Order, Rules And Knowledge: A Constructivist Analysis Of The Contemporary International Order

As an academic enquiry in a critical constructivist framework, this Ph.D. dissertation argues that the contemporary international order is a result of the US power and knowledge, and with the leverage of its power declining, the US will have to build new knowledge through communicative action with other major actors, on the base of which a new international order can be forged.First of all, the dissertation problematizes the reasoning of the realist claim of the balance of power and the liberalist proposal of a constitutional order.Realist IR scholars, such as Hans Morgenthau and Kenneth Waltz, seek to explain the underlying forces governing the international political relations and make the scientific claim that the balance of power is inevitable. However, Morgenthau's efforts were undermined by his unscientific methods of wisdom literature or historical anecdotes. And Kenneth Warltz's theory of international relations, that attempted to uncover a causal relationship based on theoretical-objective observations, deductive logics and empirical verification and falsification, and whose validation should rest on a firm foundation absolutely false or true by nature, has not reached such a solid bedrock yet.Liberalists aver that the liberal constitutional order abides by the liberal moral principles, and hence, are the most just international order. However, these moral theories, with Rawls'principles of justice as an example, did insufficient inquiries upon the ultimate purpose. Ignorance of the ultimate purpose makes the reasoning of those moral theories problematic, and also, the justice of the international order built on them questionable.Then, the dissertation turns to critical constructivist assumptions that international order is constructed on the foundation of knowledge produced by hegemon power or communicative actions of the major actors in the absence of hegemony. As constructivism maintains, social actors are homo sociologicus, whose rationality is to follow rules. Accordingly, the order of a society is firmly set within a structure of rules, which are further embedded on the knowledge, produced by hegemon power or by communicative actions when a hegemon is absent.Under such a framework, the empirical studies of the dissertation do not aim at exploring the causality or the justice of the international politics, but to reveal the relations between hegemony, knowledge and international order. The dissertation studied the US post-cold war strategies and found that the contemporary international order is a result of the US power and knowledge; with the decline of the leverage of its power, the US will have to communicate more with other major actors for a consensus on knowledge, on the base of which a new international order can be forged.Firstly, after the cold war, as the only superpower exerting disproportionate power in the world, the US attempts to establish a new world order on its private knowledge of freedom and democracy. George H.W. Bush's"New World Order' was featured by a growing community of democracies and a dynamic free-market system. Bill Clinton's "From Containment to Expansion" strategy borrowed Bush's vision and demanded that the US shift its cold war strategy to the enlargement of the world's free community of market democracies. George W. Bush's preemptive strategy aimed at ending"tyrannies"by using the US military forces, even unilaterally.Secondly, in the Obama's era, the US is still the only polar in the international power structure, but wield declining power to the rest of the world. Princeton project, Managing Global Insecurity program (MGI) and Obama's remarks in the election campaign show that the US's liberal vision of the world order has not been shattered.The Princeton project proposes to reestablish a"Concert of Democracies", as an alternative forum to legitimate the use of force. Obama commits his administration to support the young democracies by increasing funding for struggling democrats, creating a rapid response fund for societies in transition. On the other hand, the studies found signs that the US will do more communication with other major actors for a consensus on new knowledge. For instance, Obama pursues a strategy of wider dialogues with other major actors. MGI proposes a new vision of international order based on the concept of responsible sovereignty, instead of democracy, acknowledging that"the non-democracies"should not be excluded in the establishment of a new international order.