Publications

The Construction of Social Capital and Economic Power Among Indian Businessmen in Tanzania (in Chinese, 坦桑尼亚印度裔商人的社会资本与经济权力建构)

Tanzania’s national system emphasizes transcending ethnic groups in discourse, yet socio-economic activities continue to rely on ethnic networks. Therefore, this study combines historical documents and field interviews to focus on how Indian businessmen in Tanzania construct social capital, maintain, and localize their economic power. The article argues that their success does not simply rely on closed ethnic networks or external institutional privileges, but rather through a dynamic process of “institutional translation,” strategically transforming internal social capital—including business networks, trust mechanisms rooted in family and community, and shared values—into forms that can be accepted and recognized by mainstream Tanzanian society and official institutions. Through three mechanisms: resource legitimation, businessmen build bridges between “ethnicity” and “national system,” achieving the local embedding of their economic power. The centralization of resources within core families, intergenerational inheritance of economic and cultural capital, and continuous negotiation between Indians, the state and other ethnic groups jointly shape the power structure. Consequently, Indian capital can act as a positive force for Tanzania’s economy, yet it may also foster exclusion in contexts of social stratification and trust deficits, revealing the multifaceted nature of institutional embeddedness.

坦桑尼亚的国家制度在话语上强调超越族群，社会经济活动却持续依赖族群网络。因此，本研究结合历史文献与实地访谈，聚焦印度裔商人在坦桑尼亚如何建构社会资本，维系并地方化其经济权力。文章认为，印度裔商人的成功并非简单地依靠封闭的族群网络或外部制度特权，而是通过一个动态的“制度转译”过程将内部的社会资本——商业网络、基于家庭与社区的信任机制与共享价值观——有策略地转化为能够被坦桑尼亚主流社会和官方制度所接纳和认可的形式。通过资源合法化转译、身份认同化转译、网络权力化转译三种机制，印度裔商人在“族群性”与“国家制度”之间架起桥梁，实现经济权力的地方化嵌入。核心家族的资源集中、经济与文化资本的代际传承，以及印度裔与国家和他族群体的持续协商共同塑造了权力结构，印度裔资本既可对坦桑尼亚经济形成积极推动，也可能在阶层断裂与信任缺失的情况下形成潜在的排斥效应，这体现了制度嵌入的多面性。

Date: December 2025
Journal: Journal of China-Africa Studies (中国非洲学刊)
DOI: CNKI:SUN:ZGFK.0.2025-04-003

The Impact of the Trump Administration’s Aid Cuts for Africa and the Restructuring of the African Aid System (in Chinese, 特朗普政府削减对非援助的影响与非洲援助体系的重构)

In early 2025 the Trump administration implemented substantial cuts to U.S. aid to Africa. These reductions produced severe short-term shocks across sub-Saharan Africa and also challenged the integrity and sustainability of established aid arrangements. Drawing on U.S. aid project data and case studies, this paper analyzes the mechanisms and patterns through which the cuts affected African recipients. Research findings show that whether an aid project survives largely depends on its alignment with U.S. strategic priorities, its funding size, and its administrative level. The aid cuts revealed African governments’ high dependence on external assistance and the fragility of existing aid arrangements. Beyond the direct fiscal shortfall, U.S. reductions have weakened the provision of public goods and services in critical sectors such as public health and food security, produced collective-action problems, and imposed substantial switching costs and governance strains. At the same time, the reductions have lowered recipient dependence on U.S. funding and created opportunities for emerging donors to enter Africa. The U.S. retrenchment thus creates a historical window for restructuring the external aid system in Africa; interactions among emerging donors, traditional donors, and African regional organizations are likely to reshape the aid landscape. For China, an effective response should not be limited to plugging budget gaps but should prioritize predictable, targeted institutional support that stabilizes public-service delivery and enables China to play a constructive role in the system’s reconfiguration.

