Contesting hegemonic order: China in East Asia

Abstract

This paper develops an English School–informed approach to theorize hegemonic order using an explicitly social lens. It conceptualizes the architecture of hegemonic order as consisting of three social elements—compact, structure, and processes—and emphasizes social exchange, power relationships, and negotiation as the bridges linking hegemony and order. Using the most significant contemporary case of hegemonic contestation, it employs this hegemonic order framework to analyze how, and with what effects on systemic change, China is contesting the US-led hegemonic order in East Asia. It finds that variation in the forms and effects of Chinese contestation in the security, institutional, and economic domains is explained by differences in the robustness of the US hegemonic social compact, and the complexity of the regional social structure.