ABSTRACT
Chapter 10 analyzes the findings of the six case studies and comes to the conclusion that the socialization of political elites represents a key element of the Belt and Road Initiative and of China’s associated effort to reach global hegemony. BRI elites tend to respond positively due to normative suasion that includes Beijing’s ‘diplomacy of respect’ and, more importantly, to material incentives consisting mainly of prestige infrastructure projects. In all cases, the socialization process was successful; but, because of the preeminence of material incentives, only role playing, Type I socialization was reached, which is rather superficial and not necessarily stable. Socialized elites redefined the national interest in ways favorable to China. However, in many cases, this had major negative consequences at society level, which in turn impacted the elites and their attitude toward the Chinese socializer. This led to the temporary return to strategic calculation reasoning, to permanently incomplete Type I socialization, or to the end of the socialization process (even if strategic calculation cooperation continued). The latter occurred when factors of a different nature were added, the most important being geopolitical rivalry. Accordingly, the chapter analyzes the possible effects of the emerging American balancing act on China’s global project.
