Fragmented sovereignty and unregulated flows

Abstract

The concept of the Silk Road has recently been repackaged as a China-led inter-state enterprise that will lead to ‘a win-win attempt for all’. This technocratic utopia of superior infrastructure, smooth transport routes, and boosted trade should be challenged, because it ignores the countless flows and networks across Eurasia that states fail to control. The zone connecting China to India across Myanmar and Bangladesh exemplifies the obstacles that the broader scheme is generally likely to face: distrust, implementation deficits, fragmented sovereignty, sensitive spaces, and unregulated cross-border flows. In this chapter, it is argued that the plan, far from offering benign progress for all, will damage many livelihoods and lead to adverse political, environmental, and security outcomes.