Ordering the world : Sino-American deliberations on the responsibility of great power

Abstract

Despite its prominence in the discourse and practice of international politics, the concept of "great power responsibility" remains relatively unmapped in International Relations (IR) theory. Although the English School arguably offers the best explanation of great power responsibility in the existing theoretical literature, it simply provides conceptual typologies and does not fully examine the underlying dynamics of international politics. The latter is important because whilst the idea of responsibility may be intersubjective at an abstract level, it may also engender myriad subjective interpretations about what it truly means to be "responsible". This "responsibility problematique" is rendered even more critical given current debates about Sino-American relations and order-management. How China and the US view their great power responsibilities is therefore especially important. The central research question of this study asks: How have China and the US conceptualised, responded to and practiced notions of great power responsibility, and to what extent have their understandings converged or diverged? Three "critical junctures" in the historical context of US-China relations and order-building endeavours are considered: institutional construction during World War II; institutional accommodation in the Cold War; and institutional renovation in the post-Cold War. This thesis advances two key arguments. First, great power responsibility needs to be unpacked as a socially constructed and negotiated concept. This means that we need to examine the ways in which great power responsibility has been constructed and debated, and how conceptions of responsibility have evolved over time. To develop this more comprehensive understanding, a constructivist approach is adopted and a specific conceptual framework -"the subjective-intersubjective great power responsibility dynamic" - is advanced to interrogate how notions of great power responsibility have been conceptualised, projected, negotiated and implemented. Second, when applied to the US-China dyad, one observes that despite degrees of contestation at the conceptualisation level and projections of the other, there have been elements of convergence in their negotiation and implementation of great power responsibility. This finding can best be characterised as "contested convergence". The analysis provided within this thesis contributes to the existing literature in three important ways. Theoretically, this research project utilises constructivist insight to extend existing English School scholarship, providing a more informed account of great power responsibility in IR. Second, by examining how subjective and intersubjective notions of great power responsibility have interplayed in Sino-American understandings of that concept, an account is provided of their historical agency, which, in turn, enriches the historical discourse pertaining to these two great powers. Finally, this thesis presents a more theoretically sophisticated and historically informed vantage point from which to examine the evolving character and likely future trajectory of US-China ties - arguably the world's most important bilateral relationship. From a policy perspective, Washington needs to better draw Beijing into negotiations about responsibility, with greater discussion about what responsibility means to China. Moving forward, the key to deliberating great power responsibility will be in negotiating that delicate balance between maintaining their individual senses of self and fulfilling societal projections.