Research

My research agenda largely revolves around three main topics: the evolution and diminishing space for the use of military force in international affairs, the strategies adopted by small/medium powers in the context of great power competition, and the foreign policymaking dynamics in non-democratic countries. From an empirical perspective, the focus of my research is on China’s foreign policy and relations with countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

My research is based on the careful use of original Chinese and, thanks to the support of the other members of the ChinaMed Project’s research team, Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, Turkish, Greek, and French sources. The ability to have direct access to those sources greatly contributes to make my research work as detailed and accurate as possible. At the same time, I have collected I have also created a global panel country-year dataset on various aspects of the contracts signed by Chinese engineering companies abroad between 2001 and 2020.

Against this background, I published my first book Protecting China’s Interests Overseas: Securitization and Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press) in early 2021. I have also published several peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and commentaries. While my book has been reviewed in both IR and China studies journals, my research is featured in a number of sections of the latest Oxford Bibliography on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army

Click here to see my Google Scholar profile.