Ian Maclay
@ian-maclay.bsky.social
Political Science major at Georgia State University | interested in China-Global South IPE, Development, Green Industrial Policy, State Capitalism, Regional Integration & BRI
…by recommending the adoption of ECOWAS-China Infrastructure Protocol whereby member states apply uniform standards and ECOWAS plays an active role in coordinating infrastructure projects to avoid duplication & ensure projects align with long-term integration initiatives.
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December 4, 2025 at 4:13 PM
…by recommending the adoption of ECOWAS-China Infrastructure Protocol whereby member states apply uniform standards and ECOWAS plays an active role in coordinating infrastructure projects to avoid duplication & ensure projects align with long-term integration initiatives.
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“[China’s BRI] has exposed the infrastructural potential that foreign investment can unlock, but it has also highlighted the critical need for endogenous coordination, political will, and institutional strengthening within ECOWAS.”
Charles, Aniche, Jacob & Iwuoha conclude...
6/7
Charles, Aniche, Jacob & Iwuoha conclude...
6/7
December 4, 2025 at 4:13 PM
“[China’s BRI] has exposed the infrastructural potential that foreign investment can unlock, but it has also highlighted the critical need for endogenous coordination, political will, and institutional strengthening within ECOWAS.”
Charles, Aniche, Jacob & Iwuoha conclude...
6/7
Charles, Aniche, Jacob & Iwuoha conclude...
6/7
The BRI in West Africa is more than a Chinese foreign policy initiative, it’s a “co-constructed process” dependent on state & non-state, national, regional & international actors. Accordingly, ECOWAS should play a more active role in shaping BRI investment in the region.
5/7
5/7
December 4, 2025 at 4:13 PM
The BRI in West Africa is more than a Chinese foreign policy initiative, it’s a “co-constructed process” dependent on state & non-state, national, regional & international actors. Accordingly, ECOWAS should play a more active role in shaping BRI investment in the region.
5/7
5/7
Physical infrastructure is important, and on paper it aligns with ECOWAS integration, however, without a harmonized regulatory framework, synchronized industrial & trade policy these projects run the risk of remaining fragmented at the national level.
4/7
4/7
December 4, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Physical infrastructure is important, and on paper it aligns with ECOWAS integration, however, without a harmonized regulatory framework, synchronized industrial & trade policy these projects run the risk of remaining fragmented at the national level.
4/7
4/7
Post neo-functionalism uniquely offers a better framework for understanding…
- the role of regional bureaucracies in integration
- how such external initiatives could benefit & undermine regional solidarity & integration
- tensions between national sovereignty & regionalism
3/7
- the role of regional bureaucracies in integration
- how such external initiatives could benefit & undermine regional solidarity & integration
- tensions between national sovereignty & regionalism
3/7
December 4, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Post neo-functionalism uniquely offers a better framework for understanding…
- the role of regional bureaucracies in integration
- how such external initiatives could benefit & undermine regional solidarity & integration
- tensions between national sovereignty & regionalism
3/7
- the role of regional bureaucracies in integration
- how such external initiatives could benefit & undermine regional solidarity & integration
- tensions between national sovereignty & regionalism
3/7
Victor Prince Charles, Ernest Toochi Aniche, Ogedi Jacob & Victor Chidubem Iwuoha use a post neo-functionalist lens to examine the double-edged sword of BRI infrastructure investment and the regional disintegration/potential external dependency that comes with bilateralism.
2/7
2/7
December 4, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Victor Prince Charles, Ernest Toochi Aniche, Ogedi Jacob & Victor Chidubem Iwuoha use a post neo-functionalist lens to examine the double-edged sword of BRI infrastructure investment and the regional disintegration/potential external dependency that comes with bilateralism.
2/7
2/7
To achieve sustainable development goals & to address challenges Global South countries face, Mazzucato & Monaco conclude that the prevailing understanding of industrial policy must go beyond old state-market dichotomies toward a more entrepreneurial mission driven state.
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December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
To achieve sustainable development goals & to address challenges Global South countries face, Mazzucato & Monaco conclude that the prevailing understanding of industrial policy must go beyond old state-market dichotomies toward a more entrepreneurial mission driven state.
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- Structural Policy Challenges - extractive uneven terms of trade due to reliance on raw materials exports
- Global Policy Challenges - digitalization, environmental crises and attempting to establish a place in the global GVC
11/12
- Global Policy Challenges - digitalization, environmental crises and attempting to establish a place in the global GVC
11/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
- Structural Policy Challenges - extractive uneven terms of trade due to reliance on raw materials exports
- Global Policy Challenges - digitalization, environmental crises and attempting to establish a place in the global GVC
11/12
- Global Policy Challenges - digitalization, environmental crises and attempting to establish a place in the global GVC
11/12
- Middle income trap - unable to compete with lower wage countries or higher income countries with greater productive capacity.
- Domestic Policy Challenges - weaknesses in state capacity, bureaucracy and policy implementation undercut ecological and social change
10/12
- Domestic Policy Challenges - weaknesses in state capacity, bureaucracy and policy implementation undercut ecological and social change
10/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
- Middle income trap - unable to compete with lower wage countries or higher income countries with greater productive capacity.
