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The Case against Chinese Exceptionalism: Confucian Culture and the Use of Force
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The Case against Chinese Exceptionalism:
Confucian Culture and the Use of Force
Yuan-kang Wang
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology &
School of Public Affairs and Administration
Western Michigan University
E-mail:
yuan-kang.## email not listed ##
ABSTRACT:
The call for a Chinese school of international relations arises from the alleged
inability of existing theories to explain the Chinese experience—China’s Confucian culture has produced a fundamentally different experience from that of the West. The central question of this article is thus: To what extent does Confucian culture influence China’s use of military force against external security threats? By examining Song China’s relations with the Liao empire during the crucial years of 960-1005, I argue that, despite having a pacifist Confucian culture, China has been acting like a realist power in Asia, expanding its political and military interests as its power grew. By doing so, this article makes the case against Chinese exceptionalism. Chinese use of force was rooted in the structure of the system; culture played a supplementary role in China’s military policy. Despite having different cultures, the Chinese experience was no less different from that of the West: both were driven by the anarchic structure of the system. I consult primary documents in the Chinese archives, supplemented by secondary literature, and examine the decision-making process leading up to the use or non-use of force. Contrary to what is widely believed, China had behaved according to the dictates of structural realism. It had preferred to use force to resolve external threats to Chinese security, adopted a more offensive posture as its power grew, and expanded war aims in the absence of systemic or military constraints. In the end, Western IR theory does a reasonably good job of explaining the Chinese experience. There is little need for a Chinese school of international relations. *Paper prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in Boston, August 28-31, 2008.
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| | Authors: Wang, Yuan-kang. |
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The Case against Chinese Exceptionalism:
Confucian Culture and the Use of Force
Yuan-kang Wang
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology &
School of Public Affairs and Administration
Western Michigan University
ABSTRACT:
The call for a Chinese school of international relations arises from the alleged
inability of existing theories to explain the Chinese experience—China’s Confucian
culture has produced a fundamentally different experience from that of the West. The
central question of this article is thus: To what extent does Confucian culture influence
China’s use of military force against external security threats? By examining Song
China’s relations with the Liao empire during the crucial years of 960-1005, I argue that,
despite having a pacifist Confucian culture, China has been acting like a realist power in
Asia, expanding its political and military interests as its power grew. By doing so, this
article makes the case against Chinese exceptionalism. Chinese use of force was rooted in
the structure of the system; culture played a supplementary role in China’s military policy.
Despite having different cultures, the Chinese experience was no less different from that
of the West: both were driven by the anarchic structure of the system. I consult primary
documents in the Chinese archives, supplemented by secondary literature, and examine
the decision-making process leading up to the use or non-use of force. Contrary to what is
widely believed, China had behaved according to the dictates of structural realism. It had
preferred to use force to resolve external threats to Chinese security, adopted a more
offensive posture as its power grew, and expanded war aims in the absence of systemic or
military constraints. In the end, Western IR theory does a reasonably good job of
explaining the Chinese experience. There is little need for a Chinese school of
international relations.
*Paper prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association (APSA) in Boston, August 28-31, 2008.
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