Bounded Ambition: China as a Multilateral Actor in World Politics
Since the 1980s, China has become steadily enmeshed in multilateral international organizations (MIOs). A rich body of rhetoric and behaviour is available to deepen our understanding of why and how Beijing engages with MIOs, additionally allowing a response to the question of whether China's engagement is shifting the global normative landscape in ways that significantly affect the on-going transition in global order. With these aims in mind, this Element first adopts a 'snapshot' macro-analytical perspective that draws on existing scholarship and official documentation to compare two eras of Chinese MIO engagement across several issue areas. The Element next adopts a case-study, process-driven, understanding of China and MIOs, examining the evolution of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It concludes that China, through incremental measures, is fashioning reordering that pushes in similar directions. However, this capacity to effect significant change varies considerably across institutional settings.
"Bounded Ambition: China as a Multilateral Actor in World Politics" was co-authored by Rosemary Foot and Xueying Zhang.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rosemary Foot, University of Oxford
Rosemary Foot is Professor (Emeritus) at the University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations, an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony’s College, and a Research Associate at the Oxford China Centre. In 1996, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Her research interests cover security relations in the Asia-Pacific, China and regional and global order, China and multilateralism, China-US relations, human rights, and Asian regional institutions. She is the author or editor of some 16 books, and over 90 articles and book chapters. Current research projects include further work on China as a multilateral actor in world politics; and with Sebastian Haug a study of both China’s co-constitutive role in the creation of post-World War II order, as well as of China’s shaping of the trajectory of the United Nations.
This event is organised by the Global Governance Centre on behalf of the Global Governance Research Centre Consortium.
ABOUT THE Global Governance Research Centre Consortium
The Global Governance Research Centre Consortium (GGRCC) is a collaborative network of research institutions and scholars dedicated to advancing the study of global governance. Our mission is to foster rigorous, innovative research that addresses the most pressing challenges in global governance. We bring together diverse perspectives and methodologies to contribute to both academic scholarship and practical policy solutions.
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