Synopses & Reviews
What role does China play in the Western imagination? The rise of China as an alternative model to Western liberalism has created a fear that developing countries will stray from Western standards of democracy, transparency, and human rights. However, such fears often say as much about those who hold them as they do about China itself.
Who's Afraid of China? holds a mirror to Sino-Western relations in order to better understand how the West's own past, hopes, and fears shape the way it thinks about and engages with China. Focusing on three key areas -- models of development, soft power, and ethnocentrism -- this provocative new book argues that the rise of China touches a nerve in the Western psyche and presents a fundamental challenge to ideas about modernity, history, and international relations.
Synopsis
If China suddenly democratised, would it cease being labelled as a threat? This provocative book argues that fears of China often say as much about those who hold them as they do about the rising power itself. It focuses not on the usual trope of economic and military might, but on China's growing cultural influence and the connections between China's domestic politics and its attempts to brand itself internationally. Using examples from film, education, media, politics, and art, Who's Afraid of China? is both an introduction to Chinese soft power and a critical analysis of international reaction to it. It examines how the West's own past, hopes, and fears shape the way it thinks about and engages with China and argues that the rising power touches a nerve in the Western psyche, presenting a fundamental challenge to ideas about modernity, history, and international relations.
About the Author
Michael Barr is Lecturer in International Politics at Newcastle University. He has lived and worked in the UK, US, Egypt, and China. He earned his PhD in Philosophy at the University of Durham and worked previously at the London School of Economics. In 2008, he was Visiting Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. His research investigates the implications of the rise of China, particularly issues impacting Sino-Western security relations. He has actively promoted awareness of the dual-use implications of biotechnology and has sought to help train life scientists and ethicists in China in order to minimize biosecurity risks. He has published on issues pertaining to Chinese soft power, biosecurity, the history of medical ethics, and dual-use bioethics.
Table of Contents
Introduction1. The challenge of China's development model2. The myth and reality of Chinese soft power3. Cultural alternative? Or imagined power?4. The yellow man's burden5. Understanding the fear of ChinaGlossary of Chinese termsNotesBibliographyIndex