Public Seminar
Monday 15th October 2012, 2.30pm to 4pm, Room OLD222, Old Building, LSE
Speaker: Jiangli Wang
Chair: Barry Buzan
In China, there is still no IR theory that can be compared with the three main IR theories of realism, liberalism and constructivism, or with the English school. But the debate on the “IR theories of China” has developed from the dispute over whether there are Chinese IR theories or not, through a dispute over what name such theories should be given, to today’s dispute about methods, that is about how and with what to develop the IR theory of China or the Chinese school of IR. Among these methods, there is a consensus about seeking for theoretical sources in classical Chinese theories. Hence it has become a notable characteristic and trend in contemporary IR research in China to discover and explain the traditional political thoughts of China. At present, the studies of traditional Chinese IR ideas in domestic academia can be divided into four types: theoretical innovation research, explorative explanatory research, Chinese-Western comparative research, and issues-centred application research. Although there are some observable problems and difficulties such as language, methodology and individual preference, this shows that Chinese academia of IR studies are gradually becoming more self-confident in finding independent foundations for its research. The turn back to classical Chinese political theories is also a response to the contradictory pressures of globalisation and localisation. The resulting glocalisation of IR theory is trying to answer two questions that had bewildered China for more than a century: the relation between the East and the West (China and the West); and the relation between ancient times and modern times (the old and the new).
Dr Jiangli Wang| is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Asia Research Centre.
Professor Barry Buzan is an affiliate of LSE Asia Research Centre and the Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at LSE.
Additional Information
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries email arc@lse.ac.uk| or call 020 7955 7615.