Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers
A leading foreign policy thinker uses Chinese political theory to explain why some powers rise as others decline and what this means for the international order

Why has China grown increasingly important in the world arena while lagging behind the United States and its allies across certain sectors? Using the lens of classical Chinese political theory, Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers explains China’s expanding influence by presenting a moral-realist theory that attributes the rise and fall of great powers to political leadership. Yan Xuetong shows that the stronger a rising state’s political leadership, the more likely it is to displace a prevailing state in the international system. Yan shows how rising states like China transform the international order by reshaping power distribution and norms, and he considers America’s relative decline in international stature even as its economy, education system, military, political institutions, and technology hold steady. Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers offers a provocative, alternative perspective on the changing dominance of states.

1129592772
Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers
A leading foreign policy thinker uses Chinese political theory to explain why some powers rise as others decline and what this means for the international order

Why has China grown increasingly important in the world arena while lagging behind the United States and its allies across certain sectors? Using the lens of classical Chinese political theory, Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers explains China’s expanding influence by presenting a moral-realist theory that attributes the rise and fall of great powers to political leadership. Yan Xuetong shows that the stronger a rising state’s political leadership, the more likely it is to displace a prevailing state in the international system. Yan shows how rising states like China transform the international order by reshaping power distribution and norms, and he considers America’s relative decline in international stature even as its economy, education system, military, political institutions, and technology hold steady. Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers offers a provocative, alternative perspective on the changing dominance of states.

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Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers

Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers

by Xuetong Yan
Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers

Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers

by Xuetong Yan

Paperback

$23.95 
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Overview

A leading foreign policy thinker uses Chinese political theory to explain why some powers rise as others decline and what this means for the international order

Why has China grown increasingly important in the world arena while lagging behind the United States and its allies across certain sectors? Using the lens of classical Chinese political theory, Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers explains China’s expanding influence by presenting a moral-realist theory that attributes the rise and fall of great powers to political leadership. Yan Xuetong shows that the stronger a rising state’s political leadership, the more likely it is to displace a prevailing state in the international system. Yan shows how rising states like China transform the international order by reshaping power distribution and norms, and he considers America’s relative decline in international stature even as its economy, education system, military, political institutions, and technology hold steady. Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers offers a provocative, alternative perspective on the changing dominance of states.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691210223
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 12/22/2020
Series: The Princeton-China Series , #1
Pages: 280
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Yan Xuetong is distinguished professor at Tsinghua University in China and foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His books include Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power (Princeton).

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures xi

Preface xiii

1 Morality, Power, and Authority 1

The Role of Morality in Realism Theory 3

Levels and Components of Morality 7

Differences between Power, Capability, and Authority 11

Influence of Morality and Strategic Credibility 19

Summary 23

2 Leadership and Strategic Preferences 25

The Role and Types of Leadership 26

Leaderships of a Rising State and Strategic Preferences 33

Strategic Credibility and International Leadership 40

The Principle of Humane Authority 48

Summary 51

3 Corollaries of International Change 54

State Leadership and Change of Power Configuration 55

State Capability, Leadership, and Strategy Preference 61

International Leadership and Norm Change 67

Changes in International Order and Systems 71

Summary 78

4 Power Redistribution and World Center 81

Leadership and Bipolarization 82

Bipolar Configuration Not Equal to Cold War 87

Conditions for Forming a World Center 93

Summary 102

5 Leadership and International Norms 104

Early Studies of Leadership and Norm Change 105

Types of Leadership and Types of Norms 107

Change in the Type of International Norms 116

Summary 123

6 International Mainstream Values 126

Value Challenge and Competition 127

Devaluation of Strategic Credibility 136

Beyond Liberalism 145

Summary 153

7 Transformation of the International System 155

Component Change versus System Change 156

Conditions for System Transformation 162

Political Leadership and System Transformation 165

Summary 171

8 Historical Cases of System Transformation 173

Ancient Chinese Cases 174

Cases in Modern History 181

Summary 188

9 Conclusion 190

Theory Summarization 190

A New Bipolar World 197

Appendix: Ancient Chinese Figures 207

Notes 215

Selected Bibliography 241

Index 253

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Yan is surely correct that U.S.-Chinese competition will turn not just on hard power but also on each country’s ability to command the moral high ground."—G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

"This is a sober and carefully thought-out book."—Michael Austin, Wall Street Journal

"Written with clarity and vigour."—Rana Mitter, Financial Times

"It is a powerful intellectual treatise worthy of serious international debate."—Rick Dunham, Beijing Review

"Yan Xuetong’s book deserves to be considered seriously by those interested in international politics."—Susan Babbitt, New York Journal of Books

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