81013150

open access

Version of Record

International Theories with Chinese Characteristics: A Critical Review of Main Arguments of the “Chinese School” of IR

Kobe University law review

54

33-48

法学部

2021

2022-03-30

Since Acharya and Buzan proposed‘Why is there no non-Western international theory?' in 2007, IR theory scholars have paid more attention to sources from different backgrounds other than those just in the Eurocentric world. The main branches of International Relations theory (IRT) are rooted in Western philosophy and history, as Qin noted in 2011. However, they should not be the only foundation of IRT. IR scholars have tried to find other perspectives to develop IRT because contemporary international relations are too complicated to explain solely based on the mainstream IR theories derived from Western tradition. Among the theories of different perspectives, the theories of Chinese IR scholars are growing the fastest. What kind of theories are they? How can these theories contribute to current IR theories? To figure out these questions, we will explore Chinese IR theories' specific concepts, meanings, and logic. Three prominent scholars'theories will be introduced in this paper according to the influence and creativities – Tianxia, Relational Theory, Moral Realism. We should not see Chinese IR theories as a total ‘non-Western' perspective because they are not isolated from mainstream IR, but studying and talking with ‘Western' theories. In some sense, it demonstrates that Chinese IR theories share some common elements with mainstream IR. For example, Qin Yaqing, who proposed a relational theory, has a profound study of mainstream theories, especially on Wendt's Constructivism; Yan Xuetong, who created Moral Realism, was also a supporter of Realism. Their theories are all rooted in traditional Chinese philosophical logic, but hold similar conceptions and methodologies of current IR approaches. For instance, Yan's Moral Realism can be seen as another different perspective of Realism; Qin's part of Relational Theories adopts the methodology of Constructivism; there are also some connections between Tianxia society and Bull's International Society.

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