Has China been socialized into international society in the post-Cold War period?

Jan-David Franke

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Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Politics - Other International Politics Topics, grade: 1, Oxford University, language: Eng...

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Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Politics - Other International Politics Topics, grade: 1, Oxford University, language: English, abstract: With the collapse of the Soviet Union the United States benefitted from an unprecedented unipolar moment in its establishment of unilateral hegemony, be that in the form of a modern empire as Johnson (2000) and Todd (2004) argue, as an empire by invitation (Lundestad, 2003), or as liberal hegemon (Ikenberry, 2011). All of these authors feature vast disagreements regarding hierarchy and coercion in American hegemony but accept the same premise: a post-Cold War unipolar American world order. Many argue that as the unipolar moment is waning, American hegemony, and the norms, practices, and institutions of international society it has so predominantly shaped, are being challenged, however, by both the rise of other actors, first and foremost China but also a re-emerging Russia, and the endogenous deconstruction of American hegemony (see Todd's (2004) argument on demographics and social norms and most recently the advent of power by a protectionist, isolationist nativism). In this paper I will add to that debate by evaluating the extent to which China has been socialized into international society since the end of the Cold War and, on that basis, examining what is to be expected for the future both in terms of China's course and the implications thereof for international society. I will do so by amalgamating many different approaches and schools of thought in an attempt to be 'paradigmatically prudent' (cp. Monteiro & Ruby, 2009). First, I will sketch the discussion in the literature on China's rise and contrast it by means of a syncretic framework of intentions and outcomes based on Schweller & Xiaoyu (2011) and Goh (2005). Within that framework, I present optimist and pessimist approaches derived from realism, liberal institutionalism, and constructivism and the various analytical categories they place emphasis on. I will then argue that an integration of these polarized perspectives is necessary to provide an accurate and realistic account of China's past, present, and future role in international society that places particular importance on differentiated spheres of geopolitical influence.