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A Non-world : Chinese Perceptions of the Western International Order

Year of publication

2020

Authors

Puranen, Matti

Abstract

As the West struggles, China, economically and politically stable, has increased its criticism toward the Western-led international order. According to Chinese arguments, the ongoing decade has demonstrated that the Western liberal international order is no more capable of solving the troubles of the globalizing world. It is as if the Western political imagination has run out of steam and it is now the responsibility of China to take the lead in stabilizing the world. On the side of the official statements, Chinese theorists of world politics are envisioning a new alternative world order, which would be based on a historical, sinocentric system that was in place in East Asia for thousands of years. According to Chinese theorists, this ‘tianxia system’ was based on completely different philosophical and institutional foundations, and it is a mere historical contingency that it was later left in the shadow of the Western international order. This ‘tianxia theory’ is one of the main proponents for a new ‘Chinese theory of world politics’. It is slowly influencing policy circles in China, and more importantly, globally challenging our ingrained conceptions on world politics. A large part of the work of the tianxia theorists consists of criticisms of the ‘west’: its religion, political thought, and ‘chaotic’ individualist nature. The chapter especially focuses on these critical narratives of the ‘west’.
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Organizations and authors

Publication type

Publication format

Article

Parent publication type

Compendium

Article type

Other article

Audience

Scientific

Peer-reviewed

Peer-Reviewed

MINEDU's publication type classification code

A3 Book section, Chapters in research books

Publication channel information

Parent publication editors

Lehti, Marko; Pennanen, Henna-Riikka; Jouhki, Jukka

Pages

315-341

​Publication forum

5778

​Publication forum level

3

Open access

Open access in the publisher’s service

No

Self-archived

Yes

Other information

Fields of science

Political science

Keywords

[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Internationality of the publisher

International

Language

English

International co-publication

No

Co-publication with a company

No

DOI

10.1007/978-3-030-22059-4_12

The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection

Yes