The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's environmental and social policies: a critical discourse analysis

Title
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's environmental and social policies: a critical discourse analysis
Publication Date
2018
Author(s)
Radavoi, Ciprian
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9538-6019
Email: cradavoi@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:cradavoi
Bian, Yongmin
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Routledge
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1080/21699763.2017.1372301
UNE publication id
une:22556
Abstract
Like all other multilateral development banks, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which approved its first loan in November 2016, has adopted Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies. Treating the text as Chinese discourse and using Critical Discourse Analysis as methodological tool, this article unveils socio-political interests beyond its contents and semiotics. We identify areas where the AIIB policies are intertextual with the ones that inspired them, namely those of the World Bank and the regional multilateral development banks, but also important departures from their discursive practice, reflecting the legal culture and strategic interests of AIIB's founders. Both appropriation and colonisation of 'classical' ESGs by the AIIB ones lead to reflection on social wrongs associated with development, and suggest solutions for turning development safeguards into meaningful instruments.
Link
Citation
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy, 34(1), p. 1-18
ISSN
2169-978X
2169-9763
Start page
1
End page
18

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