2 replies to this topic

[nanwer909]

Hi there all,

Does anyone know of an International Relations theory that is Chinese or Non western?

At a stretch you could perhaps consider Sun Zi as a realist and Mo Ti as a Liberalist (based on info from one of my current readings)... but this is still using western based theory to shoe horn their philosophies/theories into something we recognise... I am looking for something that describes similar ideas and relationships to western IR theory but that are homegrown so to speak. I fear that if there does exist something then it might be in response to western thought... although perhaps Confucianism could be considered IR theory if you brought it up to the international level... muck like Marxism perhaps... cheers all

[peger]

East Asia largely operated under a Confucian influenced IR system until the mid 19th century, though many countries (notably Japan & Vietnam) resisted that structure.

[Meiguo Laowai]

The foundation and development of the Tsung-li (Zong-li) Yamen 总理各国事务衙门 in 1861 by Prince Kung would be pertinent to your question, as an essentially pragmatic response to a pressing need after the Treaty of Tientsin, but also as perhaps a nexus of thought about international relations in a Confucian context. The wikipedia entry for the Zong-li Yamen has a representative biblio of English-language treatments of the subject.