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This module will acquaint you with the geopolitics and history of China’s rise as a powerful foreign policy actor and its interactions with other world powers. You will be introduced to the key theoretical debates and empirical research that analyse these topics, including Chinese scholarly perspectives that are rarely considered in the West. Guest lecturers will play an important role in the module, providing analysis or presenting the perspectives of the Chinese government or its critics.

We will examine the multiple factors that make this international interaction complex, including military competition, nationalist and other narratives, economic interdependence and the participation of China in multilateral global governance. In doing so, we will explore and contrast the sometimes divergent accounts of scholars of international relations, international organisation, human rights, political economy, history and comparative politics.

We will also examine how Chinese domestic politics shapes foreign policies such as China’s Belt and Road initiative, and also the role of domestic politics in shaping the US and EU foreign policies towards China. We focus on China’s relationship with these two Western powers, especially in the context of rising narratives of a New Cold War between democracies and dictatorships. However the module also addresses the important roles of Russia, India, Japan, China’s other neighbours, Africa and the Middle East in the rise of global China.