Will China be a New Type of Great Power?

Abstract

How will China’s rise to great power status affect its foreign policy and world order? This article argues that China’s future policies will depend on how it defines its identity relative to the United States and other powers, and how others respond to China’s self-definition. For insights, I draw on social identity theory (SIT), from social psychology, which holds that states seek to maintain a positive but distinctive identity. China wants to restore its previous status as a great power, but at the same time to preserve its culture and norms, without assimilating Western liberal values. According to SIT, states that want to improve their status may pursue social mobility, social competition, or social creativity. Social creativity seeks to attain pre-eminence in a different domain from that of the leading powers. Social creativity—the strategy that China has generally followed since the end of the Cold War—appears to be the most desirable and feasible path for China’s rise and peaceful integration into the international system.

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