April A. Herlevi
Research Agenda
Politics in the Zone: How China Uses Industrial Enclaves to Upgrade Technology and Reform its Economy
The spirit of Shenzhen is not dead. Special economic zones remain critical centers for technological and social reform in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Even in Chairman Xi Jinping’s centralized techno-security state, special economic zones are part of China’s high-stakes gamble to avoid the middle-income trap by promoting domestic innovation. Politics in the Zone: How China Uses Industrial Enclaves to Upgrade Technology and Reform its Economy shows how special economic zones (SEZs) remain a fundamental component of China’s industrial policy and overall political economy. Zones provide a mechanism for small-scale experiments and a feedback loop for innovation and local adaption. Most scholarly literature focuses on the consequences of SEZs: do these various zones contribute to various economic outcomes? While assessing SEZ effects on GDP growth, employment, foreign direct investment, total factor productivity, and other outcomes is important, there is insufficient scholarly attention paid to how zones are created, altered, or closed based on the evolving imperatives of the PRC central government. This book fills that gap. At the macro-level, I explain how zones are used to manage economic, social, and political reform each time China’s leaders are faced with new economic problems. At the local-level, I explore zone creation in a subset of cities—other than only Shenzhen—to illustrate the varieties of capitalism within China.
China's Overseas Special Economic Zones, in Theory and Practice
Leaders from China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) often describe their overseas port investment as an attempt “to replicate the ‘Port-Zone-City’ model” used in Shekou, China in the early 1980s. Shekou is the small enclave that was formed in- side the original Shenzhen special economic zone (SEZ). The “Shekou model” is more than an historic element of China’s own development path; it has now become a narrative that is actively used to promote modern projects associated with the Belt and Road Initiative.
US-China Technological, Economic, and Strategic Competition
For this effort, I track advances in China's innovation ecosystem and US responses to those efforts. China's government, military, and commercial firms are focused on artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technologies, information systems, semiconductors, and the enabling technologies related to these fields. Growing concern in the United States has led to sanctions, export controls, and a variety of other strategies to limit China's access to critical technologies as well as strategies to increase onshoring.
Pacific Maritime Security Cooperation
Research sponsored by the University of Adelaide and the Australian Government through a grant by the Australian Department of Defence. The purpose of this project is to create a common understanding of maritime security among Pacific Island countries and their external partners. For more on this effort, view the project StoryMap here, or read our reports on Views from the Pacific
and its partners, and Partnerships, priorities, and possibilities.
China's Maritime Strategies in Oceania
Strategic competition in Oceania has the potential disrupt the Blue Pacific Agenda. Relying on Track 1.5 dialogues, academic research, interviews, and experts from the region, I examine how China's activity in the region is evolving and evaluate US responses to that activity.
The spirit of Shenzhen is not dead. Special economic zones remain critical centers for technological and social reform in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Even in Chairman Xi Jinping’s centralized techno-security state, special economic zones are part of China’s high-stakes gamble to avoid the middle-income trap by promoting domestic innovation. Politics in the Zone: How China Uses Industrial Enclaves to Upgrade Technology and Reform its Economy shows how special economic zones (SEZs) remain a fundamental component of China’s industrial policy and overall political economy. Zones provide a mechanism for small-scale experiments and a feedback loop for innovation and local adaption. Most scholarly literature focuses on the consequences of SEZs: do these various zones contribute to various economic outcomes? While assessing SEZ effects on GDP growth, employment, foreign direct investment, total factor productivity, and other outcomes is important, there is insufficient scholarly attention paid to how zones are created, altered, or closed based on the evolving imperatives of the PRC central government. This book fills that gap. At the macro-level, I explain how zones are used to manage economic, social, and political reform each time China’s leaders are faced with new economic problems. At the local-level, I explore zone creation in a subset of cities—other than only Shenzhen—to illustrate the varieties of capitalism within China.
China's Overseas Special Economic Zones, in Theory and Practice
Leaders from China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) often describe their overseas port investment as an attempt “to replicate the ‘Port-Zone-City’ model” used in Shekou, China in the early 1980s. Shekou is the small enclave that was formed in- side the original Shenzhen special economic zone (SEZ). The “Shekou model” is more than an historic element of China’s own development path; it has now become a narrative that is actively used to promote modern projects associated with the Belt and Road Initiative.
US-China Technological, Economic, and Strategic Competition
For this effort, I track advances in China's innovation ecosystem and US responses to those efforts. China's government, military, and commercial firms are focused on artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technologies, information systems, semiconductors, and the enabling technologies related to these fields. Growing concern in the United States has led to sanctions, export controls, and a variety of other strategies to limit China's access to critical technologies as well as strategies to increase onshoring.
Pacific Maritime Security Cooperation
Research sponsored by the University of Adelaide and the Australian Government through a grant by the Australian Department of Defence. The purpose of this project is to create a common understanding of maritime security among Pacific Island countries and their external partners. For more on this effort, view the project StoryMap here, or read our reports on Views from the Pacific
and its partners, and Partnerships, priorities, and possibilities.
China's Maritime Strategies in Oceania
Strategic competition in Oceania has the potential disrupt the Blue Pacific Agenda. Relying on Track 1.5 dialogues, academic research, interviews, and experts from the region, I examine how China's activity in the region is evolving and evaluate US responses to that activity.
