Chinas new Left of empire and nation past and present

Question 1

What is World History in China

Answer 1

• seperate discipline
• WH with approach of historical materialism - which suggests, that the world would go through 5 stages and eventually reach communism
• The history of the communist party of the Soviet Union defined the framework for chinese and world history - Marxist and leninist History

Question 2

The 5 stages of world History

Answer 2

1. Primitive communist - no clases, no state, no military…
2. Slave holder society - something like a state develops
3. Feudalism - historiographic construct designating the social, economic, and poltical conditions between the 5th and 12th century.
4. Capitalism - economic system, dominant in the Western world since the breakup of feudalidsm, in which most means of production are privattely owned and production is guided and income distributed largely through the operation of markets.
5. Communism - similar but very different to primitive communism

Question 3

What do the 5 stages of world history imply for the development of capitalism and communism

Answer 3

• capitalism is a transformative stage leading to communism
• Communism is a stateless form of a self-ruled society and does not need the state anymore (different to Capitalist state)

Question 4

The Dilemma of Euro-centrism in GH in China

Answer 4

• Theory of GH - with a western origin –> also eurocentric
• Critics in China claim, that the development of GH is a byproduct of neoliberalism
• China was a follower not a leader - with China´s growth incompetible

Question 5

The Great State Conecpt: Paul Kennedy

Answer 5

• China needed its own theory of GH - matching its rise and defining its place among the world leading powers
• Beginning of 21th century - idea of GH gets linked to the idea of great states - rising to a position of world dominance

Question 6

Chinas Post-Colonialism says that…

Answer 6

• the dominant position of great states is legitimate as they push the global development to a new state
  –> Colonialism = important stage - we have to push through - not evil, but something crucial for development
• Social Darwinism
  Slavery - necessary phase
  For China the overcoming of nation states is not important, because it is a multi-ethic-empire

Question 7

Jiang Shigong (1967) - one of the most prominent scholars for New Leftism says about 1. the world, 2. colonialism and hegemocic powers and IR…

Answer 7

• Several empires coexist as part of the world - always in competition
• only colonialism made it possible that a world hegemonic position was claimed
• Each hegemonic power needs to legitimize its hegemonic position among the world´s nations by developing theoretical concepts related to IR and global history
• the system of IR is a hierarchial structure with a hegemonic empire (US) at the top

Question 8

What is an empire?

Answer 8

1. = universal intellectual concept that extends to the entire world
2. = form of political practice that seeks to impose harmony on the world
   - Linked to the ideas of a great state

Question 9

What is Tianxia?

Answer 9

It´s a universal system that is responsible for world order- It refers to the general will of all people to

Question 10

What are the 3 constitutive conceps of Tianxia (the vision of “all-under-heaven)?

Answer 10

1. internalization of the world
2. rational rationality
3. Confucian Improvement

Question 12

What is Tianxia?

Answer 12

A concept of a compatible universalism that includes all civilizations

Question 13

Global History in China is closly related to…

Answer 13

The idea of the new world order in the making

Question 14

China as the World Empire 2.0? World Empire 1.0 faces 3 great unsolvable problems

Answer 14

1. Inequality
2. State failure and political decline
3. decadence and nihilism