 Powers of persuasion? China's struggle for human rights discourse power at the UNMalin Oud Global Policy, 2024, vol. 15, issue S2, 85-96 Abstract: Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the People's Republic of China has been on a mission to break what it describes as ‘Western hegemony’ around global norms. Beijing is engaged in a struggle to strengthen its influence in global governance and has identified increasing China's ‘discourse power’ at the United Nations (UN) as key to achieving this goal. Focused on human rights, this paper examines China's project to enhance its discourse power at the UN. It assesses how successful Beijing has been in shaping language, concepts and norms at the UN and to what extent there has been a power shift in line with China's aspirations. It concludes that in China's efforts to enhance its power over meaning at the UN, it relies less on its powers of persuasion to effect what Barnett and Duvall term productive power and more on compulsory power. China's vision for global governance and its growing clout at the UN has great implications for international order. In essence, China seeks to reshape international norms so that human rights become each member state's ‘internal affairs’ rather than a legitimate concern of the international community. Date: 2024 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:glopol:v:15:y:2024:i:s2:p:85-96 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Global Policy is currently edited by David Held, Patrick Dunleavy and Eva-Maria Nag More articles in Global Policy from London School of Economics and Political Science Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.