Is China Building a Rival International Order and How Would We Know?
Is China building a rival institutional order to challenge and potentially replace the existing one? In the decades following the Cold War, the United States played a leading role in creating the institutions of what became known as the liberal international order (LIO). Since then, China’s global profile has risen while the United States has reduced its commitment to global leadership. With growing evidence of a hegemonic transition, observers are increasingly debating whether Beijing is working to overturn the existing order by fostering rival institutional structures.