Construction of the Discourse on Legitimacy of International Institutions

Abstract

China used to be one of the few countries which had long avoided most international affairs and shunned most international institutions. Recognition of the legitimacy of the West-dominated international institutions was alien or, more precisely, unacceptable to China in Mao’s era. Recently, as China has risen, it has begun to embrace regional and global institutions and take on the responsibilities that come with the status of an emerging superpower. It has embraced much of the current constellation of international institutions, rules, and norms. Does this signal that China has begun to perceive international institutions as legitimate? If so, in what context? Does the new Chinese perception vary from multilateral institutions to regional institutions, as it has demonstrated its enthusiasm for regional integration schemes? The article examines the evolving Chinese approach to the issue of legitimacy of international institutions. A preliminary finding is that China views this issue as a means to promote its national interests. Embracing regional integration schemes evidences its drive to shape the evolution of that system in limited ways.

International institutions can be defined, in a very stylized fashion, as “rules that govern elements of world politics and the organizations that help implement those rules”. See R. Keohane, “International Institutions: Can Interdependence Work?”, Foreign Policy (Spring 1998), 82.