Abstract
Rather than a rising, the contemporary ascent of China can be better described as a return to the nation’s historical position as a leading political, cultural, economic, and military power. Historically, China held a position at the center of a regional power structure referred to in the West as the ‘tributary system’.1 Song Nianshen, who prefers the term zongfan, or hierarchy system, to tributary system, highlighted that the system was far more than an interstate system; it was a multilateral and multilayered system of international relations. According to Song, the state-to-state relationships within the tributary system were ‘woven into a complex, multilevel power nexus composed of interconnections among multiple political, economic, ideological, and science and technological cores and peripheries’.2 This conception of China’s position at the center of a complex, multilevel power nexus has a profound effect on China’s ontological understanding of its role within international relations and on states’ management of their interactions. Therefore, the re-emergence of China as a leading power in politics and economics produces a different ontological understanding and raises fundamental questions regarding the future of global governance: Is China attempting to regain its position at the center of global governance? Do China’s actions within the bodies and organizations that constitute global governance corroborate this view?
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Notes
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© 2014 Niall Duggan
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Duggan, N. (2014). The Rise of China within Global Governance. In: Dessein, B. (eds) Interpreting China as a Regional and Global Power. Politics and Development of Contemporary China Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137450302_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137450302_13
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