- Domestic Policy Challenges - weaknesses in state capacity, bureaucracy and policy implementation undercut ecological and social change
10/12
- Domestic Policy Challenges - weaknesses in state capacity, bureaucracy and policy implementation undercut ecological and social change
10/12
Challenges Global South Countries Face When Attempting to Implement Industrial Strategy
- Shrunken policy space (difficulty replicating developmental state model, GVC incumbents
- Country size (more options for larger countries, fewer options for smaller countries)
9/12
- Shrunken policy space (difficulty replicating developmental state model, GVC incumbents
- Country size (more options for larger countries, fewer options for smaller countries)
9/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Challenges Global South Countries Face When Attempting to Implement Industrial Strategy
- Shrunken policy space (difficulty replicating developmental state model, GVC incumbents
- Country size (more options for larger countries, fewer options for smaller countries)
9/12
- Shrunken policy space (difficulty replicating developmental state model, GVC incumbents
- Country size (more options for larger countries, fewer options for smaller countries)
9/12
3 - Insufficient Orientation on Outcomes
Growth for growth's sake misses the far reaching potential of industrial strategy to overcome crises like the climate crisis. Innovation in aerospace engineering arose out of state led investment in socially aspired space flight.
8/12
Growth for growth's sake misses the far reaching potential of industrial strategy to overcome crises like the climate crisis. Innovation in aerospace engineering arose out of state led investment in socially aspired space flight.
8/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
3 - Insufficient Orientation on Outcomes
Growth for growth's sake misses the far reaching potential of industrial strategy to overcome crises like the climate crisis. Innovation in aerospace engineering arose out of state led investment in socially aspired space flight.
8/12
Growth for growth's sake misses the far reaching potential of industrial strategy to overcome crises like the climate crisis. Innovation in aerospace engineering arose out of state led investment in socially aspired space flight.
8/12
For Mazzucato & Monaco, markets are themselves socially and politically embedded outcomes of interactions between public and private actors. Accordingly, they theorize a mission driven activist state not only correcting market failure but shaping markets.
7/12
7/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
For Mazzucato & Monaco, markets are themselves socially and politically embedded outcomes of interactions between public and private actors. Accordingly, they theorize a mission driven activist state not only correcting market failure but shaping markets.
7/12
7/12
Ben Fine’s neo-institutionalist approach is an upgrade from this false dichotomy and the downstream neoliberal and remedial approaches, but it ultimately stops short of questioning the goals of the markets or role of the state.
6/12
6/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Ben Fine’s neo-institutionalist approach is an upgrade from this false dichotomy and the downstream neoliberal and remedial approaches, but it ultimately stops short of questioning the goals of the markets or role of the state.
6/12
6/12
...which lends itself to neoliberal approaches that expect laisseiz faire market equilibrium and remedial approaches that expect the state to play a complementary, corrective role when markets inevitably fail.
5/12
5/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
...which lends itself to neoliberal approaches that expect laisseiz faire market equilibrium and remedial approaches that expect the state to play a complementary, corrective role when markets inevitably fail.
5/12
5/12
2 - State-Market Dichotomy: the market is assumed to be the innovative set of main actors while the state is a background, risk-averse regulator. This fundamentally misunderstands private investor risk averseness & state capacity to operate as an entrepreneurial state...
4/12
4/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
2 - State-Market Dichotomy: the market is assumed to be the innovative set of main actors while the state is a background, risk-averse regulator. This fundamentally misunderstands private investor risk averseness & state capacity to operate as an entrepreneurial state...
4/12
4/12
1 - Wrong question: Is industrial policy worth implementing? Right question: how to get industrial policy right? It's become normalized but tends to remain in the technical confines of productivity & profit instead of its capacity to direct the market toward societal goals.
3/12
3/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
1 - Wrong question: Is industrial policy worth implementing? Right question: how to get industrial policy right? It's become normalized but tends to remain in the technical confines of productivity & profit instead of its capacity to direct the market toward societal goals.
3/12
3/12
Together, they address three shortcomings in the industrial policy discourse, ultimately recasting the public-private divide, what states and markets are capable of and what purpose markets actually serve.
2/12
2/12
December 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Together, they address three shortcomings in the industrial policy discourse, ultimately recasting the public-private divide, what states and markets are capable of and what purpose markets actually serve.
2/12
2/12
Terms of previous engagement were more heavily defined by China but as Brazil develops into a regional powerhouse of its own, it’s started to vocally take its own distinct positions in a way that could inject tension into future Sino-Brazilian relations.
4/4
4/4
December 2, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Terms of previous engagement were more heavily defined by China but as Brazil develops into a regional powerhouse of its own, it’s started to vocally take its own distinct positions in a way that could inject tension into future Sino-Brazilian relations.
4/4
4/4
As Brazil has upgraded its status as a world power and as BYD is entering the market, divergence in priorities domestically and geopolitically are surfacing especially when it comes to labor protections and human rights.
3/4
3/4
December 2, 2025 at 2:40 PM
As Brazil has upgraded its status as a world power and as BYD is entering the market, divergence in priorities domestically and geopolitically are surfacing especially when it comes to labor protections and human rights.
3/4
3/4
Brazil has welcomed Chinese support in building out its information communication technology sector (ICT) through welcoming Huawei to the point that it complicates its formal non-alignment status.
2/4
2/4
December 2, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Brazil has welcomed Chinese support in building out its information communication technology sector (ICT) through welcoming Huawei to the point that it complicates its formal non-alignment status.
2/4
2/4