"Tournament Effect" In Regional Infrastructure Connectivity

The consumption of infrastructure is non-competitive and involves many stakeholders,which makes it easy to form a "collective action dilemma".In reality,however,some infrastructure connectivity projects can overcome these dilemmas and achieve localized development of the whole.Why can certain cooperation overcome the collective action dilemma? Studies have examined the role of four factors: geopolitical structure,regional economic structure and cooperation agenda,external strategy and domestic politics,and development strategy and technological process.However,there are problems of "qualitativeization" of infrastructure connectivity projects and neglect of intrinsic characteristics and part-whole correlation effects,which weaken the explanatory power of the theory.In order to answer these questions,this paper proposes the "tournament effect".The structure of "point-to-point" connection of infrastructure interconnection can be regarded as a circuit.Interconnected neighboring nodes and unconnected parallel nodes can be considered as teammates and rivals in the race.When a key group provides a certain amount of public goods,it generates a "relay effect" on neighboring nodes and a "pressure effect" on parallel nodes,which changes the cost-benefit perception of these actors and influences their behavior to promote collective action.In the case of the Singapore-Kunming railroad,China is less cost-sensitive due to its strength as a large country,while Laos is more sensitive to common interests due to its disadvantageous development endowment.Both tend to take a proactive approach and together play a key group in the collective action to spearhead the construction of the Singapore-Kunming Railway Central Line.The above-mentioned actions have a relay effect on the neighboring node Thailand,which accelerates the connection of the Sino-Lao-Thai Railway,and a "pressure effect" on the parallel node Vietnam,which on the one hand reconsiders the North-South High Speed Rail project and restarts the construction of the Eastern Line,and on the other hand promotes the Lao-Vietnam Railway project to strengthen the connection with the Central Line.The innovation of this paper is twofold: firstly,it studies the infrastructure connectivity projects at a holistic level,and constructs an explanatory framework for the dynamics of infrastructure connectivity by examining the correlation between the whole and the parts,and between the parts and the parts.Second,we develop the concept of "tournament effect" that is consistent with the practice of infrastructure connectivity by drawing on the "race phenomenon" in social science research and daily life.In the context of renewed opportunities for global infrastructure connectivity,it remains to be seen and tested how China will promote collective action on infrastructure connectivity and whether the "tournament effect" is applicable to other geopolitical scenarios.