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Abstract
Debates over the implications of China’s rise for global governance have reached an impasse, since evidence exists to support both ‘revisionist’ and ‘status-quo’ intentions. This means that neither is strictly falsifiable and hence the debate, as currently structured, is irresolvable. However, contradictions are explicable if we recognise that China is not a unitary state. Since the beginning of the reform era, its international engagements have been shaped by the uneven transformation – fragmentation, decentralisation and internationalisation – of state apparatuses. Contradictory international actions thus may reflect not top-down strategic direction, but conflicts, disagreements and coordination problems within China’s transformed party-state. Our state transformation approach directs us away from evaluating China’s approach to global governance in toto – whether it is overall a revisionist or status quo power – towards a detailed analysis of particular policy domains. This is because in each issue-area we find different constellations of actors and interests, and varying degrees of party-state transformation. We demonstrate the centrality of state transformation analysis for explaining the co-existence of revisionist and status quo behaviours through the apparently hard test case of nuclear technologies. Even in this ‘high politics’ domain, state transformation dynamics help explain China’s inconsistent international behaviours.
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Notes on contributors
Shahar Hameiri
Shahar Hameiri is Associate Professor of International Politics at the School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland. He obtained his PhD from the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University. Associate Professor Hameiri's work focuses on security and development in Asia. His current, ARC-funded, project focuses on the effects of state transformation on China's interactions with Southeast Asia. His latest co-authored books are International Intervention and Local Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and Governing Borderless Threats (Cambridge University Press, 2015). His work has also appeared in leading academic journals, including International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, Review of International Political Economy and Development and Change. He is also a regular contributor to the media and tweets @ShaharHameiri.
Jinghan Zeng
Jinghan Zeng is Chair Professor in China and International Studies in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University. he specialises in China's domestic politics and foreign policy. he is author of The Chinese Communist Party's Capacity to Rule: Ideology, Legitimacy and Party Cohesion (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and articles in Journal of Contemporary China, International Affairs and Journal of Common Market Studies, among others. his website is https://sites.google.com/site/zengjinghan.