International Relations Theory and East Asian History: An Overview

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Kang
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Asian History ◽  
Western Experience ◽  
International Systems

Long understudied by mainstream international relations (IR) scholars, the East Asian historical experience provides an enormous wealth of patterns and findings, which promise to enrich our IR theoretical literature largely derived from and knowledgeable about the Western experience. The intellectual contributions of this emerging scholarship have the potential to influence some of the most central questions in international relations: the nature of the state, the formation of state preferences, and the interplay between material and ideational factors. Researching historical East Asia provides an opportunity to seek out genuine comparisons of international systems and their foundational components. This introduction surveys the field and sets out to frame debate and the intellectual terms of inquiry to assess progress and guide future research. Theoretically, the essays in this issue provide insights on the emerging literature on hierarchy in international relations, and move beyond simplistic assertions that power “matters” to explore the interplay of material and ideational causal factors. Methodologically, scholars are no longer treating all East Asian history as simply one case, while also becoming more careful to avoid selection bias by avoiding choosing selective evidence from the rich historical record. Collectively, the empirical cases discussed in this volume span centuries of history, include a wide variety of political actors across East Asia, and represent an exciting wave of new scholarship.

scholarly journals Contesting the Confucian peace: Civilization, barbarism and international hierarchy in East Asia

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 740-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Phillips
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Qing Dynasty ◽  
East Asian ◽  
European History ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Diverse Communities ◽  
Tributary System ◽  
International Systems

International Relations scholars have turned to China’s tributary system to broaden our understanding of international systems beyond the ‘states-under-anarchy’ model derived from European history. This scholarship forms the inspiration and foil for this article, which refines International Relations scholars’ conceptualizations of how international hierarchy arose and endured in East Asia during the Manchu Qing Dynasty — China’s last and most territorially expansive imperial dynasty. I argue that existing conceptions of East Asian hierarchy overstate the importance of mutual identification between the region’s Confucian monarchies in sustaining Chinese hegemony. Instead, we can understand Qing China’s dominance only once we recognize the Manchus as a ‘barbarian’ dynasty, which faced unique challenges legitimating its rule domestically and internationally. As ‘barbarian’ conquerors, Manchus did not secure their rule by simply conforming to pre-existing Sinic cultural norms. Instead, like other contemporary Eurasian empires, they maintained dominance through strategies of heterogeneous contracting. Domestically, they developed customized legitimacy scripts tailored to win the allegiance of the empire’s diverse communities. Internationally, meanwhile, the Manchus strategically appropriated existing Confucian norms and practices of tributary diplomacy in ways that mitigated — but did not eliminate — Confucian vassals’ resentment of ‘barbarian’ domination. East Asian hierarchy may have been more peaceful than Westphalian anarchy, but the absence of war masks a more coercive reality where the appearance of Confucian conformity obscured more fractious relations between Qing China and even its ostensibly most loyal vassals.

The Tribute System and the World Imagined in Early Modern East Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 030582982110506
Author(s):  
Ji-Young Lee
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
International Order ◽  
Rightful Place ◽  
The World ◽  
Tribute System ◽  
International Systems ◽  
Oriented Approach

The field of international relations has long treated the Westphalian system and states in the territorial sovereign sense as the standard or ‘normal’ in IR. The World Imagined by Hendrik Spruyt boldly challenges this habit as the biases of our times and instead brings non-European historical international systems into their rightful place in our study of international order and international relations theorising more generally. Unpacking Spruyt’s discussion of ‘the East Asian interstate society’, the article argues that an in-depth examination of what is known as a ‘tribute system’ and early modern East Asian historical orders richly illuminates the book’s arguments on the heterogeneity and diversity of order-building practices. It also argues that from a practice-oriented approach, the experience of early modern East Asia presents a compelling case that legitimation holds the key to explaining order building processes at both the domestic and international levels, with legitimation at these two levels working in tandem.

Reacting to China’s rise throughout history: balancing and accommodating in East Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhan Meng ◽  
Weixing Hu
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
China's Rise ◽  
China Rose ◽  
Chinese State ◽  
Asian History ◽  
The Rise Of China

AbstractThe rise of China and how other countries respond to China’s rising is widely studied. But little has been done on how other countries reacted to the rise of China throughout history and how China strategically interacted with them. The conventional wisdom holds East Asian international relations did not operate in the Westphalian way and China’s rising in history did not trigger regional balancing actions. In this article, we challenge that view. We argue East Asian international relations were not exceptional to basic rules of the Westphalian system. Each time China rose up, it triggered balancing actions from neighboring regimes, including nomadic empires and settled kingdoms. The neighboring regimes would accommodate China only after they were defeated by China or pro-China regimes propped up in these countries. The Chinese hegemony in East Asian history could not be taken for granted. Over last 2,000 plus years, only during three periods of time (the Qin-Han 秦汉, Sui-Tang 隋唐, and Ming-Qing 明清 dynasties) China could successfully overpower regional resistance and enjoyed a stable tributary relationship with neighboring states. In the rest of time, the Chinese state could not retain hegemony in East Asia.

