The 2000s: China’s Rise, Responses to It, and IR Theory

Abstract

IR theory faced the challenge of combining or disentangling three threats to the international order: the danger from global terrorism, as revealed by the attack on the United States in 2001; the proliferation of nuclear weapons, as exposed in the 2002 turning point in the North Korean nuclear crisis; and the rise of a superpower in opposition to the existing global system, as gradually became clear for China over the decade. Some assumed that the first of these dangers would draw states closer, since Russia, China, and India as well as the United States face terrorist threats from fundamentalist Islamic movements. Others were optimistic that proliferation would rally the neighbors of North Korea behind a common agenda, as appeared possible with the establishment of the Six-Party Talks. Finally, China’s high economic stakes in the international system raised hope that shared interests would temper its rise.