Endstation China? Die globalen Stoffströme auf ihrem Weg durch die „Werkstatt der Welt“

Fabricio Rodríguez

doi:10.32387/prokla.v50i198.1857

Authors

Fabricio Rodríguez

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v50i198.1857

Keywords:

China, Raw Material Consumption, Material Flow Accounting and Analysis, world system, International Resource Panel, asymmetries

Abstract

Taking a world-systems perspective, this article discusses the extent to which China is transitioning from being a processing centre for materials destined for the US and Europe. It also asks whether China is itself becoming a final space of increased material consumption. The article uses the concept of Material Flow Accounting (MFA) to analyse empirical data from the International Resource Panel. The results show that China is becoming an increasingly important economic space, even surpassing the US and the EU in terms of its relevance as an endpoint for material consumption. At the same time, China continues to assert its position as a central hub in global material flows, with the internal market continuously and simultaneously expanding in comparison to external markets.

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Author Biography

Fabricio Rodríguez

Fabricio Rodríguez ist Politikwissenschaftler und wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Post-Doc) in der BMBF-geförderten Nachwuchsgruppe „Bioökonomie und soziale Ungleichheiten“. Seine derzeitigen Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Internationale Beziehungen, Machtasymmetrien sowie fossile und erneuerbare Energien mit einem regionalen Fokus auf China und Lateinamerika.

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