Since the 1980s, China has become steadily enmeshed in multilateral international organizations (MIOs). A rich body of rhetoric and behaviour is available to deepen our understanding of why and how Beijing engages with MIOs, additionally allowing a response to the question of whether China's engagement is shifting the global normative landscape in ways that significantly affect the on-going transition in global order. With these aims in mind, this Element first adopts a 'snapshot' macro-analytical perspective that draws on existing scholarship and official documentation to compare two eras of Chinese MIO engagement across several issue areas. The Element next adopts a case-study, process-driven, understanding of China and MIOs, examining the evolution of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It concludes that China, through incremental measures, is fashioning reordering that pushes in similar directions. However, this capacity to effect significant change varies considerably across institutional settings.
| ISBN: | 9781009740722 |
| Publication date: | 20th April 2026 |
| Author: | Rosemary Foot, Xueying Zhang |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 75 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Elements. Elements in Indo-Pacific Security |
| Genres: |
International relations Regional / International studies Political science and theory |
Since the 1980s, China has become steadily enmeshed in multilateral international organizations (MIOs). A rich body of rhetoric and behaviour is available to deepen our understanding of why and how Beijing engages with MIOs, additionally allowing a response to the question of whether China's engagement is shifting the global normative landscape in ways that significantly affect the on-going transition in global order. With these aims in mind, this Element first adopts a 'snapshot' macro-analytical perspective that draws on existing scholarship and official documentation to compare two eras of Chinese MIO engagement across several issue areas. The Element next adopts a case-study, process-driven, understanding of China and MIOs, examining the evolution of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It concludes that China, through incremental measures, is fashioning reordering that pushes in similar directions. However, this capacity to effect significant change varies considerably across institutional settings.
Bounded Ambition features in the following genres: International relations, Regional / International studies, Political science and theory
Bounded Ambition is available in Paperback, Hardback
Bounded Ambition was written by Rosemary Foot, Xueying Zhang and published by Cambridge University Press
Bounded Ambition has 75 pages
Yes it is part of Cambridge Elements. Elements in Indo-Pacific Security series
£49.50