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Yan Xuetong, Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power, edited by Daniel A. Bell and Sun Zhe, translated by Edmund Ryden, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011, 300 pp.
Yan Xuetong's piece of scholarship sheds light on China's ancient pre-Qin thinkers and makes interesting contributions to international relations theory. Not only does Yan's study make an in-depth inquiry into the pre-Qin thinkers' view on interstate relations, hegemony and global governance, he also allows for criticism and comments on his work by other scholars to be included. This enriches the book and gives it a broader scope. In the concluding section, the book responds to the commentators as well as provides a final interview that brings the reader closer to Yan through his life story.
The aim of the study is to dissect the international political philosophy of the pre-Qin thinkers in order to enhance contemporary IR-theory and to analyze the implications for China's rise. The essential line of thinking that unites the various pre-Qin thinkers and their different strands of thought is that political leadership is at the core of international relations and that morality is an integral part of that political leadership. Economic strength and military power are indeed necessary and important to understand great power relations and hegemony, yet they are secondary to the actor-centric core of the pre-Qin line of thinking. Below I discuss the insights of the study within four particular areas.
First, the philosophy of the pre-Qin masters was policy-oriented, aimed at giving advice to the feudal rulers in the later Spring and Autumn period and the following Warring States period. This is intimately connected to Yan's aspiration to do the same for present-day Chinese leaders, which connects to a view of political science where the science component functions to discipline the political. Yet much policy advice is circling around, and some recom- mendations will serve for guidance while others will get discarded...