China, the UN, and Human Protection

Beliefs, Power, Image

Rosemary Foot

Tackles in depth a key development in the UN's approach to the maintenance of peace and security and Beijing's approach to this change
Provides detail on how China is working within the premier multilateral organization of the post World War II era
Aims to aid scholarly understanding of the obstacles faced in promoting redefinitions of security that promote a human protective element

China, the UN, and Human Protection

Beliefs, Power, Image

Rosemary Foot

Description

Over a relatively short period of time, Beijing moved from dismissing the UN to embracing it. How are we to make sense of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) embrace of the UN, and what does its engagement mean in larger terms?

This study focuses directly on Beijing's involvement in one of the most contentious areas of UN activity — human protection — contentious because the norm of human protection tips the balance away from the UN's Westphalian state-based profile, towards the provision of greater protection for the security of individuals and their individual liberties. The argument that follows shows that, as an ever-more crucial actor within the United Nations, Beijing's rhetoric and some of its practices are playing an increasingly important role in determining how this norm is articulated and interpreted. In some cases, the PRC is also influencing how these ideas of human protection are implemented. At stake in the questions this book tackles is both how we understand the PRC as a participant in shaping global order, and the future of some of the core norms which constitute that order.

China, the UN, and Human Protection

Beliefs, