Dr Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente

Department of Political Science and International Studies
Associate Professor in Political Economy

Contact details

Email: r.gonzalezvicente@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Government
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente is an Associate Professor in Political Economy at the University of Birmingham. His research interests lie in South-South relations, with a specific focus on China, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Ruben serves as an editor for the Global China Pulse and the People's Map of Global China.

Qualifications

PhD in Geography, University of Cambridge, 2013
MPhil in Asian and International Studies, City University of Hong Kong, 2009
Diploma in Mandarin Chinese, Peking University, 2007
BA in Chinese Studies, Autonomous University of Madrid, 2007
BA in English Philology, University of A Coruña, 2005

Biography

Ruben’s research explores contemporary South-South relations, while remaining critical of statist understandings of the ‘South’ that overlook emerging international hierarchies, and class or postcolonial inequalities. His primary research focus has been on China's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, which has led him to study the internationalization of Chinese capital, China's foreign policy, the social and environmental impacts of Chinese investments and development cooperation, and the significance of natural resources and infrastructure in contested development processes. Beyond these topics, he has also contributed articles on the transformation of politics following decades of neoliberal globalization. Ruben serves as an editor for the Global China Pulse and the People's Map of Global China.

Prior to joining the University of Birmingham, Ruben worked as an Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong from 2012 to 2016, and later as a University Lecturer at the University of Leiden from 2017 to 2021.

Postgraduate supervision

I welcome suggestions and proposals for PhD supervision on projects concerning South-South relations and development cooperation, and in particular China’s relations with the Caribbean and Latin America.

Research

Global Political Economy.
Development.
Political Geography.
South-South relations.
Global China.
Latin America and the Caribbean.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Gonzalez Vicente, R & Han, C 2024, 'China, geoeconomics and the 'new' state capitalism', Environment and Planning A. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X241269361

Gonzalez Vicente, R 2024, 'In the name of the nation: authoritarian practices, capital accumulation, and the radical simplification of development in China’s global vision', Globalizations, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 1041-1056. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2022.2121061

Alami, I, Taggart, J, Whiteside, H, Gonzalez Vicente, R, Liu, IT & Rolf, S 2024, 'Quo vadis neoliberalism in an age of resurgent state capitalism?', Finace and Space, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 340-367. https://doi.org/10.1080/2833115X.2024.2392736

Alami, I, Dixon, AD, Gonzalez Vicente, R, Babic, M, Lee, S-O, Medby, IA & de Graaf, N 2022, 'Geopolitics and the ‘new’ state capitalism', Geopolitics, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 995-1023. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2021.1924943

Gonzalez Vicente, R & Montoute, A 2021, 'A Caribbean perspective on China-Caribbean relations: global IR, dependency and the postcolonial condition', Third World Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 219-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2020.1834841

Gonzalez Vicente, R 2020, 'The liberal peace fallacy: Violent neoliberalism and the temporal and spatial traps of state-based approaches to peace’', Territory, Politics, Governance, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 100-116. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2018.1550012

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Gonzalez Vicente, R & Montoute, A 2024, China and the Caribbean beyond South-South relations. in S Timcke & S Gomes (eds), Race, Class, and Nationalism in the Twenty-First-Century Caribbean. University of Georgia Press. <https://ugapress.org/book/9780820367026/race-class-and-nationalism-in-the-twenty-first-century-caribbean/>

Gonzalez Vicente, R 2024, The Belt and Road's midlife crisis: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean. in AL Ren & B Hillman (eds), China's New Era. China Story Yearbook, Australian National University Press, pp. 163-172. https://doi.org/10.22459/CSY.2024.06B

Gonzalez Vicente, R 2021, Global China’s business frontier: Chinese enterprises and the reach of the state. in F Pieke & K Iwabuchi (eds), Global East Asia: Into the Twenty-First Century. Global Square, vol. 4, University of California Press, pp. 253-262. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520971424-026

Gonzalez Vicente, R 2021, Over hills and valleys too: China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the Caribbean. in F Schneider (ed.), Global Perspectives on China's Belt and Road Initiative: Asserting Agency through Regional Connectivity. Amsterdam University Press, pp. 171-194. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789463727853

Comment/debate

Cheng, H & Gonzalez Vicente, R 2023, 'For conjunctural geography: From method to counter-hegemonic practice', Dialogues in Human Geography. https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206231189575

Gonzalez Vicente, R 2021, 'Why a critical geopolitics cannot be Confucian', Dialogues in Human Geography, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 248-252. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F20438206211017769

Commissioned report

Hogenboom, B, Baud, M, Gonzalez Vicente, R & Steinhöfel , D 2022, China’s Economic and Political Role in Latin America. CEDLA–UvA, Amsterdam. <https://www.chinakennisnetwerk.nl/publications/chinas-economic-and-political-role-latin-america>

Hogenboom, B, Baud, M, Gonzalez Vicente, R, Steinhöfel, D & Pin, R 2022, China’s Economic and Political Role in the Caribbean and Central America. CEDLA–UvA, Amsterdam. <https://www.chinakennisnetwerk.nl/publications/chinas-economic-and-political-role-caribbean-and-central-america>

Other contribution

Lynton, J & Gonzalez Vicente, R 2022, Jamaica.. <https://thepeoplesmap.net/country/jamaica/>

View all publications in research portal