Assess the learner’s ability to design an original, feasible mixed-methods graduate research proposal that evaluates how large-scale foreign infrastructure investments (e.g., Belt and Road projects) transform governance capacity, elite networks, and local socioeconomic inequality in a selected developing country. The proposal should include a coherent theoretical framework, clear research questions and hypotheses, operationalization of key variables, a combined quantitative and qualitative sampling strategy, specific data collection instruments (e.g., surveys, semi-structured interviews, archival/administrative data, remote sensing), a detailed analytical plan (statistical models, qualitative coding and process-tracing, integration/triangulation strategy), considerations of validity/reliability, a realistic timeline/resources estimate, and comprehensive ethical considerations (consent, power imbalances, data protection, community impacts). Require justification of methodological choices and discussion of policy relevance.