The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank The Construction of Power and the Struggle for the East Asian International Order

This book assesses the strategic significance of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) by examining the logic of international power and order, historic trends in East Asian international relations, the AIIB's design in comparison to 'rival' financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, recent tendencies in Chinese foreign policy, and the Chinese system of political economy. It focuses on how China 'constructs' international arrangements at a critical juncture in history compared to other great powers, especially the United States and Japan. Viewed in isolation, the AIIB does not represent a radical departure from the existing international order; it is a hybrid institution built on China's integration into the West-dominated international structure and conditioned by the global financial market. But the AIIB does draw in part from a different institutional lineage, a different historical root, and a different national system of political economy. In this context, China's greater success will constitute a partial change to the existing international order, whatever the Chinese intention.

Ming Wan is Professor and Associate Dean at the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs, George Mason University, USA. His recent books include The China Model and Global Political Economy: Comparison, Impact, and Interaction (2014).

1. Power, Order and Biogeography
2. The East Asian International Orders
3. The AIIB Tied in a Belt
4. The AIIB versus the World Bank and the ADB
5. A New Hegemonic Order in East Asia?
Appendix. Comparing the Articles of Agreement for the IBRD, the ADB and the AIIB