Shijie quanli de zhuanyi: Zhengzhi lingdao yu zhanlue jingzheng by Yan Xuetong (review)

China’s rise is one of the most intriguing topics for scholars of international relations (IR), and Yan Xuetong is one of the most influential Chinese IR researchers. Yan has impact not only on the academia but also on policy makers and the public. His goal is to innovate IR and foreign policy theories to promote China’s national rejuvenation: as he said in a speech, no rejuvenation is possible without proper theoretical guidance. Yan’s new book, Shijie quanli de zhuanyi (The Transition of World Power), echoes that goal and is regarded by Chinese IR scholars as the most important book in the second half of 2015. The author lays down the purpose at the very beginning of the book: How can a rising power win and replace the hegemonic power? To be more specific, how can China overtake the United States? The book is divided into two sections. In the first section, from Chapter 1 to Chapter 4, Yan introduces an original theory, the moral realism theory. In the second section, Yan proves the theory with historical documents.

In Chapter 1, Yan defines “morality,” a term emphasized by the classical realists but not taken seriously by later scholars. He tries to combine morality with realism (p. 3). He believes that morality is a set of well-recognized principles that the states protect. States act based on not only self-interest but also morality, therefore they will abide by these moral principles even if certain principles contradict their interests.

In Chapters 2 and 3, Yan explains the evolution of the international norms and the transition of the world power. Power depends heavily on material capability, which is vital but not sufficient (p. 35). History shows that even the great power with a strong material base can fail. When the political leadership in a state is highly innovative and prone to reform, the level of material capability in the state will grow rapidly to reach or exceed that in a hegemonic power. Political leadership alters the development of a country and changes the landscape of international arena. Generally speaking, the rising power will reshape the international norm based on its own values and will establish a new world order when its norm is accepted by the international community (p. 45).

In Chapter 4, Yan divides political leadership into tyranny ( qiangquan), hegemony ( baquan), and humane authority ( wangquan) ) (pp. 87-90). This is the key concept in this book. Before World War II, tyranny took charge of the international norms under which the strong could seize the land of the weak at their own discretion. In the postwar period, hegemony ruled and the United States served as the arbitrator of the world. Now China should replace the US hegemony with humane authority, which is a new kind of power fundamentally different from hegemony. Yan acknowledges the importance of military power to these three types of political leadership, but maintains that the primary difference is in the moral principles on which governance is based. Even a humane authority needs the support of military power, but without morality the might is used illegally. This will undermine the strength of the military and block the achievement of political goals. As the old Chinese saying goes, a just cause enjoys abundant support; an unjust cause finds scant support (, dedao duozhu, shidao guazhu). This is true for morality and military power in the world today.

Yan believes that as China is catching up with the United States in terms of material capability, the country needs to promote a different set of values to change current international norms and replace the Americans. The United States views liberty, democracy, and equality as the unsurpassable philosophy of the time. Nevertheless, based on ancient China’s teaching of benevolence (ren), righteousness ( yi), and propriety ( li), China can establish a better set of values that is more inclusive, featuring...