Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

WESTLESSNESS UNDER CHINESE NATIONALISM: AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL ATTEMPT OR AN ONTOLOGICAL CASE?

Year 2021, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 151 - 164, 31.12.2021

Abstract

Bu çalışma, liberal uluslararası düzenin gevşeyen ittifakına, Batı dünyası nezdinde farkındalık yaratmak için henüz inşa edilmiş Batısızlık (Westlessness) söyleminin, varsayıldığından daha kalıcı olacağını iddia etmektedir. 2020 Münih Güvenlik Konferansı'nın bir ürünü olarak Batısızlık, başta Çin olmak üzere, yükselen güçlere karşı güçlü durmak için Avrupa-Atlantik sinerjisini yeniden kurmayı hedeflemektedir. Öte yandan, pürüzlere rağmen, Çin'in yükselişi halen geçerli bir olgudur ve halihazırda dönüşen uluslararası düzene karşı bir meydan okuma içermektedir. Bu olguya, aktörün iddialı dış politikası üzerinde etkisi olan Çin milliyetçiliği eşlik etmektedir. Bu parametreler ışığında çalışma, söylemin yaratıcılarının epistemolojik amaçlarına rağmen, Batısızlığın daha çok ontolojik bir mesele olduğunu iddia etmektedir. 2003 Irak Savaşı ve Rusya'nın 2014'te Kırım'ı ilhakı gibi krizlerde Batı dünyasının birlikte hareket etme yetisinin sınırları olduğu göz önüne alındığında, Batısızlığın, söyleminin inşasından önce de var olduğuna dikkat çekmektedir. Çalışma, Batısızlığın ontolojik doğasını vurgulayarak, Çin'in yükselişine nasıl yanıt verileceğine dair ortak hareket yetisindeki eksikliği açığa çıkarmaktadır.

