| Using Sociology of Knowledge theory to examine the English School’s whole knowledge spectrum,which has been structured into a "social-knowledge" network structure.As a sub-network,the study of East Asian international relations has developed through three periods or stages,including the early stage,which lasted from 1959 to 1992,the expansion stage from 1993 to 2003 and the deepening and shifting one from 2004 to 2002.As for the early stage,it was a sort of trial or beginning for the English School scholars on the issues of East Asia.During the early stage,scholars of the Classic English School didn`t explicitly focus on East Asian international relations,but their main contribution was to successfully pioneer a series of intellectual issues.First,the English School was the first to notice the phenomenon of vassal strife during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period in China,which was regarded as a typical “multi-state system”.Second,the study of “civilization standards” pioneered by Gerrit Gong successfully opened up a new research hotspot for the English School,and China and Japan appeared as important cases in its discourse.Finally,the discussion on the integration of China and Japan into the international society in modern times is more concentrated,and the Classical English School tends to regard China and Japan as the active integrators of the European international society.Overall,the study of East Asian international relations occupies a marginal place in the academic spectrum of the English School,which places greater emphasis on the intellectual content of European international society than that of East Asian international society.Research tendencies are strongly Eurocentric,and there is a lack of a distinct and clear sense of self-reflection in terms of research consciousness.As for the second stage,it can be concluded as an expansion stage,marking as an “intellectual turn” following a series of profound changes,intellectual setting,historical trends and international environment of the Cold War.The historical-sociological turn in study methods and the practical turn in knowledge concerns are the two fundamental components of this turn.By utilizing historical sociological methods this turn not only reinforces the normative inclination of the English School but also makes practical study inside the school possible and highlights a number of empirical issues that require further investigation.The study of international relations in East Asia was influenced by this “intellectual turn” and entered a stage of expansion.The research topics in this stage were richer than those in the previous stage,and the level of research also increased,which was highlighted by the research on the tributary system and the Japanese issue.The English School focused on the conceptualization and reconceptualization,and organizational structure,division and fracture of the tributary system.As for the study of Japan,the English School focused on the period from the Meiji Restoration to the end of World War II,the post-World War II period,and the contemporary period.The English School focuses on the process of Japanese modernization,the postwar international order in East Asia,and contemporary Japanese diplomacy.The final stages would be a deepening and shifting period.Between 2004 and2022,the English School shows a stronger tendency towards decentralization and pluralism,thus moving into a phase of deepening and new shift.In terms of history,the English School continues to explore the issue of the integration of China and Japan into the international society,focusing on the relationship between East Asian societies and the Western world in the pre-modern period.In the practical direction,the English School took the initiative to intervene in the academic discussion on the peaceful rise of China and the Chinese school,and contributed its unique ideological perspectives.At that stage,the English School reached a certain height in terms of research level,theoretical height and the frequency of interdisciplinary exchanges.Recently,East Asian studies is increasingly coming into the central discussion of the intellectual spectrum of the English School,and has gained increasing attention from members from different intellectual backgrounds.Generally speaking,whether it is the re-examination of the tributary system and the integration of China and Japan into the international society,or intervening in the dispassionate scrutiny of the contemporary Japanese issue,China’s peaceful rise,and the Chinese School,the English School of East Asian international relations studies have always endeavored to seek the synthesis and balance of “the balance of knowledge” in the stage of “the intellectual turn”.In the early stage,there was a clear imbalance between the theoretical and the realistic,the past and the present spheres of “the balance of knowledge”.After this serious imbalance was duly repaired,the world-historical narrative of international society gradually became balanced and homogenized in terms of the spatial coverage of the world and the temporal scope of the pre and post-history,and the English School began to pay real attention to the unique history,culture,moral genealogy and reality international affairs around the world,thus demonstrating a strong collective will to seek equalization.Looking back and reflecting on the English School of East Asian international relations studies,it has formed a unique intellectual and discursive system,adopting a composite multiple narrative rather than a single narrative,and exhibiting distinct intellectual and social,continuity and discontinuity,openness and reflexivity characteristics.These three pairs of characteristics run through the three stage and the entire literature of the English School of East Asian international relations studies,constituting its intrinsic qualities.At the same time,the English School of East Asian international relations studies also suffers from two key knowledge deficiencies.First,at the cognitive level,personal subjective bias and unconscious cultural bias have always influenced the academic work of the English School and are manifested in much of the literature on East Asian international relations.Second,at the level of theoretical construction,the English School’s “obsession” with three major concepts constitutes a major tension.The concept of international society is too broad,difficult to practice,and has a weak empirical basis,while the relationship between the international system,international society,and world society has not been further clarified.Looking into the future of East Asian international relations studies,the English School should focus on three new issues: the historical complexity of East Asia,the realistic construction of East Asian international society,and Global International Relations.On the one hand,the English School needs to continuously seek theoretical leap and innovation in its own theoretical reflection,and on the other hand,the English School needs to open up new battlefields of thought through exchanges and interactions with other schools and disciplines.Along with that reasoning path,the English School will absolutely enrich its studies and find out its academic standpoint on “knowledge balance” in the field of international relations of East Asia and bring out its own methods of solutions in the process of seeking the IR theories and realities,the past and the present. |
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