Yongjin Zhang

University of Bristol, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS), Faculty Member

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Address: Bristol, United Kingdom

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Eva Pejsova

Jakob Bund

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC

Oriana Skylar Mastro

Stanford University

Phillip Saunders

National Defense University

Märta Carlsson

Swedish Defence Research Agency

Mikael Weissmann

Swedish Defence University

Greg Austin

The University of New South Wales

Baogang He

Biswasdip Tigela

Lai-Ha Chan

University of Technology Sydney

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Papers by Yongjin Zhang

Power and Responsibility in Chinese Foreign Policy

Oxford. Her most recent book is Rights Beyond Borders: the global community and the struggle over... more

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A Disappointed Nation at Paris, 1919

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 1991

The metmorphosis of China in the last few decades of its imperial history was both momentous and ... more The metmorphosis of China in the last few decades of its imperial history was both momentous and sweeping. Seventy years after the impact of European expansion was first seriously felt, the Middle Kingdom — a universal empire — was replaced by a nation-state, the first republic in Asia. This signified the total collapse of the traditional Chinese world order which had to give way to the European-defined international order of modern times. In the confrontation of the two civilizations, the Chinese civilization, of which China had been so proud, had to adapt itself and adopt some Western institutions such as, for example, those elaborated in international law for the conduct of relations between modern states. It was a gradual and sometimes painful process to transform the old Confucian Empire so as to be accepted by the European international system. In this way, China, half reluctantly and half willingly, was put into the framework of the European international system.

English School Special Section

Millennium: Journal of International Studies

This is a series of solicited articles requested by the editors of Vol. 51, emerging from a round... more This is a series of solicited articles requested by the editors of Vol. 51, emerging from a roundtable discussion held at the 2022 International Studies Association Convention. Each short contribution seeks to demonstrate the newest research of the English School of International Relations. These contributions tackle key questions including: the decline of liberal hegemony, the rise of China, the divide between soldaristic and pluralistic ethics, the engagement of the English School with Area Studies, theoretical approaches to grounding English School research and an investigation of the English School’s intellectual legacy. Section spéciale École anglaise

China#x2019;s Emerging Global Businesses

Palgrave Macmillan Books, 2003

Sinochem: Global Reach

China’s trading companies, as discussed in Chapter 4, are one of the major forces among Chinese f... more China’s trading companies, as discussed in Chapter 4, are one of the major forces among Chinese firms engaging in transnational operations and outward investment. The original twelve national trading corporations were among the very first to internationalise. When China started opening up in 1978, these twelve firms were of comparatively large size in terms of their annual turnover. They also possessed undeniable advantages (in comparison with other Chinese firms) in engaging the international markets. They were clearly among a very small number of Chinese firms that had expertise in importing and exporting, and knowledge of the international market with existing contacts and a client base. Their monopolist position in respective lines of trade, though geared to fulfil government import and export plans, put them in an advantageous position to exploit the opportunities offered by China’s changing development strategy increasingly oriented towards export-led growth. In subsequent yea...

The English School in retrospect and prospect: Barry Buzan’sAn Introduction to the English School of International Relations: The Societal Approach

Cooperation and Conflict, 2015

Barry Buzan has written a splendid introduction to the English School as a theoretical approach t... more

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China and liberal hierarchies in global international society: power and negotiation for normative change

International Affairs, 2016

This article investigates the entanglement of the rising Chinese power with the liberal global or... more This article investigates the entanglement of the rising Chinese power with the liberal global order in negotiating for normative change. Drawing upon the English School theoretical perspective, it argues that three hierarchical constructs of liberal persuasion co-exist in and cohabit the global international society today. They are, namely, the legalized hegemony as seen in the UN Charter-based liberal pluralism; the changing normative order of emerging solidarist and anti-pluralist formation that purposively creates unequal sovereigns; and the liberal global governance order that moves predominantly in the direction of state-centric solidarism. As an emerging power with an authoritarian regime, China's entanglement with these liberal hierarchical constructs is multifaceted with complex dynamics. The article argues specifically that three differentiated strategic approaches have been developed by China in this entanglement: to defend liberal pluralism in the legalized hegemony; to contest liberal cosmopolitan anti-pluralism in the changing normative order; and to endorse state-centric solidarism with regard to the construction of a liberal global governance order. If they reflect a rising China's preferences of order construction, they also constitute an important part of China's engaging negotiations for normative change in international society. The agency China exercises in this regard helps explain the limited consensus among Great Powers as to the ‘central direction’ for the evolving global order. The preferences of China as the second among equals in the Great Power club matter greatly in understanding the contention between pluralism and solidarism in the changing raison de systeme of contemporary global international society.

China in the International System, 1918–20

China and the responsibility of power

Power and Responsibility in Chinese Foreign Policy, 2014

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International Relations Theory in China Today: The State of the Field<i>Xin shiqi Zhongguo guoji guanxi lilun yanjiu (Research on International Relations Theories in China's New Era)</i>. Lu Yi , Gu Guanfu , Yu Zhengliang , Fu Yaozu<i>Guoji zhengzhi lilun tansuo zai Zhongguo (Explorations of Theo...

