Global Governance And The Target Construct A New Paradigm,

The Chinese government has put forward the significant proposal of promoting the construction of "a harmonious world" at a time when the world development is entering its turning era and China's development at its critical period. This proposal reflects the dialectical unity not only of the real world and the ideal world but also of understanding the world and changing it. It also manifests the dialectical unity of both national and international interests and actual and fundamental interests.At present, China has reached a major strategic period of building an all rounded well-to-do society and achieving the goal of national renaissance. To become a world power, apart from developing a strong economy, China has to strive for world recognition in terms of political notions and values. The notion of "a harmonious world" is the epitome and distillation of our country's foreign policies and various theories on international relations. It is not only the programmatic idea guiding our foreign policies and international strategies but also one of the ultimate abstract manifestations of our country's "soft power" in the field of global ideology.In the 21^st century, though traditional international political elements still exist, new elements are constantly being born. Countries in the world are increasingly sharing more and more common interests, the interests of all mankind. Faced with such new situations, mankind needs to change its old mentality of existence and development and achieve a harmonious state of peaceful coexistence among countries, peoples and between man and nature in order to jointly cope with various serious challenges. The notion of "a harmonious world", by demonstrating the fundamental regularity of the world development and by conforming to the primary trend of the world change, has indicted the basic direction of building a better world.The notion of "a harmonious world", a major demonstration of our Chinese philosophical wisdom and courage, has conveyed our optimistic view of the world and our contemplation of the future of the world. It is the ultimate concern of an ancient civilization and a responsible big country about mankind and an invaluable contribution of China to the world effort in establishing a brand new global civilization.However, for the notion of "a harmonious world" to win wider recognition, we still face certain challenges. First of all, there is the suspicion of Western countries such as America and Japan that our country has put forward the notion more as a slogan and a strategy. Secondly, international opinions generally display the pattern of a powerful Western world and a weak Eastern world and of a powerful Western world and a weak China. We still do not have much say in the world and realism is, to a large extent, still the mainstream ideology dominating international politics in both theory and practice. The notion of "a harmonious world", as an idea full of idealistic values, must demonstrate effectively its strong power to make a systematic exposition of the real world. This, is its major challenge.Consequently, a thorough theoretical research and a systematic elaboration of the notion of "a harmonious world" not only pertain to the developmental trends of both domestic and international situations, but also are the natural requirements resulting from our increasingly strong comprehensive national strengths and international influence. They are the realistic requirements of our country to show the responsibility of a responsible developing country and to promote democratization of international relations and have profound strategic significance in achieving the great renaissance of the Chinese nation. This, is the essential background for enhancing the theoretical research on the notion of "a harmonious world".To better theorize on the notion of "a harmonious world", apart from making it an inspiring landmark of our foreign policy, it is of utmost importance to connect and integrate it with the current theories on international relations, to tap its interface with western ideas and cultures in terms of universal values and generally accepted theories and by taking advantage of the strong all-embracing power of "harmony" to go beyond ideological differences and to equip the theory of "a harmonious world" with distinct awareness of the times and general applicability in order to develop it into a mainstream theory on international relations and a widely accepted international code of conduct. At the same time, it is of great necessity to develop the useful values and to discard the dross of traditional Chinese culture with regard to various interpretations of "和" and to propound a complete political theory on 21^st China "harmony" in order to eventually establish a comprehensive theoretical system of harmonious political philosophy of contemporary China. This, is the ultimate goal of the theoretical construction of "a harmonious world".As the theory of "a harmonious world" is a new type of normative theory, in order to achieve the goal of wide applicability, the priority of its theorization lies in the elaboration of its regularity, or in the establishment of the scientific theoretical foundation of "a harmonious world". The core issue of the theorization is to answer the fundamental question of "why 'a harmonious world' is possible". As a result, it is necessary to first explicate clearly the theoretical foundation of "a harmonious world" as a historical research under the guidance of historical materialism with Marxist world historical theory as the basis, rationalism the accepted pattern, both Chinese and foreign thoughts of harmony the value resources and domestic and international policies of contemporary China as the empirical support. Secondly, it is essential to describe accurately the materialistic foundation of "a harmonious world" as the product of our time based on the formation of a world system against the realistic background of the change of the world pattern with the characteristics of world conflicts as the core reference. Thirdly, it is of great importance to expound regimes foundation of "a harmonious world" as an idealistic goal with the development of international order as the major framework, the progress of world civilization the primary direction and the tendency of global management the crucial gateway. In short, the priority is to explain the differences between the international community long thought to be under the anarchic state and today's world, the changes brought about by international competitions which are the norm of international relations and the reasons why "a harmonious world" is not a utopian view once held by some theorists both at home and abroad but a realistic idealistic goal compliant with the developmental trend of human history. This, serves as the basic framework for conducting the research on the theoretical foundation of "a harmonious world".It can be said that the notion of "a harmonious world" not only symbolizes the return to rationalism in terms of the development mentality of the contemporary world but also indicates that contemporary China is keeping in step with the progress of world civilization. On the one hand, with globalization and multi-polarization gaining momentum, the world is coming into a new era where differences and integration coexist, which has provided a new historical opportunity for the development of the world as a whole. Only by standing on the high plane of the world as a whole and of human development, by going beyond the traditional value system, mentality and world view, by establishing a political civilization pattern generally recognized by the international community, can we break through the difficult situations and embark on the road to achieving the goal of constructing a more harmonious world. On the other hand, after over a century's cultural integration, Chinese civilization is expected to unite and integrate with the international culture at a new height, thus promoting the construction of a new ideological and cultural system and eventually contributing to the establishment of a new world culture order.The notion of "a harmonious world", as a new world view on development, will inevitably progress from the state of an "ideal" to the state of "reality". At the current critical period when human civilization is undergoing change, the world needs new rational enlightenment and transcendence to achieve further breakthrough from "chaos". History will show that the notion of "a harmonious world" is a rational banner guiding human civilization in the 21^st century.