References

  • Acharya, Amitav. (2018). “Asia After the Liberal International Order.” East Asia Forum. https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/07/10/asia-after-the-liberal-international-order/ (4 May 2021).
  • Allan, B. Bentley; Vucetic, Srdjan & Hopf, Ted. (2018). “The Distribution of Identity and the Future of International Order: China’s Hegemonic Prospects”. International Organization, 72(4), 839-869. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818318000267
  • Beeson, Mark; Li, Fuijan. (2016). “China’s Place in Regional and Global Governance: A New World Comes into View.” Global Policy, 7(4), 491-499. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12348
  • Bhattacharya, Abanti (2007). “Chinese Nationalism and China’s Assertive Foreign Policy”. The Journal of East Asian Affairs, 21(1), 235-262.
  • Breslin, Shaun (2013). “China and the Global Order: Signalling Threat or Friendship?” International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944- ), 89(3), 615-634. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12036
  • Burrows, Mathew J. (2019). “Global Risks 2035 Update, Decline or New Renaissance.” Atlantic Council Strategy Paper Series. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/global-risks-2035-update/ (14 May 2021).
  • Callahan, William A. (2004). “National Insecurities: Humiliation, Salvation, and Chinese Nationalism.” Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 29(2), 199-218. https://doi.org/10.1177/030437540402900204
  • Callahan, William A. (2014). “China Dream-I.” The Asan Forum. http://www.theasanforum.org/what-can-the-china-dream-do-in-the-prc/ (18 May 2021).
  • Christensen, Thomas J. (2016). The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power. W.W. Norton, New York.
  • Dirlik, Arif. (1998). The Postcolonial Aura: Third World Criticism in the Age of Global Capitalism. Westview Press, Colorado.
  • Eilstrup-Sangiovanni, Mette; Hofmann, Stephanie C. (2020). “Of the Contemporary Global Order, Crisis, and Change.” Journal of European Public Policy, 27(7), 1077-1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1678665
  • Feng, Huiyun; He, Kai (2017). “China’s Institutional Challenges to the International Order.” Strategic Studies Quarterly, 11(4), 23-49.
  • Foot, Roemary (2020). “China’s Rise and US Hegemony: Renegotiating Hegemonic Order.” International Politics, 57(1), 150-165. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-019-00189-5
  • Gries, Peter H. (2004). China’s new nationalism: Pride, politics and diplomacy. University of California Press, Los Angeles.
  • Guoguang, Wu (2008). “From Post-imperial to Late Communist Nationalism: Historical Change in Chinese Nationalism from May Fourth to the 1990s.” Third World Quarterly, 29(3), 467-482. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590801931454
  • Jacques, Martin (2009). When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World. Penguin, London.
  • Jian, Zhang (2003). “Chinese Nationalism and its Foreign Policy Implications.” In David W. Lovell (ed.), Asia-Pacific Security: Policy Challenges, (pp. 108-125). Asia Pacific Press, Singapore.
  • Jinping, Xi. (2017). Çin’in Yönetimi [Governance of China]. Kaynak, Ankara
  • Johnston, Alastair Iain (2017). “Is Chinese Nationalism Rising? Evidence from Beijing.” International Security, 41(3), 7-43. https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00265
  • Kennedy, Liam (2020). “’This is not America’: States of Emergency in Europe.” European Journal of American Studies, 15(4), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejas.16368
  • Keohane, Robert O. (2021), “The Global Politics Paradigm: Guide to Future or only to the Recent Past?” International Theory, 13(1), 112-121. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752971920000445
  • Kissinger, Henry (2016). Dünya düzeni [World order]. Boyner, İstanbul.
  • MacShane, Denis (2020). “‘Westlessness’- Seriously?” The Globalist. https://www.theglobalist.com/munich-security-conference-the-west-westlessness-inequality-france-germany-united-states/ (16 May 2021).
  • Maull, Hanns W. (2019), “Global Disorder.” Uluslarası İlişkiler, 16(63), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.33458/uidergisi.621262
  • Mearsheimer, John J. (2019). “Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order,” International Security, 43(4), 7-50. https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00342
  • Munich Security Briefs (2021). “Beyond Westlessness. A Readout from the MSC Special Edition”, https://securityconference.org/en/publications/munich-security-brief/msc-special-edition-2021/ (16 April 2021).
  • Munich Security Report (2020). “Westlessness,” https://securityconference.org/assets/user_upload/MunichSecurityReport2020.pdf (10 April 2021).
  • Nye, Joseph S. (2020). “The Dangers of Westlessness,” The Diplomat, https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/the-dangers-of-westlessness/ (19 April 2021).
  • Öniş, Ziya (2017). “The age of Anxiety: The Crisis of Liberal Democracy in a Post-Hegemonic World Order,” The International Spectator, 52(3), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2017.1325133
  • Perthes, Volker (2020). “The New Global Paradigm: America, the People’s Republic and the Complexity of Their Rivalry,” Security Times. https://www.the-security-times.com/america-china-complexity-rivalry/ (9 May 2021).
  • Pillsbury, Michael (2015). The Hundred-year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower. Henry Holt and Company, New York.
  • Pye, Lucian W. (1993). “How China’s Nationalism was Shanghaied,” The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 29, 107-133. https://doi.org/10.2307/2949954
  • Ross, Dennis (2020). “How Biden Can Restore America’s Role Abroad,” The National Interest, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-biden-can-restore-america%E2%80%99s-role-abroad-172952 (17 May 2021).
  • Roy, Denny (2019). “Assertive China: Irredentism or Expansionism?” Survival, 61(1), 51-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2019.1568044
  • Rudd, Kevin (2015). “The Great Guessing Game: America, China and the Future of Global Order,” Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development, 5, 32-49.
  • Rudd, Kevin (2021). “The Decade of Living Dangerously: China’s Play at Global Leadership,” Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable, 18, 30-50.
  • Scobell, Andrew and Harold, Scott (2013). “An ‘Assertive’ China? Insights from Interviews,” Asian Security, 9(2), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/14799855.2013.795549
  • Soronsen, Camilla T.N. (2015). “The Significance of Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream” for Chinese Foreign Policy: From ‘Tao Guang Yang Hui’ to ‘Fen Fa You Wei,’” Journal of China and International Relations, 3(1), 53-73. https://doi.org/10.5278/ojs.jcir.v3i1.1146
  • Swaine, Michael D. (2011). “China’s Assertive Behaviour, Part One: On Core Interests,” China Leadership Monitor, 34, 1-25.
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (2020). “Wang Yi Holds Videoconference with Asia Society,” https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjb_663304/wjbz_663308/activities_663312/t1841817.shtml (12 May 2021).
  • Watts, Stephan, Beauchamp-Mustafaga, Nathan, Harris, Benjamin N. & Reach, Clint (2020). “Alternative Worldviews: Understanding Potential Trajectories of Great-power Ideological Competition,” Rand Corporation Research Report.
  • Zhao, Minghao (2019). “Is a New Cold War Inevitable? Chinese Perspectives on US-China Strategic Competition,” The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 12(3), 371-394. https://doi.org/10.1093/CJIP/POZ010
  • Zhao, Suisheng (2013a). “Foreign Policy Implications of Chinese Nationalism Revisited: The strident Turn,” Journal of Contemporary China, 22(82), 535-553. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2013.766379
  • Zhao, Suisheng (2013b). “Chinese Foreign Policy as a Rising Power to Find its Rightful Place,” Perceptions, 18(1), 101-128.

