ABSTRACT
The chapter examines “Chinese ways” of thinking about international relations, including how traditional Chinese ideas are accounted for and incorporated into mainstream IR scholarship. It argues that the study of Chinese IR should be viewed within the larger framework of a Chinese self-identity that is perceived as in tension with Western conceptions of the self, society, and statehood. Specifically, I compare the ideas put forth by four Chinese scholars with a few mainstream IR theories (realism, liberalism, and constructivism) and evaluate the extent to which the theories proposed by Chinese scholars can be considered unique and/or better than existing IR theories in terms of their ability to explain certain aspects of Chinese political life.
