Chinese IPE debates on (American) hegemony

Abstract

ABSTRACTReflections on hegemonic power have shaped the contemporary field of international political economy (IPE) within China. Shifts in the thinking of Chinese scholars correlate with China's own changing role and location in a system still most profoundly influenced by the United States. But real and perceived changes in America's position have also influenced the way in which Chinese IPE scholars are now reconceptualizing the nature of global authority and the international position of China. In one generation, the mainstream of China's IPE scholarship has moved away from its rigid Marxist origins and converged in substantial part with Anglo-American ideological traditions, now prominently including liberal institutionalism. Nevertheless, scholarship informed by other traditions, including a re-imagined Confucianism, flourishes. Major policy-changing events clearly affect the work of Chinese IPE scholars, a phenomenon hardly unknown elsewhere.