China’s Rise and Rethinking International Relations Theory

268 Pages·2022·138.028 MB·English

by  Chengxin Pan (editor), Emilian Kavalski (editor)

Bristol Studies in East Asian International Relations
China’s Rise
and Rethinking
International
Relations Theory
EDITED BY
CHENGXIN PAN AND EMILIAN KAVALSKI
Bristol Studies in East Asian International
Relations
Series Editors: Yongjin Zhang, University of Bristol, UK,
Shogo Suzuki, University of Manchester, UK and
Peter Kristensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
This series publishes cutting-edge research on the changing
international politics of East Asia. It covers the security dynamics, the
causes of conflict and cooperation, and the ongoing transformation
of the region, as well as the impact of East Asia on the wider global
order.
The series contributes to theoretical debates within the field of
International Relations. Topics studied in East Asia can shed fresh
light on disciplinary debates while the theoretical insights can
challenge and enrich the propositions of mainstream IR theories
which have been derived mostly from the European experience. In
welcoming theoretically informed and theoretically innovative works,
this series plays an important role in developing and establishing new
Asian schools of thought in International Relations theory.
Also available
China Risen?
Studying Chinese Global Power
By Shaun Breslin
The Responsibility to Provide in Southeast Asia
Towards an Ethical Explanation
By See Seng Tan
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Middle Powers in Asia Pacific Multilateralism
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bristol-studies-in-east-asian-international-relations
Bristol Studies in East Asian International
Relations
Series Editors: Yongjin Zhang, University of Bristol, UK,
Shogo Suzuki, University of Manchester, UK and
Peter Kristensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
International advisory board
Amitav Acharya, American University, Washington D.C., US
Mark Beeson, University of Western Australia, Australia
Barry Buzan, London School of Economics, UK
Zhimin Chen, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Ja Ian Chong, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Paul Evans, University of British Columbia, Canada
Rosemary Foot, Oxford University, UK
Evelyn Goh, Australian National University, Australia
Linus Hagström, Swedish Defense University, Sweden
Miwa Hirono, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
Yuichi Hosoya, Keio University, Japan
Weixing Hu, University of Hong Kong, China
Xiaoming Huang, Victoria University of Wellington,
New Zealand
Christopher R. Hughes, London School of Economics, UK
Yang Jiang, Danish Institute for International Studies, Denmark
Hun Joon Kim, Korea University, South Korea
Jing Men, College of Europe, Belgium
Nele Noesselt, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
John Ravenhill, University of Waterloo, Canada
Masayuki Tadokoro, Keio University, Japan
Yu-Shan Wu, National University of Taiwan, Taiwan
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CHINA’S RISE

AND RETHINKING
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS THEORY
Edited by
Chengxin Pan and Emilian Kavalski
First published in Great Britain in 2022 by
Bristol University Press
University of Bristol
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ISBN 978-1 -5 292- 1295- 2 ePub
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Contents

List of Abbreviations vii
Notes on Contributors ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction: The Rise of China and Its Challenges to International 1
Relations Theory
Chengxin Pan and Emilian Kavalski
PART I Theorizing China’s Rise: Beyond Eurocentric
Knowledge Production
1 Putting China in the World: From Universal Theory to 23
Contextual Theorizing
John Agnew
2 Heart and Soul for World Politics: Advaita Monism and 42
Daoist Trialectics in International Relations
L.H.M. Ling
3 What Can Guanxi International Relations Be About? 62
Emilian Kavalski
4 Friendly Rise? China, the West and the Ontology of Relations 83
Astrid H.M. Nordin and Graham M. Smith
5 Re- Worlding the ‘West’ in Post- Western International 102
Relations: The ‘Theory Migrant’ of Tianxia in the Anglosphere
Yih- Jye Hwang, Raoul Bunskoek and Chih- yu Shih
PART II Theorizing China’s Rise: Critical Reflection on
Mainstream Frameworks
6 China in the International Order: A Contributor or a 125
Challenger?
Wang Jisi
7 China’s Rise in English School Perspective 145
Barry Buzan
v
CHINA’S RISE AND RETHINKING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY
8 Deconstructing the Established Westphalian Architecture in 168
Light of China’s Rise
Hung- jen Wang
9 Sino- capitalism’s Dialectical Processes and International 190
Relations Theory
Christopher A. McNally
10 China’s Rise as Holographic Transition: A Relational 210
Challenge to International Relations’ Newtonian Ontology
Chengxin Pan
Epilogue: Towards International Relations beyond Binaries 234
Emilian Kavalski and Chengxin Pan
Index 245
vi
List of Abbreviations

AIIB Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

APEC Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation

ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations

BCIM Bangladesh- China- India- Myanmar

BIT Bilateral Investment Treaty

BRI Belt and Road Initiative

BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa

CCP Chinese Communist Party

CICA Conference on Interaction and Confidence- Building

Measures in Asia
CPC Communist Party of China

CPTPP Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-

Pacific Partnership
ES English School

EU European Union

FIE foreign- invested enterprise

GIS global international society

GMS Great Mekong Subregion

GPM great power management

HSR Health Silk Road

IMF International Monetary Fund

IR International Relations

KMT Kuomingtang

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NDB New Development Bank

NGO non- governmental organization

PKOs peacekeeping operations

PRC People’s Republic of China

R2P Responsibility to Protect

TPP Trans- Pacific Partnership

vii
CHINA’S RISE AND RETHINKING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY
TTIP Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

UN United Nations

UNSC United Nations Security Council

WMD weapons of mass destruction

WTO World Trade Organization

viii
Notes on Contributors

John Agnew is Distinguished Professor of Geography at the University
of California, Los Angeles (USA) and a Fellow of the British Academy.
John is the editor for the book series, New Horizons in Human Geography
(Edward Elgar).
Raoul Bunskoek is Research Associate and Lecturer in the Department of
Sociology, Chair for Sociology of Africa, University of Bayreuth (Germany).
Raoul is a co- author of the book China and International Theory: The Balance
of Relationships (with Shih et al, 2019).
Barry Buzan is Senior Fellow at LSE IDEAS, Emeritus Professor in the
Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics
and Political Science (UK), Honorary Professor at Jilin University (China)
and Copenhagen University (Denmark), and a Fellow of the British Academy.
Yih- Jye Hwang (PhD, Aberystwyth University) is Universitair Docent of
International Relations at Leiden University (the Netherlands). His research
focuses on culture and identity politics in East Asia, East Asian approaches
to human security, China’s strategic and just war thinking, post- Western
IR, post- structuralism, and theories of nationalism.
Emilian Kavalski is the inaugural NAWA Chair Professor in the Complex
Systems Lab, Centre for International Studies and Development, Jagiellonian
University, Krakow (Poland) and series editor for Routledge’s Rethinking
Asia and International Relations series.
L.H.M. Ling (1955– 2018) was Professor of International Affairs at The
New School in New York (USA) and co- editor of the book series, Global
Dialogues: Developing Non- Eurocentric International Relations and International
Political Economy (Rowman & Littlefield).
Christopher A. McNally is Professor of Political Economy at Chaminade
University of Honolulu (USA). His research focuses on comparative
ix