China’s Relation to International Order Revised: A Comparison of System-Level Theoretical Narratives with Studies of Chinese Praxis.

While Western and Chinese practitioners disagree on whether China is challenging international order or practicing “true multilateralism”, most scholars of international order tend to assume the former. However, this assumption rests on shaky foundations, as scholarship relies on system-level theoretical narratives and rarely engages with the rich organisation-level literature on Chinese praxis. To offer a more nuanced image of China’s relation to international order, this paper proceeds in three steps. First, it develops a critique of the Anglophone literature on international order that shows that theoretical narratives often reflect political imperatives in the West and inhibit a more productive understanding of China’s role. Second, it demonstrates the potential gains of “uploading” organisation-level studies to system-level debates via a review of the former. This review covers Chinese praxis in various regimes ranging from human rights to trade, international security and emerging fields like space and AI governance. Via an application of Sharp’s typology of diplomatic traditions and Stephen’s typology of relations between new and incumbent institutions this review suggests that the extant literature does not support coding China as a systemic challenger. This complements and concretises earlier research by Johnston and Chan et al. on the same topic. In a third step, the paper makes an argument for complementing system-level analyses with greater empirical attention to the praxis of key actors to enable traditional theories to maintain their relevance. Taken together, the paper shows that we ought to paint the relationship between Chinese praxis and international order with a finer brush so as not to miss key developments in the context of an increasingly multipolar international order. Authors cited: Chan, Steve, Weixing Hu, and Kai He. 2019. ‘Discerning States’ Revisionist and Status-Quo Orientations: Comparing China and the US’. European Journal of International Relations 25(2): 613–40. doi:10.1177/1354066118804622. Johnston, Alastair Iain. 2019. ‘China in a World of Orders: Rethinking Compliance and Challenge in Beijing’s International Relations’. International Security 44(2): 9-+. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00360. Stephen Matthew D. 2020. ‘China’s New Multilateral Institutions: A Framework and Research Agenda’. International Studies Review. doi:10.1093/isr/viaa076. Sharp Paul. 2009. Diplomatic Theory of International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.