Relations and Roles in China's Internationalism: Rediscovering Confucianism in a Pluriversal World

By Chih-yu Shih

Creative exploration of how the encounter between Confucianism and western (neo)liberalism necessarily leads to the unlearning of both.

Pluriversalism within International Relations and the literature on Chinese international relations each embrace ideas of relation and difference. While they similarly strive for recognition by Western academics, they do not seriously engage with each other. To the extent that either succeeds in winning recognition, it ironically reproduces Western centrism and the binary of the Western versus the non-Western. In Relations and Roles in China's Internationalism, author Chih-yu Shih demonstrates, through a critical translation exercise, that Confucian themes enable both the critique and realignment of liberal thought, allowing all of us, including the members of Confucianism and the neo-liberal order, to understand how we adapt to and coexist with each another. In the end, Confucianism not only informs the pluriversal necessity that all are bound to be related but also de-nationalizes China's internationalism.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1438498888
• ISBN13: 9781438498881
• Release Date: February 2025
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 323 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher