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Anushe Khan 23020010

Instructor: Aqila Zaman

SS100 Writing and Communication

10th December 2019

Annotated Bibliography- Is CPEC establishing Chinese Neo-colonialism in Pakistan?

1) Khan, Malik, Ijaz, Ume Farwa. China Pakistan Economic Corridor: A Game

Changer.

Institute of Strategic Studies, 2016.

This book published by the Islamabad Institute of Strategic Studies provides a

thorough explanation of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its

intended purpose and future implications for Pakistan. It provides the views of

academics associated with the institute (ISSI) as well as Pakistani governmental

agencies. It includes some unique perspectives such as Malik Muhammad Ashraf’s

analysis of how CPEC-development will in turn impact India. However, this book

was mainly useful in revealing the perspective of the State of Pakistan on CPEC. Its

explanation on the projects, while stated thoroughly, do not involve specific details

and are somewhat vague. I also did not use this as an entirely reliable source but only

to gain insight into Pakistan’s perspective. This is because the book itself is sponsored

by the Government of Pakistan, creating a bias quite evident in its content as well.

2) Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, and Robert Young. “Neocolonialism and the

Secret Agent of Knowledge.” Oxford Literary Review, vol. 13, no. 1/2, 1991, pp.

220–251. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43973717.

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This journal article in the Oxford Literary review is a well-informed piece defining

and explaining neo-colonialism as a concept. It is dated to 1991 and is one of the

earliest traditional sources clearly defining the concept of modern day economic

imperialism. Its writers, Spivak and Young, are both highly qualified academics

associated with Oxford University through which they studied this. They are also both

professional theorists in post-colonial studies, making them reliable experts in the

field. This was a useful source to me in accurately defining the concept in a way I

could use against my analysis of CPEC. I thus used my study of CPEC to compare it

with the factors of neo-colonialism as explained in this journal article. I was also able

to use, for my essay, helpful quotations from this source such as “monopoly industrial

capitalism” which simply clarify economic neo-colonialism.

3) Nnamdi, Udodilim. “Navigating Nkrumah’s Theory of Neo-colonialism in the

21st Century.” E-International Relations Students, December 2014.

Accessed 8th December 2019.

This essay, published online as part of a dissertation for Howard University, explains

Kwame Nkrumah’s 1965 concept of neo-colonialism and its modern-day application.

This essay helped me navigate Nkrumah’s theory in a simpler manner than his

original 1965 explanation provides, as that may have been out-dated, but this source

applies the theory to modern-day by assessing how “destructive aid” creates harmful

patterns of dependency on aid recipient countries. The writer Nnamdi gives an in-

depth explanation of each of Nkrumah’s points. This was a helpful source I was able

to use to see neo-colonialism in a modern scenario and apply it henceforth to CPEC.

Although it used the concept in the context of Africa today, its examples of
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“competing agendas” of superpower states in developing countries were relevant

enough to apply easily to Pakistan.

4) Zaidi, S. Akbar. “Has China Taken Over Pakistan?” The News on Sunday,

June 18 2017.

Accessed 6th December 2019.

This article written by S. Akbar Zaidi and published in several locations including the

Princeton Institute of International and Regional Studies and The News on Sunday,

was perhaps my most useful source in writing this essay. Zaidi is a professor and

expert in South Asian studies and International Affairs at Columbia University and

proven to be highly qualified in the topic he discusses in this article. He thoroughly

breaks down many aspects of CPEC and assesses it in a pros-and-cons manner to

depict CPEC’s importance or detrimental value for Pakistan. His arguments are

refined and explain in-depth the impact of incomplete information on CPEC-related

projects. He also highlights the unseen costs incurred to Pakistan especially through

the development at Gwadar Port and provides a well-developed critical analysis of the

agreement as a whole.

5) Bokhari, Farhan. “In Defense of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.”

Gulf News, September 29 2018.

Accessed 6th December 2019.

This news article provides a counter-argument presenting an optimistic approach to

CPEC. It takes the line of the “game changer” model and views CPEC as a

revolutionary change to Pakistan’s development. It sheds light on how the project will

change lives in Pakistanis and looks forward to seeing this “major initiative reach
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fruition.” This was a helpful source in developing my understanding of my essay’s

counter-argument. Although its explanation is very brief, it provides a useful and

compact perspective on the perspective popular in Pakistan of CPEC establishing a

fruitful and revolutionary change for Pakistan.