Toward a Heuristic Framework: Integrating Cross-Civilizational and Interdisciplinary Perspectives in BRI Research

This chapter argues that a heuristic framework integrating cross-civilizational and interdisciplinary perspectives can mitigate the existing problematiques while bringing greater clarity to future research related to BRI projects. With a schematic diagram consisting of four concentric circles (representing cross-civilizational epistemic perspectives from Chinese IR) within three overlapping circles (comprising interdisciplinary integration from anthropological perspectives) against the quadruple global IR landscapes, the conceptual model seeks to proffer a multi-focal sextuple lens in analyzing the “up-down,” “in-out,” and “narrow-wide” dimensions related to BRI projects. Most importantly, this chapter tests the functionality of the conceptual model by operationally running four recent sets of BRI-related research-based scholarly works using the model, and summarily, it exemplifies the crucial need to consider the various perspectives in entirety for optimal illumination of the BRI projects.