How Rivalry Between China and the United States Will Drive Global Development

Chinese building the Dolisie Pointe-Noire road Taken on 11 January 2014 in Congo around Doumanga Pointe-Noire Credit: flickr user jbdodane under CC license

An infrastructure "arms race" is emerging between the China and the United States over access to the developing world.

Competition over the building of ports, roads and railways are becoming more and more commonplace. These projects seek to connect established and emerging markets with manufacturing hubs and areas rich in natural resources.

This competition will have a big impact on development outcomes for years according to Seth Schindler, a senior lecturer in urban development and transformation at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. He studies large scale infrastructure projects and as he explains, geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States will be the key factor driving the development of these massive projects.

In our conversation we talk through the implications of this trend, which ha…