The Essence of Interstate Leadership

Debating Moral Realism

Yan Xuetong, Fang Yuanyuan

• Publisher: Bristol University Press
• Year: 2023
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781529232639
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Asian Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Bringing together eminent International Relations (IR) scholars from China and the West, this book examines moral realism from a range of different perspectives. Through its analyses, it verifies the robustness of moral realism in IR theory.

The first section of the book is written by Chinese scholars and dedicated to debates about how moral realism relates to traditional schools of IR theory. The latter portion, provided by Western contributors, critically investigates both the universal and practical values of moral realism. Finally, Yan Xuetong concludes by responding constructively to all criticisms and further exploring the nature and characteristics of interstate leadership in moral realism.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Notes on Contributors
• Preface
• 1 Interstate Leadership, Moral Realism, and their Critics
• 2 IR Moral Realism as a Universal Theory
• 3 Moral Realism as an Alternative Approach to the Agent–Structure Problem
• 4 Prospects, Promise, and Limitations of Moral Realism
• 5 Ideal Morality and Realist Interest of Moral Realism
• 6 The Conception of Morality in Moral Realism
• 7 Moral Realism and Hegemonic Transition
• 8 Innovation of Moral Realism and Dialogue with It
• 9 Moral Realism and Sino–American Relations
• 10 Moral Realism on Interstate Leadership in Response to Critics
• Appendix 1: Written Discussion between Rajesh Rajagopalan and Yan Xuetong
• Appendix 2: ‘Chinese School’ as an Inappropriate Title
• Selected Bibliography
• Index