The relevance of deep pluralism for China's foreign policy

Zhang, Feng and Buzan, Barry (2022) The relevance of deep pluralism for China's foreign policy. Chinese Journal of International Politics, 15 (3). 246 - 271. ISSN 1750-8916

Text (Deep pluralism and China-CJIP final) - Accepted Version Repository staff only until 23 July 2024. Download (381kB) | Request a copy

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Abstract

Deep pluralism describes a global society in which power, wealth, and cultural and political authority are distributed diffusely within a system that has high interaction capacity and is strongly interdependent. This concept has empirical and normative value for understanding China's foreign policy. Empirically, it enables us to see that China has been a key driver of deep pluralism in its modern history. Normatively, it points to the importance of the contestation between consensual and contested forms of deep pluralism and the critical role China can play in this contestation. China is now facing choices between those motivated by raison d'etat (narrow self-interest) and raison de système (system-wide responsibility incorporating enlightened self-interest). For its professed goals of international peace and development, it is imperative that China promote a consensual form of deep pluralism in the spirit of raison de système. In the Asian region, where its regional policy is entangled with its US policy, this would require it to ameliorate contested deep pluralism in its policies towards the USA while adopting a consistent strategy of reassurance towards its neighbours.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/cjip
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Authors
Divisions:	International Relations
Subjects:	J Political Science > JZ International relations J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia
Date Deposited:	25 Nov 2022 12:42
Last Modified:	18 Apr 2024 04:15
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/117428

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