JYU DISSERTATIONS 247 Matti Puranen Warring States and Harmonized Nations Tianxia Theory as a World Political Argument JYU DISSERTATIONS 247 Matti Puranen Warring States and Harmonized Nations Tianxia Theory as a World Political Argument Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston humanistis-yhteiskuntatieteellisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi heinäkuun 17. päivänä 2020 kello 9. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä, on July 17, 2020 at 9 o’clock a.m.. JYVÄSKYLÄ 2020 Editors Olli-Pekka Moisio Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä Timo Hautala Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä Copyright © 2020, by University of Jyväskylä Permanent link to this publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-8218-8 ISBN 978-951-39-8218-8 (PDF) URN:ISBN:978-951-39-8218-8 ISSN 2489-9003 ABSTRACT Puranen, Matti Warring states and harmonized nations: Tianxia theory as a world political argument Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2020, 205 p. (JYU Dissertations ISSN 2489-9003; 247) ISBN 978-951-39-8218-8 The purpose of this study is to examine Chinese foreign policy by analyzing Chinese visions and arguments on the nature of world politics. The study focuses on Chinese academic discussions, which attempt to develop a ’Chinese theory of international politics’, and especially on the so called ’tianxia theory’ (天下论, tianxia lun), which is one of the most influential initiatives within these discussions. Tianxia theorists study imperial China’s traditional system of foreign relations and claim that the current international order, which is based on competing nation states, should be replaced with some kind of world government that would oversee the good of the whole planet. The dissertation relies on the constructivist framework proposed by Alexander Wendt, in which the essence of world politics is not determined by material factors or unchanging national interests, but instead, is to a large degree socially constructed by the main actors of the order. Ideas – riding on the wings of material power – are the central force, which transforms international orders. Against this framework the dissertation understands theories of world politics as such transforming ideas as they influence and limit the way we understand political reality. Following Kari Palonen’s understanding of politics, the study approaches tianxia theory as an argument in the ongoing debates, which deal with the nature of world politics; as a rhetorical device, which is criticizing and delegitimizing the existing ‘liberal international order’ and its ‘Western values’. In the wider context, tianxia theory is approached in the dissertation as a part of China’s overall rhetorical offensive for developing Chinese soft power and for reinterpreting the grand narrative of world politics according to, allegedly, Chinese concepts. Besides academic discussions the study examines how ideas from the tianxia theory find their place in the official Chinese foreign policy argumentation in the public speeches of President Xi Jinping. In its form, the study is a mixture between a traditional monograph and an article based dissertation. During the research process, various independent research articles were written and published, or presented as conference papers. These papers have been reworked and transformed into a monograph form, which has three analytical chapters. The chapters approach the topic from different angles, and which apply slightly different methodological tools, but are unified in their interest in tianxia theory and the concept of tianxia. Keywords: China, Chinese foreign policy, world politics, theory of international relations, tianxia theory, Community of shared future for mankind TIIVISTELMÄ (ABSTRACT IN FINNISH) Tämä maailmanpolitiikan väitöskirja tutkii Kiinan ulkopolitiikkaa keskittymällä kiinalaisiin näkemyksiin maailmanpolitiikan perusolemuksesta ja sen kehittämi- sestä. Kiinassa on 2000-luvulla pyritty rakentamaan kiinalaista maailmanpolitii- kan teoriaa, joka ammentaisi lännen sijaan Kiinan omasta historiasta ja kiinalai- sesta älyllisestä traditiosta. Tutkimus syventyy tianxia-teoriaan (天下论, tianxia lun), joka on yksi eniten huomiota herättäneistä teoreettisista aloitteista tällä sa- ralla. Tianxia-teorian mukaan nykyinen suvereeneihin kansallisvaltioihin perus- tuva kansainvälinen järjestelmä tulisi korvata Kiinan historiasta löytyvän tianxia- mallin mukaisella keskusjohdetulla maailmanvaltiolla Tutkimus nojautuu Alexander Wendtin konstruktivistiseen viitekehyk- seen, jonka mukaan maailmanpolitiikan luonne ei pohjaudu pelkästään materi- aalisiin tekijöihin tai muuttumattomiin kansallisiin intresseihin, vaan konstruoi- tuu sosiaalisesti valtioiden ja muiden toimijodien välisessä