Beyond Compliance ― China, International Organizations, and Global Security

Historically China has viewed itself as the Middle Kingdom, unconstrained by international society; has lacked a tradition of the rule of law; and has had sufficient power to ignore international obligations, argues Kent (Centre for International and Public Law, Australian National U.), thus presenting an ideal worst case for expected compliance and cooperation with the multilateral international system. Yet, in looking at the behavior of China since it was accepted on the United Nations Security Council in 1971, he finds that China has changed from an isolated and verbally aggressive state to an increasingly interdependent and compliant one, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of multilateral internationalism even for non-liberal states. He explains China's growing compliance with reference to process-based theories grounded in the belief in the socializing process of normative discourse and interactions between transnational actors within institutional settings and skepticism over the value of coercion in compelling compliance. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)