WESTLESSNESS UNDER CHINESE NATIONALISM: AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL ATTEMPT OR AN ONTOLOGICAL CASE?

Year 2021, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 151 - 164, 31.12.2021

Abstract

This study argues that Westlessness, a fresh concept used to raise awareness inside the Western world on the loosening alliance within the liberal international order, is likely to be more pervasive than previously assumed. As a product of the Munich Security Conference of 2020, Westlessness seeks to re-establish the Euro-Atlantic synergy to stand strong against rising powers, particularly China. On the other hand, the rise of China, despite setbacks, is real and continues to challenge the already evolving international order. This phenomenon is accompanied by Chinese nationalism that has an impact on the assertive foreign policy of the actor. In light of these variables, the study asserts that, despite the creators' epistemological goals, Westlessness is more of an ontological issue. Keeping in mind that the Western world has struggled to act in concert on a range of crises, such as the 2003 Iraq War and Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, Westlessness existed prior to the formation of its discourse. The study uncovers a lack of unanimity on how to respond to the rise of China, highlighting the ontological nature of Westlessness.

References

  • Acharya, Amitav. (2018). “Asia After the Liberal International Order.” East Asia Forum. https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/07/10/asia-after-the-liberal-international-order/ (4 May 2021).
  • Allan, B. Bentley; Vucetic, Srdjan & Hopf, Ted. (2018). “The Distribution of Identity and the Future of International Order: China’s Hegemonic Prospects”. International Organization, 72(4), 839-869. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818318000267
  • Beeson, Mark; Li, Fuijan. (2016). “China’s Place in Regional and Global Governance: A New World Comes into View.” Global Policy, 7(4), 491-499. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12348
  • Bhattacharya, Abanti (2007). “Chinese Nationalism and China’s Assertive Foreign Policy”. The Journal of East Asian Affairs, 21(1), 235-262.
  • Breslin, Shaun (2013). “China and the Global Order: Signalling Threat or Friendship?” International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944- ), 89(3), 615-634. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12036
  • Burrows, Mathew J. (2019). “Global Risks 2035 Update, Decline or New Renaissance.” Atlantic Council Strategy Paper Series. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/global-risks-2035-update/ (14 May 2021).
  • Callahan, William A. (2004). “National Insecurities: Humiliation, Salvation, and Chinese Nationalism.” Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 29(2), 199-218. https://doi.org/10.1177/030437540402900204
  • Callahan, William A. (2014). “China Dream-I.” The Asan Forum. http://www.theasanforum.org/what-can-the-china-dream-do-in-the-prc/ (18 May 2021).
  • Christensen, Thomas J. (2016). The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power. W.W. Norton, New York.
  • Dirlik, Arif. (1998). The Postcolonial Aura: Third World Criticism in the Age of Global Capitalism. Westview Press, Colorado.
  • Eilstrup-Sangiovanni, Mette; Hofmann, Stephanie C. (2020). “Of the Contemporary Global Order, Crisis, and Change.” Journal of European Public Policy, 27(7), 1077-1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1678665
  • Feng, Huiyun; He, Kai (2017). “China’s Institutional Challenges to the International Order.” Strategic Studies Quarterly, 11(4), 23-49.
  • Foot, Roemary (2020). “China’s Rise and US Hegemony: Renegotiating Hegemonic Order.” International Politics, 57(1), 150-165. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-019-00189-5
  • Gries, Peter H. (2004). China’s new nationalism: Pride, politics and diplomacy. University of California Press, Los Angeles.
  • Guoguang, Wu (2008). “From Post-imperial to Late Communist Nationalism: Historical Change in Chinese Nationalism from May Fourth to the 1990s.” Third World Quarterly, 29(3), 467-482. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590801931454
  • Jacques, Martin (2009). When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World. Penguin, London.
  • Jian, Zhang (2003). “Chinese Nationalism and its Foreign Policy Implications.” In David W. Lovell (ed.), Asia-Pacific Security: Policy Challenges, (pp. 108-125). Asia Pacific Press, Singapore.
  • Jinping, Xi. (2017). Çin’in Yönetimi [Governance of China]. Kaynak, Ankara
  • Johnston, Alastair Iain (2017). “Is Chinese Nationalism Rising? Evidence from Beijing.” International Security, 41(3), 7-43. https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00265
  • Kennedy, Liam (2020). “’This is not America’: States of Emergency in Europe.” European Journal of American Studies, 15(4), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejas.16368
