On Wang Hui’s Contribution to an ‘Asian School of Chinese International Relations’

Abstract

How does one assess whether and in what ways the oeuvre of Wang Hui (1959)1 has contributed to the emergence of an ‘Asian School of Chinese International Relations’? There are several possibilities for answering this question, but much depends on what one makes of the label ‘Asian School of Chinese International Relations’ and what could possibly be reckoned as a ‘contribution’ in that context. Acharya and Buzan have been amongst the first to reflect on what might count as a contribution to International Relations Theory (IRT), generally, but also particularly in view of ‘non-Western international relations theory’. Emphasizing their wide and pluralist understanding of ‘theory’, they come up with a set of three conditions, one of which should at least be met if something is to count as a contribution: 1. Substantial acknowledgement by others in the International Relations (IR) academic community as being theory; 2. Self-identification by its creators as being IRT; and 3. Systematic attempts to abstract or generalize about the subject matter of IR. In addition, they are also careful to consider ‘pre-theory’, by which they understand ‘elements of thinking that do not necessarily add up to theory in their own right, but which provide possible starting points for doing so’ (Acharya and Buzan 2007: 290–-92).KeywordsInternational RelationInternal PerspectiveSong DynastyHistorical NarrativeInternational PoliticsThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.