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Delighted to share my new article with @jerometenk on China and the future of international order, now out at @IntOrgJournal Thread: 1/ https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/domestic-politics-chinas-rise-and-the-future-of-the-liberal-international-order/9EBC39D04A8B21FECB2BC7BD4D415C43/share/974fa5ba7c48312e052cb62cbbc3f003279c762e
We argue that four characteristics of contemporary
CCP rule are at odds with the liberal international order as a rules-based order that privileges democracy,
free enterprise, and individual political freedoms. 2/
CCP rule are at odds with the liberal international order as a rules-based order that privileges democracy,
free enterprise, and individual political freedoms. 2/
But rather than posing a frontal challenge to the existing international order, Beijing has been simultaneously a revisionist, reformer, free-rider, and defender of the status quo. 3/
Understanding the variation in Beijing's approach requires a focus on the domestic politics of the Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian rule. Here, we develop a framework based on the centrality and heterogeneity of a given international issue in Chinese domestic politics 4/
We illustrate the framework with examples from
China’s approach to climate change, trade and exchange rates, Internet governance, territorial
sovereignty, arms control, and humanitarian intervention. 5/
China’s approach to climate change, trade and exchange rates, Internet governance, territorial
sovereignty, arms control, and humanitarian intervention. 5/
Ultimately, the CCP has behaved strategically, investing in reshaping or rejecting international arrangements in issue areas that are central to its domestic rule and being
more willing to free ride or defer to international practices on issues that are more peripheral. 6/
more willing to free ride or defer to international practices on issues that are more peripheral. 6/
China’s domestic “social purpose” does not require the wholesale destruction of the existing international order, although it favors a more conservative version that emphasizes Westphalian norms of sovereignty and noninterference. 7/
Feedback most welcome, as I continue to develop these ideas in my new book project, A World Safe for Autocracy: The Domestic Politics of Chinese Foreign Policy (under contract with Oxford UP). For a preview, check out my talk at @SOAS_CI: . /end
