Grekland som Kinas trojanska häst i Europa? En kvalitativ studie om de politiska implikationerna av Kinas investeringar i Grekland

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to explain Greece’s decision to block EU’s statement on China’s human rights record at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2017. By formulating a hypothesis that Greece’s decision was a result of Chinese investment in the country through the global infrastructure project “Belt and Road Initiative”, the study then engaged in a process tracing, combining both inductive as well as deductive methods to reach a sufficient explanation of the outcome. It was concluded that the decision came as a result of Chinese agenda-setting power over Greece, which was facilitated by the deployment of a de-securitised language that aimed to prioritise economic development, sovereignty and cultural specificity as opposed to common EU-norms such as human rights. Finally, in order for the de-securitised language to take effect, it was embraced by Greek decision-makers, who employed what I call “Diplomatic docility”. The term implies the political accommodating of rivalling interests in exchange for what a country deems to be of political and/or economic benefit (economic development in the case of Greece).