Rethinking Hierarchies in East Asian Historical IR

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 598-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph MacKay
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dimensions Of Variation ◽  
Over Time

Abstract International relations (IR) has seen a proliferation of recent research on both international hierarchies as such and on historical IR in (often hierarchical) East Asia. This article takes stock of insights from East Asian hierarchies for the study of international hierarchy as such. I argue for and defend an explanatory approach emphasizing repertoires or toolkits of hierarchical super- and subordination. Historical hierarchies surrounding China took multiple dynastic forms. I emphasize two dimensions of variation. First, hierarchy-building occurs in dialogue between cores and peripheries. Variation in these relationships proliferated multiple arrangements for hierarchical influence and rule. Second, Sinocentric hierarchies varied widely over time, in ways that suggest learning. Successive Chinese dynasties both emulated the successes and avoided the pitfalls of the past, adapting their ideologies and strategies for rule to varying circumstances by recombining past political repertoires to build new ones. Taken together, these phenomena suggest new lines of inquiry for research on hierarchies in IR.

Islam and Human Capital Formation

2011 ◽  
pp. 80-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Chaney
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Scientific Production ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Role Of Religion

Given the rich scientific tradition of the Muslim world, current levels of scientific production in predominantly Muslim countries are surprisingly low. A recent survey of the state of scientific production in Muslim countries found that forty-six predominantly Muslim countries produced 1.17 percent of the world's science literature between 1997 and 2007. The historical record provides evidence that religious diversity and religious tolerance helped constrain Islam's conservative elements for hundreds of years. This article examines the extent to which the behavior of Muslim religious authorities helps explain the evolution of Muslim scientific development in the premodern era. It begins by providing a brief overview of scientific production throughout Islamic history and then examines the role of religion in both the flourishing and stagnation of Muslim science. The conclusion provides suggestions for future research and examines the extent to which the historical evolution of Islam provides lessons for encouraging scientific progress today.

International Order in Historical East Asia: Tribute and Hierarchy Beyond Sinocentrism and Eurocentrism

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Kang
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
International Order ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Sovereign Equality ◽  
The World ◽  
Western Experience

AbstractIR theorizing about international order has been profoundly, perhaps exclusively, shaped by the Western experiences of the Westphalian order and often assumes that the Western experience can be generalized to all orders. Recent scholarship on historical East Asian orders challenges these notions. The fundamental organizing principle in historical East Asia was hierarchy, not sovereign equality. The region was characterized by hegemony, not balance of power. This emerging research program has direct implications for enduring questions about the relative importance of cultural and material factors in both international orders and their influence on behavior—for describing and explaining patterns of war and peace across time and space, for understanding East Asia as a region made up of more than just China, and for more usefully comparing East Asia, Europe, and other regions of the world.

scholarly journals Revenge of Geopolitics: Rise of China and the Confines of Asian Econophoria

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175
Author(s):  
Richard Javad Heydarian
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
East Asia ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
East Asian ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Security Architecture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rise Of China

The paper examines the evolution of the Asian regional security architecture in the past three decades, evaluating relations between China and its neighbors, and considering various approaches in International Relations theory. First, the paper examines the assumptions of liberal institutionalism in the context of “econophoria,” assessing its merits in East Asia. Second, the paper addresses China and its relations with the East Asian neighborhood in the latter decades of the 20th century. Third, the paper examines growing territorial tensions between China and its neighbors in the past decade -- and how this undermines regional security and regional integration. Lastly, the paper evaluates the contributions of alternative IR theories such as realism and constructivism in providing a better understanding of China’s new assertiveness.

Pathways of Influence of the Northern Hemisphere Mid–high Latitudes on East Asian Climate: A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianping Li ◽  
Fei Zheng ◽  
Cheng Sun ◽  
Juan Feng ◽  
Jing Wang
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Antagonistic Effect ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
The North ◽  
East Asian Climate

<p>This paper reviews recent progress made by Chinese scientists on the pathways of influence of the Northern Hemisphere mid–high latitudes on East Asian climate within the framework of a “coupled oceanic–atmospheric (land–atmospheric or seaice–atmospheric) bridge” and “chain coupled bridge”. Four major categories of pathways are concentrated upon, as follows: Pathway A—from North Atlantic to East Asia; Pathway B—from the North Pacific to East Asia; Pathway C—from the Arctic to East Asia; and Pathway D—the synergistic effects of the mid–high latitudes and tropics. In addition, definitions of the terms “combined effect”, “synergistic effect” and “antagonistic effect” of two or more factors of influence or processes and their criteria are introduced, so as to objectively investigate those effects in future research.</p>

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