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Is China on the Verge of a Weltpolitik? A Comparison of the Current Shift in the Balance of Power between China and the West and the Shift between Great Britain and Wilhelmine Germany

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Interpreting China as a Regional and Global Power

Part of the book series: Politics and Development of Contemporary China Series ((PDCC))

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Abstract

Since its reopening in the 1980s, China has been progressively reclaiming the place it enjoyed in the world economy prior to the industrial revolution and the colonization of China by imperialist powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the resurgent Chinese economy is now expanding in a globalized world economy characterized by a high degree of interdependence rather than in the context of relatively independent, inward-looking ‘world economies’, as Braudel described the economic world system prior to the 16th century. The dramatic growth of China’s economy is generating a profound shift in the global balance of power.1

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Authors
  1. Jean-Christophe Defraigne
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, Belgium

    Bart Dessein (Professor of Chinese Language and Culture) (Professor of Chinese Language and Culture)

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© 2014 Jean-Christophe Defraigne

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Defraigne, JC. (2014). Is China on the Verge of a Weltpolitik? A Comparison of the Current Shift in the Balance of Power between China and the West and the Shift between Great Britain and Wilhelmine Germany. 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_15

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