  • Keohane, Robert O. (2021), “The Global Politics Paradigm: Guide to Future or only to the Recent Past?” International Theory, 13(1), 112-121. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752971920000445
  • Kissinger, Henry (2016). Dünya düzeni [World order]. Boyner, İstanbul.
  • MacShane, Denis (2020). “‘Westlessness’- Seriously?” The Globalist. https://www.theglobalist.com/munich-security-conference-the-west-westlessness-inequality-france-germany-united-states/ (16 May 2021).
  • Maull, Hanns W. (2019), “Global Disorder.” Uluslarası İlişkiler, 16(63), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.33458/uidergisi.621262
  • Mearsheimer, John J. (2019). “Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order,” International Security, 43(4), 7-50. https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00342
  • Munich Security Briefs (2021). “Beyond Westlessness. A Readout from the MSC Special Edition”, https://securityconference.org/en/publications/munich-security-brief/msc-special-edition-2021/ (16 April 2021).
  • Munich Security Report (2020). “Westlessness,” https://securityconference.org/assets/user_upload/MunichSecurityReport2020.pdf (10 April 2021).
  • Nye, Joseph S. (2020). “The Dangers of Westlessness,” The Diplomat, https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/the-dangers-of-westlessness/ (19 April 2021).
  • Öniş, Ziya (2017). “The age of Anxiety: The Crisis of Liberal Democracy in a Post-Hegemonic World Order,” The International Spectator, 52(3), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2017.1325133
  • Perthes, Volker (2020). “The New Global Paradigm: America, the People’s Republic and the Complexity of Their Rivalry,” Security Times. https://www.the-security-times.com/america-china-complexity-rivalry/ (9 May 2021).
  • Pillsbury, Michael (2015). The Hundred-year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower. Henry Holt and Company, New York.
  • Pye, Lucian W. (1993). “How China’s Nationalism was Shanghaied,” The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 29, 107-133. https://doi.org/10.2307/2949954
  • Ross, Dennis (2020). “How Biden Can Restore America’s Role Abroad,” The National Interest, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-biden-can-restore-america%E2%80%99s-role-abroad-172952 (17 May 2021).
  • Roy, Denny (2019). “Assertive China: Irredentism or Expansionism?” Survival, 61(1), 51-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2019.1568044
  • Rudd, Kevin (2015). “The Great Guessing Game: America, China and the Future of Global Order,” Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development, 5, 32-49.
  • Rudd, Kevin (2021). “The Decade of Living Dangerously: China’s Play at Global Leadership,” Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable, 18, 30-50.
  • Scobell, Andrew and Harold, Scott (2013). “An ‘Assertive’ China? Insights from Interviews,” Asian Security, 9(2), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/14799855.2013.795549
  • Soronsen, Camilla T.N. (2015). “The Significance of Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream” for Chinese Foreign Policy: From ‘Tao Guang Yang Hui’ to ‘Fen Fa You Wei,’” Journal of China and International Relations, 3(1), 53-73. https://doi.org/10.5278/ojs.jcir.v3i1.1146
  • Swaine, Michael D. (2011). “China’s Assertive Behaviour, Part One: On Core Interests,” China Leadership Monitor, 34, 1-25.
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (2020). “Wang Yi Holds Videoconference with Asia Society,” https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjb_663304/wjbz_663308/activities_663312/t1841817.shtml (12 May 2021).
  • Watts, Stephan, Beauchamp-Mustafaga, Nathan, Harris, Benjamin N. & Reach, Clint (2020). “Alternative Worldviews: Understanding Potential Trajectories of Great-power Ideological Competition,” Rand Corporation Research Report.
  • Zhao, Minghao (2019). “Is a New Cold War Inevitable? Chinese Perspectives on US-China Strategic Competition,” The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 12(3), 371-394. https://doi.org/10.1093/CJIP/POZ010
  • Zhao, Suisheng (2013a). “Foreign Policy Implications of Chinese Nationalism Revisited: The strident Turn,” Journal of Contemporary China, 22(82), 535-553. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2013.766379
  • Zhao, Suisheng (2013b). “Chinese Foreign Policy as a Rising Power to Find its Rightful Place,” Perceptions, 18(1), 101-128.
There are 44 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Cem Yılmaz 0000-0003-3421-3314

Publication Date December 31, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 5 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Yılmaz, C. (2021). WESTLESSNESS UNDER CHINESE NATIONALISM: AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL ATTEMPT OR AN ONTOLOGICAL CASE?. Asya Araştırmaları Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 5(2), 151-164.
Asian Studies International Journal of Social Sciences is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 (CC BY NC) International License