From Watcher To Norm-shaper:China’s Engagement In Multilateral Institutions

The international liberal order that emerged after the end of the Second world war had multilateralism as its organising principle.This order has greatly and profoundly evolved in the past decades,and the number of multilateral institutions has significantly increased:these organisations-which cover different fields and scopes,have different characteristics,membership,rules,etc.-play an important role,among other things,in the maintenance of peace,in the ruling of international trade,in the pooling of resources,in the safeguarding and promotion of human rights,in the economic assistance to the poorest countries.The engagement of the People’s Republic of China in multilateral institutions and platforms has not always been the same.This is due to the way China defined multilateralism historically,as well as to the use that it makes of it in the different international settings in which it is involved.China’s behaviour has been defined as’strategic multilateralism’.This thesis aims to analyse how and why China’s attitude towards multilateral institutions has changed over time and to examine China’s rising centrality in multilateral organisations.Moreover,and primarily,it will discuss how China’s peculiar experience in multilateral IGOs has influenced its role in the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO).The SCO,based on the Shanghai Spirit,which embodies Chinese values,plays a strategic role for China,and this is exemplified by the active involvement that the PRC had in the creation and still has in the maintenance of the Organisation.This research will try to measure China’s engagement in the SCO and identify China’s policy priorities and objectives within the Organisation.The results of the analysis are supportive of the argument that China is really playing a central role in the Organisation-mirroring the primary role that it plays internationally in multilateral fora-and the outcomes will delineate in which way.In brief,the study of the Chinese involvement in multilateral organisations and of its evolution over time will be used as theoretical framework to analyse the SCO as an example of multilateral institution created and supported by China,and where China plays a primary role.