The Political Economy of Japanese and Chinese Infrastructure Financing Governance

‘This book makes a major contribution to our understanding of states and development. Articulating and successfully deploying the concept of “regulatory complexes,” Trissia Wijaya takes us well beyond the important but routinized analyses of regulatory capture, providing a rich theoretical framework for analyzing the complex interactions between various actors involved in infrastructure financing. The book extends critical political economy perspectives, providing not only a compelling and detailed empirical analysis of the practices of Japanese and Chinese investors in Indonesia but a framework for thinking about states, transnational fractions of capital, finance, and development issues more generally. It will serve as an important reference for scholars working on these crucial issues.’ Jim Glassman, University of British Columbia

‘Scholars have recognized the significance of Asian donors in the 2000s, when many emerged as new players in international development. Today, we must shed new light on the role of Asian donors, such as China and Japan, as potential forces to supplement the United States’ retreat from global affairs. This book serves as a valuable reference for navigating the increasingly uncertain landscape of infrastructure financing.’ Jin Sato, University of Tokyo

‘An ambitious, original, and insightful gem. Writing with theoretical rigor, historical complexity and analytical clarity, Wijaya explains the differences in regulatory politics involving Japanese and Chinese financing infrastructural projects in Indonesia. Her focus on the variations in transnational capitalist class interests, their conflicts and alliances with the host country’s power elite effectively debunks facile assumptions about the national characters of foreign capital or the unitary interest of the nation states. A brilliant study of one of the most dynamic regions of the global south.’ Ching Kwan Lee, University of California, Los Angeles and author of The Specter of Global China and Forever Hong Kong

‘This book reveals how geostrategic ambitions collide with domestic politics, as large-scale infrastructure projects are planned, financed, and constructed - a must read that shows how geopolitical rivalry is reshaping our world.’ Seth Schindler, University of Manchester

Trissia Wijaya is a McKenzie Research Fellow, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne.