Since the mid-1990s, the Chinese authorities have gradually come to embrace multilateralism to realize their basic foreign policy objectives in maintaining a peaceful international environment and enhancing China's international status and influence. This embrace is largely based on pragmatic considerations. There is no denial, however, that elements of liberalism and constructivism gradually enter into the considerations of Chinese leaders. They accept, for example, that non-traditional security issues can only be tackled through genuine multilateralism. This volume carefully examines China's increased participation in multilateral organizations and mechanisms and its efforts to initiate and develop its own discourses on global affairs straddling Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Latin American continents. China's presence in international multilateral organizations has been providing developing countries a better chance to maintain a balance of power. Since China has no ambitious plan to transform the existing international order, its increasing enthusiastic engagement of multilateralism is likely to be accepted by the international community.

Despite its increasingly secure place in the world, the People's Republic of China remains dissatisfied with its global status. Its growing material power has simultaneously led to both greater influence and unsettling questions about its international intentions. China also has found itself in a constant struggle to balance its aspirations abroad with a daunting domestic agenda. This authoritative book provides a unique exploration of the complex and dynamic motivations behind Beijing's foreign policy. The authors focus on China's choices and calculations on issues such as the ruling Communist party-regime's interests, international status and image, nationalism, Taiwan, human rights, globalization, U.S. hegemony, international institutions, and the war on terrorism. Taken together, the chapters offer a comprehensive diagnosis of the emerging paradigms in Chinese foreign policy, illuminating especially China's struggle to engineer and manage its rise in light of the opportunities and perils inherent in the post-cold war and post-9/11 world.

China’s recent rapid economic growth has drawn global attention to its foreign policy, which increasingly has had an impact on world politics. In contrast with China’s long-standing preference for bilateralism or unilateralism in foreign policy, recent decades have seen changes in the PRC’s attitude and in its declaratory and operational policies, with a trend toward the accepting and advocating of multilateralism in international affairs. Whilst China’s involvement has been primarily in the economic arena, for example, participation in the World Trade Organization and ASEAN Plus Three, it has more recently expanded into international security institutions, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This book records, analyzes, and attempts to conceptualize, this phenomenal development in Chinese foreign policy and its impact on international relations, with the emphasis on China’s active participation in multilaterally-oriented regional security regimes. Written by an impressive team of international scholars, this book is the first collective effort in the field of China studies and international relations to look at China’s recent turn to multilateralism in foreign affairs. It will appeal to students and scholars of Chinese politics and foreign policy, security studies and international relations.

The book examines, linking two key variables – ‘political leadership’ and ‘foreign policy’ – the role of Deng Xiaoping in China’s foreign policy shift after Mao in politico-strategic and economic domains. The book finds out that guided by his own personality, worldview, experience, pragmatism, belief and style Deng attempted to resolve the long-standing domestic and foreign policy issues. Most importantly, Deng moved from the primacy of politics to economic modernisation which resulted in far-reaching changes in China’s external engagement. The book's central inquiry is to assess the contemporary relevance of Deng’s foreign policy paradigm. It establishes that the relevance of Deng’s policy continues in the present context except for China’s pro-activeness towards issues pertaining to its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Using China’s case, the study advances the framework of understanding pertaining to the role of political leadership in foreign policy.

The rapid pace of geopolitical change, the urgent necessity for sustainability, and the fundamental importance of energy security converge to shape our complex global landscape today. This issue of Transatlantic Policy Quarterly delves into "Change, Security, and Sustainability in Energy," offering insights from scholars and professionals on how regions and nations are navigating this pivotal transformation. This issue is also a testament to the diverse perspectives needed to address our global energy challenges. From Europe to Asia and the Americas, these contributors provide thoughtful analyses and innovative ideas for a sustainable, secure, and resilient energy future. We invite you to engage with these articles, each shedding light on the crucial crossroads of change, security, and sustainability in energy.

In an imaginative and interesting way, Kwang Ho Chun seeks to capture the dynamics of the changing international system and the prospects for a change in the international distribution of power. The idea that new superpowers could rise and that some of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) could be such superpowers, is particularly intriguing and the main idea explored in this study. In line with neo-realist approaches, this book argues that in a unipolar world competitors will rise to challenge the global hegemon. As the power profiles of the BRICs rise and they gain greater control of geo-global politics, they are likely to attain significant regional dominance among other regional powers although their underdeveloped tradition of hard power and internal challenges could prevent them from gaining superpower status. This book captures the dynamics of the changing international system and the prospects for a change in the international distribution of power.

This book examines, comprehensively, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, the regional organisation which consists of China, Russia and most of the Central Asian countries. It charts the development of the Organisation from the establishment of its precursor, the Shanghai Five, in 1996, through its own foundation in 2001 to the present. It considers the foreign policy of China and of the other member states, showing how the interests and power of the member states determine the Organisation’s institutions, functional development and relations with non-members. It explores the Organisation’s activities in the fields of politics and security co-operation, economic and energy co-operation, and in culture and education, and concludes with a discussion of how the Organisation is likely to develop in future. Throughout, the book sets the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in the context of China’s overall strategy towards Central Asia.

The disintegration and questioning of global governance structures and a re-orientation toward national politics combined with the spread of technological innovations such as big data, social media, and phenomena like fake news, populism, or questions of global health policies make it necessary for the introduction of new methods of inquiry and the adaptation of established methods in Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). This accessible handbook offers concise chapters from expert international contributors covering a diverse range of new and established FPA methods. Embracing methodological pluralism and a belief in the value of an open discussion about methods’ assumptions and diverging positions, it provides new, state-of-the-art research approaches, as well as introductions to a range of established methods. Each chapter follows the same approach, introducing the method and its development, discussing strengths, requirements, limitations, and potential pitfalls while illustrating the method’s application using examples from empirical research. Embracing methodological pluralism and problem-oriented research that engages with real-world questions, the authors examine quantitative and qualitative traditions, rationalist and interpretivist perspectives, as well as different substantive backgrounds. The book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students in global politics, foreign policy, and methods-related classes across the social sciences.

China emerged as a major economic, diplomatic, and military power during the critical decade from 2008 to 2018. As a result, China's foreign policy has become more active and dynamic. This book provides a unique perspective to understand Chinese foreign policy during this decade by examining continuities and changes in both internal and external factors that have shaped China's development. The book focuses on key challenges in China's diplomacy such as US-China relations, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Japan, India, Chinese investment overseas, the Belt and Road Initiative, global and regional cooperation, soft power, etc. It also includes an extensive annotated bibliography of major recent publications on various aspects of Chinese foreign policy. This is the first scholarly book that studies the evolution and key challenges of China's foreign relations during the critical decade (2008-2018) when China grew into a crucial, sometimes assertive, power in international affairs.

Explores the meaning, scope and repercussion in the drive that a rising China has for institutionalizing multilateral cooperative processes in the Asia-Pacific region, the extent to which its actions are motivated by concerns of politics, economics or security, and the obstacles it faces for so doing.