Addressing the Insufficiencies of the Traditional Development Aid Model by Utilizing the One Belt, One Road Initiative to Sustain Development in Afghanistan

Yanzhe Zhang, Xiao Yu and Huizhi Zhang
Additional contact information
Yanzhe Zhang: Northeast Asian Studies College, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Xiao Yu: Northeast Asian Studies College, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
Huizhi Zhang: Northeast Asian Studies College, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: This paper investigated the use of the One Belt One Road initiative (BRI) as a policy model that might address the insufficiencies of the traditional development aid model in reconstructing and developing Afghanistan. Afghanistan has emerged as one of the world’s most fragile and conflict-affected countries, and it has gained the attention of both academic and political communities since the early 2000s. The materials for this article are based partly on a thorough analysis of the available documentation. The authors also conducted interviews with high-ranking political elites and policy officials in the Afghan government and international organizations. The study employed a purposive sampling method to identify people with firsthand information on how to sustain economic development in Afghanistan. This paper provides new insights by comparing the traditional development aid model and the BRI in terms of social economy, local security and regional economic development. The aim of this research is to evaluate whether the BRI can remedy the insufficiencies of the traditional development aid model in order to sustain development in Afghanistan. The findings provide a better understanding of the BRI in promoting the internal dynamism required to develop the regional economy, and fill a gap in the literature with regard to the applied and theoretical economic growth models for stabilizing and sustaining the development of fragile and conflict-affected states.

Keywords: traditional development aid model; BRI; sustainable development; conflict-affected states; Afghanistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/312/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/312/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:312-:d:196253

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().