China Journal, 2002

International Relations (IR) first emerged as an autonomous academic discipline in the PRC in the... more International Relations (IR) first emerged as an autonomous academic discipline in the PRC in the early 1980s. Over the past two decades, it has grown, in spite of severe political inhibitions and ideological constraints, into a vigorous field. China can now boast one of the largest IR epistemic communities in the world in terms of numbers of students, faculties, research centres, policy analysts and practitioners. Increasingly intense discussion about international relations has been taking place among Chinese scholars and those beyond Chinese borders, particularly with the rise in China's power over the past decade.'

Discourses of security in China

Manchester University Press eBooks, Jul 30, 2018

The Past as a Prologue

At the 1988 Cyril Foster Memorial Lecture, Sir Geoffrey Howe, then the British Foreign Secretary,... more At the 1988 Cyril Foster Memorial Lecture, Sir Geoffrey Howe, then the British Foreign Secretary, spoke of China’s ‘rejoining the rest of the world’.1 To characterise the process of China’s integration into international society in the 1980s as a process of ‘rejoining’ the world, however, begs three general assumptions. First, China had been a member of international society; second, there was a period when China was ostracised; and third, China is being reintegrated into the contemporary universal society of states. All three assumptions are to be examined rigorously. This inquiry starts with a review of the historical process through which China was drawn into the universal international society.

Conclusion: China in the Post-Cold War International Society

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 1998

The central argument of this study is essentially a simple one. The international relations of th... more The central argument of this study is essentially a simple one. The international relations of the People’s Republic of China is a saga of the isolation-alienation-socialisation-integration of China in international society since 1949. This saga is the continuation of a historical search by both China and the wider world for mutual accommodation. It is still unfolding. Hedley Bull once argued that international society is ‘one of the basic elements at work in international politics’.1 David Lampton remarked recently that ‘a central difficulty in China’s foreign relations has been that of reconciling the seeming imperatives of the international system with the Middle Kingdom’s own traditions, self image and desire to modernise.’2 An understanding of this evolving saga is, therefore, indispensable to our comprehension of China in world politics since 1949, and, more broadly, of what Fairbank calls ‘the great Chinese revolution’ in the last fifty years.3

The Chinese School, Global Production of Knowledge, and Contentious Politics in the Disciplinary IR

All-azimuth: a journal of foreign policy and peace, May 6, 2020

Chinese studies of International Relations constitute today an integral part of the claim of IR a... more Chinese studies of International Relations constitute today an integral part of the claim of IR as a global discipline. This paper starts by providing a critical evaluation of the contribution made by the so-called 'Chinese School of IR' to the global production of knowledge. Against this background, it teases out a curious case of 'schools of IR' as commonly labelled in the global IR theoretical conversation and looks at how such labels have been used by the 'core' to create a parallel but explicitly inferior universe of knowledge production to localize theoretical noises from the 'peripheries'. Situating the Chinese School of IR in such global context, it considers how 'school' label has been proactively appropriated by Chinese scholars to engage in a purposely contentious politics in the disciplinary IR, which questions the claim of the American 'core' as the creator, depositor, and distributor of universal knowledge, and seeks to unveil the geo-historical linkage between the political and the epistemic. School labelling therefore matters, it is argued, because it has become a site of contestation of geopolitics of knowledge and reflects the perils and promises in our collective pursuit of constructing a truly global IR.

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The 'English school' in China: a story of how ideas travel and are transplanted

The department's working paper series seeks to provide readers with access to current research on... more The department's working paper series seeks to provide readers with access to current research on international relations. Reflecting the wide range of interest in the department, it will include topics on global international politics and the international political economy, the Asian-Pacific region and issues of concern to Australian foreign policy. Publication as a 'Working Paper' does not preclude subsequent publication in scholarly journals or books, indeed it may facilitate publication by providing feedback from readers to authors. Unless otherwise stated, publications of the Department of International Relations are presented without endorsement as contributions to the public record and debate. Authors are responsible for their own analysis and conclusions.

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Worlding China, 1500–1800

Oxford University Press eBooks, Jan 19, 2017

Ambivalent Sovereignty

Discourses of Security in China: Towards a Critical Turn?

Discourses of security in China

Critical Security in the Asia-Pacific, 2018

Economic Reform and the Internationalisation of the State

Two main factors combined, the unprecedented globalisation of the world economy and the momentous... more Two main factors combined, the unprecedented globalisation of the world economy and the momentous economic reforms in China, are most responsible for the fundamental economic transformations in China since 1978. These two factors, one endogenous and the other exogenous to the Chinese economy, have also facilitated the emergence and evolution of China’s global businesses. This chapter explores a particular aspect of the endogenous factor and examines specifically the dynamics at the interface between Chinese economic reform and the internationalisation of the Chinese state. A number of questions need to be addressed here. Why does internationalisation exert such a strong influence on economic reform in China? How does economic reform promote the internationalisation of the Chinese state? In what sense can economic reform be seen as a process of China’s internalising norms, institutions and accepted practices of the world economy? In what way can we interpret this internalisation as C...

Power and Responsibility in Chinese Foreign Policy

Oxford. Her most recent book is Rights Beyond Borders: the global community and the struggle over... more

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A Disappointed Nation at Paris, 1919

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 1991