PASCALE MASSOT: China's Vulnerability Paradox [Book Talk]

presents an original framework to explain the uneven transformations in global commodity markets resulting from the dramatic, contemporary expansion of China’s economy. Within a short period, China emerged from being an almost complete outsider to becoming one of the principal players in most global commodity markets. Despite this, China at times displays vulnerabilities toward global commodity markets, given high levels of import dependence but also, this book argues, because of unequal positions of market power. Why is it that despite China’s rising salience, Chinese stakeholders are often not able to shape markets in their preferred direction? Why have some markets undergone fundamental changes in the way they operate while other similar markets have been more resilient? And how can we explain the uneven liberalization dynamics across markets? Through the case studies of iron ore, potash, uranium, and copper markets, Pascale Massot argues that the balance of market power between Chinese domestic and international market stakeholders and the way it evolves over time explain their behavior as well as the likelihood of global market institutional change. A change in relative market power between dominant producers and consumers can act as a catalyst for change in global market institutions. At a time of deepening US-China tensions and debates about the future of the global economy, this book provides an alternative, granular understanding of the resonance dynamics between the domestic political economy of large emerging economies and the political economy of global markets.

is an associate professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is also non-resident Honorary Fellow, Political Economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, and a Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. In 2022, she was a member and adviser to the Co-Chairs of the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Indo-Pacific Advisory Committee, which was tasked with providing recommendations to the Minister on the development of Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy. She also served as the Senior Advisor for China and Asia in the offices of various Canadian Cabinet ministers, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of International Trade, between 2015 and 2017 and again between 2020 and 2021.

is Professor of International Politics and Director of the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester. He is a leading expert on climate change politics and policy. He has carried out research on climate change within the United Nations system, on carbon markets as a response to climate change, on various transnational initiatives on climate by cities, institutional investors, NGOs and others, and the politics of trying to wean the global economy off fossil fuels. He has extensive media experience on radio, TV and print media.

Host or Publisher The Manchester China Institute