title: The Rationale and Effects of China's Belt and Road Initiative: Reducing Vulnerabilities in Domestic Political Economy
abstract: The existing literature suggests that China’s rationale for the belt and road initiative was to stimulate infrastructural investment abroad and thus economic growth at home, foster economic ties with Eurasia, and counter the US pivot to Asia. Employing a domestic political economy perspective, this article suggests that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aimed to address China’s three following vulnerabilities that could derail its economic growth and threaten its political regime—industrial sur