rise!

doi.org/10.1080/0951...

Also very excited to announce I’ll be starting as a postdoc at the Princeton Program in Latin American Studies this fall and will be a Morgenthau fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center next year!

Thanks to @kevinpgallagher.bsky.social @tboas.bsky.social @rosellacappella.bsky.social & Francisco Urdinez, and to the whole @bupolisci.bsky.social community for all of your support & guidance in the past five years!

On Monday, I successfully defended my dissertation, “Beyond the Great Powers: How South American States are Navigating US-China Competition in the 21st Century”