Navigating Infrastructural Rivalries in Global Politics: The MCC, the BRI, and Nepal’s Domestic Agency

Abstract

This article examines the nature and impact of US–China competition on international infrastructure financing by analysing the China-financed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the US-backed Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Nepal. Inductively building from the case of Nepal, it argues that competition in infrastructure financing is not new, but it has become more competitive, with these states using three strategies to promote their initiatives: political lobbying, people-centred diplomacy, and high-level visits. The article also highlights the paradoxical impact of competing infrastructure schemes in recipient states. Competitive promotion of these schemes has impacted domestic politics, fostering controversies around nationalism and sovereignty, and accentuating political polarisation in Nepal, but it has also enabled domestic political actors to scapegoat these schemes to enhance their political standing and portray themselves as more nationalistic than their opponents. Reconciling such political divisions has led to multiple delays and renegotiations of the schemes, ultimately shaping the scope of the BRI and the MCC. The article offers a corrective to the broader scholarship in International Relations by highlighting the agency of political elites and centrality of domestic politics in recipient states, as well as the domestic effects of international infrastructure financing.