The Evolving Relationship Between China, the Eu and the USA: A New Global Order? by Jing Men & Simon Schunz & Duncan Freeman

Author:Jing Men & Simon Schunz & Duncan Freeman [Men, Jing & Schunz, Simon & Freeman, Duncan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780429646652
Goodreads: 52427206
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

Conceptual framework

International order does not change easily since the organizing rules and institutions of world politics are embedded in wider structures, and opportunities for change arise mainly out of critical junctures such as wars and crises. Given this path dependence, rising states have to deal with legacies of deeply entrenched interests, ideas and institutional arrangements. Trade policy can be seen as a reaction to the constraints and opportunities flowing from the international political economy structures, which are likely to affect the preferences of societal actors, governments and EU institutions. These actors make their decisions based on the interests they have or ideas they hold.

Power, institutions and ideas roughly reflect the central tenets of mainstream IR theories. For neorealism, anarchy is the ordering principle of the international system; it constrains the behaviour of states and renders the relative distribution of power across states important. Neoliberal institutionalism attributes an important role to international institutions in shaping the international structure and mitigating the effects of anarchy. And constructivist IR theory is concerned with how ideas define international structure. As argued by Oriol et al. (2016: 16), ‘any structure can be transformed into another one through normative, institutional and power-related changes’.

Drawing on a neorealist perspective, power is best captured by material resources (Waltz 1979: 192), and ‘[t]he structure of a system changes with changes in the distribution of capabilities across the system’s units’ (ibid.: 97). International power configurations may differ considerably between distinct policy domains. At the systemic level, economic power resources typically rely on relative shares of gross domestic product (GDP), trade or FDI.

Neoliberal institutionalism defines institutions as ‘persistent and connected sets of rules (formal and informal) that prescribe behavioural roles, constrain activity, and shape expectations’ (Keohane 1988: 383). International institutions ‘can reflect, stabilise and perpetuate a given distribution of power and/or a given perception of legitimacy for actors and ideas’ (Oriol et al. 2016: 6). They can thus also become a battlefield of shifts in power and ideas.

Ideas are beliefs held by individuals, describing intersubjective meanings which are to varying degrees shared by different actors, including about the legitimacy of the prevailing international order. Wendt (1999: 309) argues that ‘the most important structures in which states are embedded are made of ideas’. According to Woods (1995: 161), ‘a state perceives its international economic interests on the basis of a set of ideas or beliefs about how the world economy works and what opportunities exist within it’. Economic ideas such as neoliberalism, (neo)mercantilism or dependencia can influence trade policy, as can other, not necessarily commercial ideas, for instance about sustainable development or human rights.

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