Rights statement: This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Astrid H M Nordin, Graham M Smith; Reintroducing friendship to international relations: relational ontologies from China to the West, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Volume 18, Issue 3, 1 September 2018, Pages 369–396, https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcy011 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/irap/article/18/3/369/5042962
Accepted author manuscript, 595 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Reintroducing Friendship to International Relations
T2 - Relational Ontologies from China to the West
AU - Nordin, Astrid Hanna Maria
AU - Smith, Graham M.
PY - 2018/9/1
Y1 - 2018/9/1
N2 - Chinese government representatives and scholars have attempted to ameliorate fears about China’s rise by portraying China as a new and friendlier kind of great power. It is claimed that this represents a new way of relating which transcends problematic Western understandings of self-other relations and their tendency to slip into domination and enmity. This article takes such claims as a point of departure, and analyses them with focus on the explicit discussions of friendship in international relations theory. Paying attention to current Chinese thinking which emphasises guanxi relationships, friendship can contribute to the development of genuinely relational international relations thinking and move beyond a focus on ossified forms of friendship and enmity centred on the anxious self. The vantage point of friendship suggests a way out of the dangers of theorising Self in contrast to Other, and re-opens the possibility to conceptualise Self with Other.
AB - Chinese government representatives and scholars have attempted to ameliorate fears about China’s rise by portraying China as a new and friendlier kind of great power. It is claimed that this represents a new way of relating which transcends problematic Western understandings of self-other relations and their tendency to slip into domination and enmity. This article takes such claims as a point of departure, and analyses them with focus on the explicit discussions of friendship in international relations theory. Paying attention to current Chinese thinking which emphasises guanxi relationships, friendship can contribute to the development of genuinely relational international relations thinking and move beyond a focus on ossified forms of friendship and enmity centred on the anxious self. The vantage point of friendship suggests a way out of the dangers of theorising Self in contrast to Other, and re-opens the possibility to conceptualise Self with Other.
U2 - 10.1093/irap/lcy011
DO - 10.1093/irap/lcy011
M3 - Journal article
VL - 18
SP - 369
EP - 396
JO - International Relations of the Asia Pacific
JF - International Relations of the Asia Pacific
SN - 1470-482X
IS - 3
ER -