Theoretical Discussions on China’s Rise in the Era of Globalization

Abstract

The rise of China in the 21st century has triggered long-lasting debates and has evolved into one of the most popular and heated topics in contemporary international relations (IR) scholarship. The key query on China’s rise is how it will interact with the rest of the world. This paper discusses China’s rise by engaging with the mainstream theoretical discussions in IR from the three schools of thought—liberalism, realism, and constructivism. From an analytical perspective, this paper examines these existing theoretical discussions on the rise of China, evaluates their arguments, and compares their reasoning logic. Finally, this paper suggests that China being a revisionist power is often an overexaggerated claim lacks convincing evidence. In fact, throughout the years, China’s behaviors in global governance imply a tendency to climb-up within the existing status quo, rather than overthrowing or replacing it.