“Towards a New Global Order? Ambitions, Scope and Challenges of China’s Belt and Road Initiative”
We are excited to present Bart Dessein as part of our CeMEAS Conversations.
Our video series “Towards a New Global Order? Ambitions, Scope and Challenges of China’s Belt and Road Initiative” was filmed on the sidelines of a workshop held at the University of Göttingen in 2019. In our conversations with Fabienne Bossuyt, Maria Danilovich and Bart Dessein we discuss China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from the angle of international politics and development assistance, debate its reception in Central Asia as well as its conceptual, philosophical and cultural roots in ancient China. https://www.cemeas.de/cemeas-u4-works…
In this video Bart Dessein discusses three questions:
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China’s new geopolitical strategy to connect Asia, Europe and Africa. How does it relate to the ancient Silk Road, a trade route that connected the Chinese Empire to the Mediterranean for hundreds of years.
“All under Heaven – Tianxia” is an ancient concept for world governance, and the center of this world order was the Imperial Court of China. What is the Tianxia conept and does it still play a role in China’s geopolitical ambitions today?
In the last few decades, China has reemerged as a new global power. How can we as researchers better tackle China’s new role in the world system?
Bart Dessein is professor at the Department of Chinese language and culture of Ghent University. He obtained his PhD from Ghent University in 1994 with a dissertation on Sarvastivada Buddhist scholasticism. The main research fields of Bart Dessein are the philosophical traditions of South and East Asia. He, more precisely, investigates philosophical developments in early Buddhism (India, Central Asia, China), and the mutual influences the Buddhist tradition and Confucian tradition have had in China. To the latter, investigation in the intellectual and scientific scene in China is connected. Bart Dessein has mainly published on early Buddhist philosophy (especially Sarvāstivāda and Mahāsāṃghika philosophy), Buddhist school formation, and the history of Buddhism in China. More recently, he has also been engaged in research on New Confucianism. https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/bart… http://www.eias.org/k_member/bart-des…