A rising giant in the East?: Disaggregating China’s contemporary economic power

To what extent are the foundations of hegemonic power present in Contemporary China? This thesis addresses the question through the application of a two-pillar structural power framework. Prominent IPE scholarship on hegemony tends to privilege the internal or external foundations of hegemony and to privilege production and trade or financial development as its subject of analysis. Through the two-pillar framework, the thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the internal and external dimensions of power in the realms of production and trade on the one hand and financial development on the other. Overall, this holistic account allows for a disaggregated and nuanced account of the partial rise of China to be presented. The thesis found that, in relations to the finance pillar, although having undergone a series of reform which have deepened its financial capacity domestically, China’s external engagement and influence within international financial institutions remains limited. In relations to the production structure, China has proactively engaged with resource-rich regions to secure a stable supply of key inputs but remains heavily reliant on external demand within its unbalanced domestic economy. Overall, the thesis suggests that uneven foundations of structural power present a constraint on the rise of China.