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China’s international relations from the vantage point of area studies

Understanding China's global ambitions and constraints through interdisciplinary perspectives

Add to calendar 2025-04-15 14:00 2025-04-15 15:30 Europe/Rome China’s international relations from the vantage point of area studies Sala Triaria Villa Schifanoia YYYY-MM-DD
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Scheduled dates

Apr 15 2025

14:00 - 15:30 CEST

Sala Triaria, Villa Schifanoia

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Join Marina Rudyak and Friso Stevens as they discuss how China’s global narratives and historical transformations shape its international relations.

Is China fundamentally transforming the global order, or do existing structures of international relations constrain its ambitions? The Routledge Handbook on Global China (2025) examines China's impact on global politics, economics, and governance, from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to its growing influence in technology, development aid, and cultural diplomacy. It also identifies epistemic traps, such as othering and strategic narcissism, that hinder a deeper understanding of 'Global China'. Drawing on the Handbook’s conceptual framework, Marina Rudyak’s presentation will explore China's global narratives and narrative power, illustrating how the country both challenges and integrates with existing international institutions.

Conversely, Friso Stevens’ interdisciplinary book ‘Chinese Assertiveness, Ideational Mobilization, and the Rise of Xi Jinping’ (2025) integrates international relations (IR) theory with a historical reinterpretation and deep China expertise to argue that China’s post-2008 shift toward greater assertiveness was driven by evolving ideas about its desired place in East Asia’s regional order. Chinese Communist Party propaganda offers compelling evidence that there is much greater continuity between the Hu and Xi eras than is exhibited in the existing literature. Moreover, the book traces the ideological sources of Chinese assertiveness back to the New Left movement and the Patriotic Education Campaign of the 1990s. Lastly, the book further attributes the turning point in the late 2000s, as well as the selection of Xi as a compromise candidate, to decisions made by previous leaders.

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    Villa Ruspoli, Piazza Indipendenza n. 9, Florence, University of Florence

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    Alessandro Simoni (University of Florence) Gabriele Gori (Fondazione CR Firenze) Silvia Zonnedda (Fondazione CR Firenze) Antonella Ranaldi (SABAP-FI) Vittoria Barsotti (Fondazione CR Firenze) Alessandra De Luca (University of Florence) Ariane Thomas (Louvre Museum) Jennifer Celani (Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Florence, Pistoia and Prato) Simone Torricelli (University of Florence) Giorgio Resta (Roma Tre University) Amy Adler (New York University) Cecilie Hollberg (Harvard University) Eleonora Rosati (University of Stockholm) Paolo Catallozzi (Italian Supreme Court) Alessandro Cogo (University of Torino) Gordon Humphreys (EU Intellectual Property Office) Cristiana Sappa (IÉSEG School of Management) Giacomo Pailli (University of Palermo) Massimo Sterpi (Gianni e Origoni) Marketa Trimble (University of Nevada) Marina Markellou (University of Groningen) Eduard Treppoz (Panthéon-AssasUniversity Paris II) Lucrezia Palandri (Univeristy of Insubria) Caterina Sganga (Sant Anna School of Advanced Studies) Silvia Scalzini (LUISS University) Giulia Dore (University of Trento) Anna Pirri Valentini (IMT School for Advances Studies Lucca and LUISS University) Rina Elster Pantalony (Columbia University Libraries) Deborah De Angelis (Wikimedia Italia & Creative Commons) Niccolò Galli (European University Institute)

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