2025年初特朗普政府大幅削减对非援助，不仅对撒哈拉以南非洲造成了急剧的短期冲击，也给非洲国家援助体系结构的完整与存续基础带来了挑战。本文结合美国对非援助项目数据与案例，分析了援助削减的影响机制与影响模式。研究发现，援助项目能否存续，主要取决于其与美国战略优先事项的契合度、资金规模与管理层级。美国援助削减暴露出非洲国家对援助的高度依赖性与既有援助安排的脆弱性。美国特朗普政府对非援助削减的影响远超资金缺口本身，不仅直接削弱了公共卫生、粮食安全等关键领域的公共物品与服务供给，引发了集体行动困境，更造成了高昂的转换成本与治理能力耗损，但客观上也使得非洲国家减少了对美国援助的依赖，转而对新兴援助国进入非洲有更多期待。美国对非援助削减为非洲外援体系的重构提供了历史契机，新兴援助国、传统捐助方与非洲区域组织的互动将重塑援助格局。对中国而言，有效的应对策略并非简单填补资金缺口，而应通过提供精准、可预测的制度性支持，增强非洲公共服务供给的稳定性，从而在体系重构中扮演建设性角色。

Date: November 2025
Journal: International Forum (国际论坛)
Indexed in: CSSCI
DOI: 10.13549/j.cnki.cn11-3959/d.2025.06.003

The Impact of Formal and Informal Institutional Distances on the Strategic Asset Seeking Motives of Chinese Multinational Enterprises: An Analysis of Patent and Trademark Acquisitions

This study was to examine the influence of specific contributory variables within formal versus informal institutional distances on the sub-motives of emerging-market multinational enterprises’ (EMNEs) strategic-asset seeking (SAS), in order to gain insights into the behaviours and motivations of increasing outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from emerging economies like China. From a multinomial logistic regression analysis of both firm and macro-level data, it was found that private business groups (PBGs) were more likely to target and acquire firms with patents and trademarks. The findings also suggest that the informal cultural distance was significantly associated solely with the EMNEs’ motive for seeking companies with trademarks but no patents. The association between formal institutional distance with EMNEs’ SAS behaviours was not significant. The findings also revealed that certain sub-dimensions of formal and informal cross-national distance had significant effects on overseas specific SAS behaviours. These findings inform further exploration of determinants of EMNEs’ SAS behaviours and provide a more comprehensive understanding of EMNEs’ internationalization trends. This research contributes to the current literature on EMNEs and provides practical and managerial implications for EMNE decision-makers while investing abroad.

Date: August 2024
Journal: International Business Review
Indexed in: SSCI
DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2024.102297

The Trend of Cuban American’s Partisanship: A Quantitative Analysis (in Chinese, 古巴裔美国人政党认同趋势量化分析)

This article uses the theory of assimilation to explore the dynamics of Cuban Americans’ partisanship. By using data ranging from 2000 to 2020, this study adopts non-parametric methods to analyze the changes in the proportions of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. The trend analysis shows that most Cuban-Americans continue to support the Republican Party. However, their support for the Republican Party is declining, and the number of Independents is increasing, which is the same as the overall trend of American society. This provides evidence for the gradual assimilation of Cuban Americans. The change of Cuban Americans’ motivation for immigration from political reasons to economic drivers can accelerate the assimilation process, while their geographically concentrated population can reduce the effect of assimilation.

本文使用同化理论，通过实证数据来分析研究古巴裔美国人的政党认同趋势。文章采用2000—2020年的数据，使用非参数方法分析选民群体中共和党人、民主党人和独立选民的比例变化。结果表明，多数古巴裔美国人支持共和党的事实没有改变。然而，他们对共和党的支持呈下降趋势，而古巴裔无党派的数量则不断增加，这与美国社会整体趋势相同。以上分析为古巴裔美国人的同化提供了证据。古巴裔人口集聚的特点阻碍了这种同化，而美国经济移民的增多和政治移民的减少，则可能加速其同化进程。

Date: May 2022
Journal: Area Studies and Global Development (区域与全球发展)
DOI: CNKI:SUN:QYQQ.0.2022-03-006