IDOS research on China’s role at the United Nations (UN) is currently being discussed across the globe. A special issue on “Power Shifts in International Organizations: China at the United Nations”, co-edited by IDOS researchers, was published in May by the journal Global Policy.
©Global Policy Journal
IDOS researchers Dr Sebastian Haug and Dr Max-Otto Baumann, as well as Prof Rosemary Foot from the University of Oxford are the editors of the special issue, which is attracting considerable attention. From San Francisco to Shanghai, via New York, Boston, Budapest, Stockholm, Berlin, Bangkok and Canberra, special issue authors have presented their findings to a broad audience.
In addition to a launch event jointly organised by the University of Oxford, Fudan University and IDOS, talks, conference sessions and panel discussions took place at Harvard University, New York University, the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, the Swedish Human Rights Forum, the Australian National University, the Australian Embassy in Thailand, the Central European University and the annual conference of the International Studies Association.
During the exchanges, researchers and students were particularly interested in the types of power China can mobilise, and how the increase in Chinese power over the last two decades has affected different parts of the world organisation. Diplomats and UN officials, in turn, paid particular attention to overall assessments of China’s role and were particularly concerned with concrete recommendations for action. Another focus of interest were the differences in China’s engagement across the three pillars of the UN: peace and security, development as well as human rights.
China as an actor at the UN has been a central concern for the IDOS research programme “Inter- and Transnational Cooperation”. In addition to the Special Issue, research has focussed on individual UN bodies or the effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
