The Infrastructure of Chinese Civilizationism

The Infrastructure of Chinese Civilizationism

Speaker: Prasenjit Duara, Professor Emeritus, Oscar Tang Distinguished Chair of East Asian Studies at Duke University. Formerly, Chairman of the History Dept at University of Chicago and Raffles Professor and Director of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Chair: Amb Shivshankar Menon, former NSA and Foreign Secretary

The Civilizationisms project is a global collaboration that examines how contemporary states use the idea of civilization for political legitimation. The talk analyses the rise of Chinese civilizationism as a mode of global power that seeks not only to challenge Western dominance but to reshape the world order through infrastructure. It traces this development through ecological civilization, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the expansion of Chinese digital and financial networks across the Global South. These initiatives operate as an “infrastructure of civilization,” embedding norms, standards and digital dependencies into governance and economic life, reflecting a broader transformation in global power towards infrastructural integration.