The writing of this book would have been a more arduous and less enjoyable task, had it not been for the help of a number of people. I firstly want to thank the University of Salford’s Directorate of Politics and Contemporary History, where I embarked on this research project. My travels to China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia would not have been possible without the financial support I received in the form of a Vice-Chancellor’s Research Scholarship and impact case study funding. Special thanks go to Paul Broster and Stephen Ward for allocating time and resources which facilitated the writing process and to David Maher for the enjoyable office environment and his friendship.

I am also grateful to Alaric Searle for helping to arrange my visit to China, and for putting me in touch with the Zhou Enlai School of Government at Nankai University.

At the latter, I wish to thank Han Zhaoying for inviting and hosting me in the summer of 2018.

During my subsequent field trip to Kazakhstan, my life was made easier thanks to the logistical help of Nursultan Maratov and Adilkhanov Yerzhan. Many thanks also go to Nurlan Igembaev for suggesting additional helpful contact points and to Anuar Baltabayev for the cordial reception in Astana (now Nur-Sultan). In Mongolia, I was grateful to have had the help of Zolboo Dashnyam, Bat-Amgalan Turbat and Batchimeg Saryat. I am grateful for the invitation to the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in June 2019, and especially for the warm and hospitable reception during my stay in Ulaanbaatar. I also wish to thank Alicia Campi, Odbayar Erdenetsogt and Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikhan for reaching out to additional contact points in Ulaanbaatar.

I am grateful for the opportunities to present parts of my research at conferences that helped shape the final outcome. I want to thank Elena Korosteleva and Zachary Paikin for inviting me to float first research findings at two consecutive workshops funded by UK Research and Innovation and the Global Challenges Research Fund at the LSE in December 2018, and at the University of Kent at Canterbury, my alma mater, in March 2019. I also want to thank the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s offices in Beirut and Astana and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s office in Nicosia, Cyprus, for inviting me to give talks about my research in September 2017 (Beirut), June 2018 (Astana) and November 2018 (Nicosia).

As the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), became my new port of call in the course of writing, I was very fortunate to find a congenial work environment at the Eastern Europe and Eurasia Research Division. I am grateful to a whole range of colleagues at SWP, but for helping me clarify parts of my own argumentation, I want to thank in particular Susan Stewart, Andrea Schmitz, Janis Kluge, Fabian Burkhardt, Nadine Godehardt, Hanns W. Maull and Wolfgang Richter.