kanssakäymisessä. Ideat, ei niinkään puhdas materiaalinen voima, muovaavat kansainvälisiä järjes- telmiä. Tutkimus tarkastelee maailmanpolitiikan teorioita paloslaiseen politiikka- käsitykseen nojautuen argumentteina, jotka vaikuttavat maailmanpolitiikasta tehtyihin tulkintoihin. Tianxia-teoriaa analysoidaan argumenttina keskusteluissa maailmanpolitiikan perimmäisestä olemuksesta ja sen tekemisen mahdollisuuk- sista – retorisena välineenä, joka pyrkii kritisoimaan ja delegitimoimaan liberaa- lia kansainvälistä järjestelmää ja sen ’läntisiä arvoja’. Laajemmassa kontekstissa tutkimus tarkastelee tianxia-teoriaa osana Kiinan ko- konaisvaltaista retorista offensiivia, jolla Kiina pyrkii kehittämään pehmeää val- taansa, sekä vahvistamaan omaa tulkintaansa maailmanpolitiikan perusolemuk- sesta. Akateemisten keskustelujen lisäksi tutkimus analysoi miten tianxia-teorian käsitteitä käytetään Kiinan virallisessa ulkopoliittisessa argumentaatiossa. Ver- tailukohtana tarkastellaan presidentti Xi Jinpingin ulkopoliittista pääkäsitettä ’ihmiskunnan kohtalonyhteisö’ (人类命运共同体, renlei mingyun gongtongti) Väitöskirja on muodoltaan monografian ja artikkeliväitöskirjan välimaas- tossa. Väitöstutkimuksen aikana kirjoitettiin useita artikkeleita ja seminaariesi- telmiä, jotka on jälkeen päin muovattu monografian luvuiksi. Luvut ovat lähes- tymistavoiltaan, näkökulmiltaan ja metodologioiltaan erilaisia, mutta ne kaikki tarkastelevat tianxia-teoriaa ja tianxian käsitteen määrittelyjä. Asiasanat: maailmanpolitiikka, Kiina, Kiinan ulkopolitiikka, tianxia-teoria, tian- xia, maailmanpolitiikan teoria Author Puranen, Matti Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences University of Jyväskylä [email protected] Supervisor Professor Pekka Korhonen Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences University of Jyväskylä Reviewers Senior Research Fellow Jyrki Kallio Finnish Institute of International Affairs Collegium Researcher, Adjunct Professor Mikael Mattlin University of Turku Opponent Associate Professor Duan Demin Peking University ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks, first of all, for my supervisor professor Pekka Korhonen, whose introductory course on theory of world politics (organized in 2009) was the primary reason for my decision to change my original major of history into political science, and who has been a patient supporter of this project since its beginning in 2016. Thanks also for my opponent Duan Demin, as well as for my preliminary examiners, Jyrki Kallio and Mikael Mattlin whose comments, suggestions and criticisms have been invaluable. I am also in gratitude for my language editor Susanne Kalejaiye, who has greatly helped to make the text more readable and understandable. Thanks for the University of Jyväskylä and the Finnish Cultural Foundation for financial support, which has made this project possible. During the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s initial collection round for funds, organized in 1938, more than 30,000 schoolchildren traveled from house to house in the Finnish countryside, gathering donations. The establishment of the foundation was then supported also by my great grandfather Matti Puranen with 15 marks. Discussions with various colleagues and friends have also been crucial for the project, and among the many it would be fair to mention especially Ren Feng, Xu Jin, Matti Nojonen and Zhao Tingyang. Thanks goes also for friends in The Ulkopolitist and Kiina-ilmiöt collectives, particularly for Niki ”Ex nihilo” Sopanen and his annoying and unproductive theoretical, methodological and metaphysical observations. Legendary sinologists, such as Kallio, Nojonen and Marita Siika, meanwhile, have always served as inspirational figures, whose implicit influence is obviously evident on these pages. Finally, thanks for all other friends and family members, especially my ladies at home: Riina, Esti and Tyyne (the latter two came into existence during the research process in 2016 and 2017, respectively) for coping with the absent minded grad student. Helsinki 2.7.2020 Matti Puranen FIGURES FIGURE 1 Tianxia order and its main elements .............................................. 141 FIGURE 2 Hegemonic order according to hegemonic stability theories. .... 142 FIGURE 3 Liberal constitutional order according to John Ikenberry. .......... 143 FIGURE 4 Cosmopolitan democracy according to Held & Archibugi. ....... 144 FIGURE 5 Federal Union of Democratic Nations. .......................................... 145 TABLES TABLE 1 Core and adjacent concepts of tianxiaism. ...................................... 99 CONTENTS ABSTRACT TIIVISTELMÄ (ABSTRACT IN FINNISH) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FIGURES AND TABLES CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................