Scottish Centre for China Research

Traditional theories of hegemonic transitions have difficulty accounting for the mechanisms and nature of change in the contemporary international order. They are based on a punctuated equilibrium model that is geared towards capturing the replacement of one hegemonic order by another. Today, however, we are not observing the replacement of a U.S.-led international order by a China-led international order. Rather, a new China-centric international order is emerging that is still strongly embedded in the established international order through a process that we describe as hegemonic layering. While the United States established its hegemonic order rapidly during the critical juncture of the Second World War and its aftermath, China is currently building order through gradual forms of institutional change. That is, China is emerging as a gradual hegemon. By combining Hegemonic Order Theory with Historical Institutionalism, we trace the emergence of a gradual hegemon through a process of hegemonic layering and suggest how, in the long run, this may lead to fundamental change of international order. Our argument challenges both established accounts of hegemonic transitions and liberal integrationist approaches, which stress China’s incentives to work within the existing international order and tend to interpret gradual institutional changes as the adaptation of the order to China’s rise, rather than its transformation.

Dr Benjamin Faude is Lecturer in International Relations. Before joining Glasgow, he worked at Newcastle University, at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. He also held visiting positions at the University of California at Berkeley and at Vrije Universiteit Brussels. Moreover, Dr Faude taught at the University of Bamberg, at Free University Berlin, and at Charles University in Prague. He holds a PhD from the University of Bamberg (Germany). Dr Faude's research is inspired by the observation that virtually all the existing global policy challenges are governed by diverse sets of global governance institutions which find their competences overlapping under no coordination from an overarching authority. The key question that motivates his work is: to what extent is effective and legitimate global governance possible in this institutional context? His most recent publications include “The Institutional Dynamics of Global Governance in Hard Times: Innovation or Decline?” (with John Karlsrud) in Ethics & International Affairs, and “Boon or Bane?: The Hybrid Institutional Complex for the Sustainable Development Goals” (with Jack Taggart) in Global Policy. Dr Faude is the recipient of LSE's 2020-2021 Excellence in Education Award for outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership.