FOREIGN POLICY: BETWEEN THE WESTERN PARADIGM AND CHINESE SPECIFICITY
Abstract
The article presents a retrospective analysis of the main theoretical approaches to defining the concept of “foreign policy” within the framework of the leading Western theoretical currents and the Chinese school of international relations. The aim of the study was to identify conceptual differences between the Western paradigm, which is based mainly on rationalist, interest-centric and state-centric principles, and the Chi- nese specificity of understanding foreign policy, which combines strategic pragmatism with normative-cultural and civilizational factors. The key features of the generalized approaches of the leading Western currents to the interpretation of foreign policy within the framework of realism, liberalism, construc- tivism, etc. are analyzed. The features of the Chinese theoretical discourse are revealed, in particular, attention is paid to the emphasis on harmony, hierarchy of international relations, moral and ethical dimension of foreign policy and long-term strategic thinking. The author substantiates that in the Chinese school of international relations, foreign policy is considered not only as a tool for implementing national interests, but as an element of a broad civilizational project and a means of forming the international order desired for the PRC. As a result of the research, the author comes to the conclusion that the Chinese under- standing of foreign policy is not an alternative to Western theories in a narrow sense, but rather complements them and expands the theoretical boundaries of the analysis of international relations and contributes to the formation of a pluralistic and non-con- frontational theoretical space.
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