Morality and progress: IR narratives on international revisionism and the status quo

Abstract

Scholars debate the ambitions and policies of today's 'rising powers' and the extent to which they are revising or upholding the international status quo. While elements of the relevant literature provide valuable insight, this article argues that the concepts of revisionism and the status quo within mainstream International Relations (IR) have always constituted deeply rooted, autobiographical narratives of a traditionally Western-dominated discipline. As 'ordering narratives' of morality and progress, they constrain and organize debate so that revisionism is typically conceived not merely as disruption, but as disruption from the non-West amidst a fundamentally moral Western order that represents civilizational progress. This often makes them inherently problematic and unreliable descriptors of the actors and behaviours they are designed to explain. After exploring the formations and development of these concepts throughout the IR tradition, the analysis is directed towards narratives around the contemporary 'rise' of China. Both scholarly and wider political narratives typically tell the story of revisionist challenges China presents to a US/Western-led status quo, promoting unduly binary divisions between the West and non-West, and tensions and suspicions in the international realm. The aim must be to develop a new language and logic that recognize the contingent, autobiographical nature of 'revisionist' and 'status quo' actors and behaviours.

Narrating the South Pacific in and Beyond Great Power Politics

“…While there has been a growing body of literature that focuses on strategic narrative in general and its relevance to understanding international relations in places such as China, Europe, East Asia and the Indo-Pacific [ 4 , 8 , 24 , 33 , 41 , 46 , 57 , 58 , 62 , 69 ], studies on international relations narratives concerning the South Pacific are still relatively rare [with exceptions such as 21 , 64 ]. To some extent, this Special Issue aims to fill this gap.…”

‘Soft power is such a benign animal’: narrative power and the reification of concepts in Japan

“…Narrative power is central to both the emergence and the further expansion of concept coalitions, that is, it is central to concept reification (see also Turner and Nymalm 2019). While narratives help actors to make sense of their world, concept entrepreneurs also try to exploit the power of narratives to try to fix a concept's meaning, shape others' understanding of the world and enunciate why a particular concept is necessary not only as a way of thinking but also as a way of doing things in the world.…”

From the ancient Silk Road to the belt and road initiative: Narratives, signalling and trust-building

“…From a post-colonial perspective, Datta-Ray (2015) demonstrates how dominant Western diplomatic narratives suppress and marginalise India in important areas of international affairs, and he thus claims the need for India-oriented (non-western) narratives in diplomacy. Although China’s contemporary foreign policies are not usually interpreted in terms of post-colonial narratives, China faces a similar situation to India in suppression and marginalisation in diplomacy, and thus, there is a similar demand for Chinese-oriented narratives (on the Western-centrism of IR narratives around today’s ‘rising powers’, see Turner and Nymalm, 2019).…”