Zikun Yang
Affiliation
University of Cambridge
Date
Discussants
Coauthors and affiliations
Keywords
China; Status; Hierarchy; Rising Power; UNFCCC
Abstract
What explains China’s inconsistent compliance with the Liberal International Order (LIO)? Existing literature attributes its puzzling response to established powers’ treatment or perception, a source of status (dis)satisfaction that swings China between cooperation and revisionism. Yet, this fixation on the great power-rising power dyad omits another significant audience group: the smaller states positioned below it on the international pecking order. This article introduces a multiple audiences dynamic framework to replace the extant unidimensional understanding of the status hierarchy. I argue that different degrees of recognition from established powers and deference from smaller states can compel China to choose among contestation, containment, compliance, and cooperation. I illustrate my framework with China’s inconsistent compliance with the global climate order under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Through archival research and elite interviews, I trace the evolving process from its obstructive contestation in the 2009 Copenhagen negotiations to its proactive cooperation in the 2015 Paris negotiations. My framework and analysis offer a corrective to the bellicose thesis in both the status literature and power transition theory. By theorizing status-seeking as a function of both conflict initiation and status-quo-enforcing cooperation, I offer a new pathway to better understanding the trajectory of great power rivalry and the future of the LIO.
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North America
Asia
Title
Multiple Audiences Status Dynamic: China’s Inconsistent Compliance with the Global Climate Order