China’s Relationship with the Liberal International Order: The Case of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Abstract

As the world enters the third decade of the 21st century, the liberal international order founded in the aftermath of the Second World War and has since provided a framework within which world affairs take place, is experiencing a crisis of sustainability, because while on the one hand the Western world that has created the system is going through a period where its own liberal values and norms are eroding, on the other hand the very order has not been able to accommodate the rise of non-Western powers most of which are governed by authoritarian regimes. One of these powers, China, merits greater attention, not only because it has reached the status of a global economic behemoth seeking to making rules rather than taking them by becoming an integral part of the system rather than conflicting it, but also because there is an inherent paradox to its relationship with the liberal international order: China has benefited from the liberal international order for its economic rise, yet at the same time this rise is also said to be a challenge against the very order itself. In an attempt to tackle this paradox, this essay focuses on an institutional form of this country’s involvement in the governance of the international economic order, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a Chinese-led multinational development bank that commenced operations in 2016, and investigates whether AIIB complements the structures of the existing order or aims to substitute them, in order to contribute to a better understanding of China’s relationship liberal international order.

Keywords

• China
• liberal international order
• global governance
• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
• multilateral development banks

Çin’in Liberal Uluslararası Düzen ile İlişkisi: Asya Altyapı Yatırım Bankası Üzerinden Bir İnceleme

Abstract

Dünya 21. Yüzyıl’ın üçüncü on yılına girerken, İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrasında kurulan ve bugüne değin dünya meselelerini şekillendiren bir çerçeve oluşturan liberal uluslararası düzenin bir sürdürülebilirlik krizi yaşamakta olduğu görülmektedir ve bunun da sebebi olarak bir taraftan söz konusu düzenin kurucusu olan Batı dünyasında liberal değer ve normlar zayıflamakta iken diğer yandan mevcut düzenin çoğu otoriter rejimler tarafından yönetilmekte olan Batı-dışı güçlerin yükselişi karşısında yetersiz kalması gösterilmektedir. Bu güçlerden biri olan Çin’in yakından incelenmesi gerekir, çünkü bu ülke günümüzde küresel düzeyde kural yapıcı konumuna ulaşmak isteyen büyük bir ekonomik güç seviyesine bu düzenin dışında kalarak veya bu düzenle çatışarak değil, söz konusu düzenin bütüncül bir parçası olarak geldiği gibi, liberal uluslararası düzenden fayda sağladığı halde yükselişi ile bu düzene karşı bir tehdit oluşturduğu gibi söylemlere de hedef olarak bir paradoks da yaratmaktadır. Söz konusu paradoksu inceleyen bu makalenin amacı, Çin’in uluslararası ekonomik düzen ile ilişkisinin kurumsal bir formu olan, 2016’da faaliyetlerine başlayan çok taraflı kalkınma bankası Asya Altyapı Yatırım Bankası’nın (AIIB) ele alarak bu bankanın mevcut düzeni tamamlayıcı mı olduğunu yoksa bu düzeni değiştirme amacı mı taşıdığını sorgulayarak bu suretle Çin’in liberal uluslararası düzenle olan ilişkisini anlama çabalarına bir katkı sunmaktır.

Keywords

• Çin
• liberal uluslararası düzen
• Asya Altyapı Yatırım Bankası
• çok taraflı kalkınma bankaları
• küresel yönetişim

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