A Relational Theory of World Politics

by Yaqing Qin

Drawing on Chinese cultural and philosophical traditions, this book offers a ground breaking reinterpretation of world politics from Yaqing Qin, one of China's leading scholars of international relations. Qin has pioneered the study of constructivism in China and developed a variant of this approach, arguing that culture defined in terms of background knowledge nurtures social theory and enables theoretical innovation. Building upon this argument, this book presents the concept of 'relationality', shifting the focus from individual actors to the relations amongst actors. This ontology of relations examines the unfolding processes whereby relations create the identities of actors and provide motivations for their actions. Appealing to scholars of international relations theory, social theory and Chinese political thought, this exciting new concept will be of particular interest to those who are seeking to bridge Eastern and Western approaches for a truly global international relations project.

Genres: China, International Relations

412 pages, Hardcover

Published April 30, 2018

Reviews

[Dave Schoettinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Professor Qin has put a great deal of effort into reviewing the ways in which independent entities, such as nation-states, interact with each other and has discerned that these interactions fall into two principal categories. The first is the rational. or rule-based, method in which entities negotiate rules, maximizing their own self-interest, with which they voluntarily adhere in order to define their relations with each other (such as EU regulations on what wines can be called based on where the grapes were grown). The other is the relational method in which each entity focuses on its relationships with all other entities and seeks to cultivate mutual trust among all entities (as in "It's just a weather balloon").

In this book Qin reviews the advantages and disadvantages of each approach to international relations and concludes that the relational method is underutilized, especially by Western nations. Since this book first appeared in 2012, it's possible that Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken* incorporated its ideas and utilized relational processes in order to repair American relations with its NATO allies. Of course, they got a big assist from Vladimir Putin, who obviously has not read the book, and who focused European minds on the state of their defense establishments in a way that Donald Trump's threats could not.

This work is largely theoretical and real world examples are almost non-existent in the first half and only occasional in the second. This is not light reading and is intended for serious students of international relations - but I read it anyway.

*I understand that some of my fellow Americans on the far right consider the Secretary of State to be a figurehead and that his former associates Winken and Nod are the real powers behind American foreign policy.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qin’s book seamlessly expresses the complexity of human nature and the blindspots of a Western centric field of International Relations. Qin challenges the reader to immerse themselves into Chinese cultural traditions that inform Chinese governance. Qin makes a comprehensive and distinct argument proposing an international relations theory of Relationism accounting for the self-other relationship as opposed to Wendtian Constructivism focused on the individualist ontological perspective. This book is a must read for international relations academic paralyzed by their own entrenched intellectual system in an increasingly dynamic international system.