DISSERTATION PROJECT

Propagating Chinese Visions of Order: Investigation into the Dissemination of Chinese IR Theories

My proposed PhD research will contribute to the “Future Realizations of Sovereignty and Governance” subtheme of the Research Training Group. It will take up the themes raised in the section on “Role Conceptions and Theoretization of Power in East Asia” of utopian and dystopian visions for a future regional and international order. It wants to analyze Chinese International Relations (IR) theories as political ideologies but broaden the investigation beyond the tianxia and datong narrative to include other Chinese Schools of IR theory. My proposed PhD research can build on abundant secondary sources analyzing and categorizing Chinese Schools of IR from a conceptual standpoint. By investigating the networks that create and disseminate those narratives, my research aims to fill the gap in the material side of the work of these narratives. It will lay the groundwork for investigating the open question of the political effects of those narratives. It thereby hopes to enhance understanding of how these narratives try to shape the understanding of sovereignty, international order, and China’s future role in global politics in different targeted audiences: a national, an East Asian, and an international audience. This focus complements the subtheme’s interest in how political thought shapes conceptions of sovereignty and governance in East Asia.

Investigating the effects of Chinese IR theories warrants to approach them as political ideologies. However, this doesn’t imply value judgment. The broader goal of the study is to improve the understanding of the effects of political theory in China on the perception of China nationally and abroad. This study does not aim to critique the ideological nature of those narratives or debunk false claims. The methodological approach of ideology studies will be complemented by elements of the study of utopia and political mythmaking. This is warranted by the specific nature of Chinese IR theories, which build on idealized narratives of Chinese political history and thought and utopian visions of an international order to give meaning to and influence contemporary foreign policy.