Will IR Theory with Chinese Characteristics be a Powerful Alternative?

Abstract

The study of International Relations in China has dramatically increased over the past 30 years. Scholars have now developed a Chinese School(s) of International Relations theory, or at least, International Relations theory with ‘Chinese characteristics’. This recent Chinese move is neither new nor the first attempt, but located within larger efforts to move away from Anglo-Saxon dominance within the International Relations discipline by localizing International Relations theory. From this standpoint, although there seem to be more problems than promises in recent Chinese attempts, we still cannot ignore the great potential of this initiative, first because the pace of change is so fast, second because the number of scholars working on the topic is ever increasing, and last, because the rise of China brings more frequent interactions between Chinese and Western International Relations scholars. All these factors provide extremely fertile ground for any lucky, timely seed of Chinese International Relations theory to germinate, flourish, and proliferate. Over the past 30 years, the rise of China has become a sensational global phenomenon and also the most popular topic of discussion in academia, media, and policy circles. What has gone unnoticed, however, is the parallel development and rise of the International Relations (IR) discipline in China. In other words, the Chinese IR community is rapidly catching up with the mainstream IR community. First, Chinese universities and think tanks are proactively inviting contributions from prominent IR scholars worldwide with a view to learning new trends in IR. Second, China’s IR community is second largest in the world only to that of the United States, and these scholars are busily translating mainstream theories into Chinese. For example, Wendt’s Social Theory of International Politics, published in 1999, was translated into Chinese the very next year, while it took neighbouring South Korean scholars 10 years to translate the same book. Shambaugh raises several measures that can reliably be used to evidence this development in China. They include: The growing number of degree-granting institutions; the VC The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Institute of International Relations, Tsinghua University. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 2016, 59–79 doi: 10.1093/cjip/pov014 Advance Access Publication Date: 29 January 2016