Determinants of Investment and Aid for Chinese Cooperation in Latin America

With this project we seek to answer this question by using quantitative and qualitative methodologies, articulating network theory (a relatively new method in International Relations) with discourse analysis and fieldwork. Among the determinants at the subnational level that will be the object of study of this project is the network of relationships between regional political elites and national political elites. Our hypothesis is that a higher level of political coordination among elites allows decisions made by national elites to be implemented without major resistance in the different regions of the country. Thus, in the context of the "left turn" of Latin American countries (which is particularly evident in foreign policy discourse and formulation), countries with a higher level of coordination among their elites are expected to increase their economic and political relations with China (since the national elites would be able to mobilize the whole country towards the goal of moving away from U.S. influence), while countries with a lower level of coordination will show a very small marginal increase. Behind these heterogeneous effects would lie the willingness of regional elites to participate in the political and economic projects of national elites.