Does China Matter?: A Reassessment: Essays in Memory of Gerald Segal

by Barry Buzan (Editor), Rosemary Foot (Editor)

Gerald Segal’s last published paper ‘Does China Matter?’ made a considerable splash, and had he lived, it is certain that he would have followed it up with a book. This new volume honours his memory and takes forward his project, bringing together ten leading writers on China to reassess his argument.

This book opens with an detailed assessment of Dr Segal’s contribution, and a reprint of the article. The rest of the chapters address the question of ‘does China matter?’ by focusing separately on both the global and Asian dimensions of China’s presence, and on the military, political, economic and cultural aspects of its capabilities and activities. They provide an extension and critique of Segal’s work in the context of an authoritative up-to-date and forward looking evaluation of China’s prospects. Segal’s question remains central to world politics. This essential book sets out a detailed case for exactly how, why and to whom China matters.

208 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 18, 2004

About the author

Barry Buzan is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (formerly Montague Burton Professor), and honorary professor at Copenhagen and Jilin Universities. In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He has written, co-authored or edited over twenty books, written or co-authored more than one hundred and thirty articles and chapters, and lectured, broadcast or presented papers in over twenty countries. Among his books are: People, States and Fear: The National Security Problem in International Relations (1983, revised 2nd edition 1991); The Logic of Anarchy: Neorealism to Structural Realism (1993, with Charles Jones and Richard Little); Security: A New Framework for Analysis (1998, with Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde); International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations (2000, with Richard Little); Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security (2003, with Ole Wæver); From International to World Society? English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalisation (2004); The Evolution of International Security Studies (2009, with Lene Hansen) and Non-Western International Relations Theory (2010, co-edited with Amitav Acharya). Work in progress includes The Global Transformation: The 19th Century and the Making of Modern International Relations (2013, with George Lawson).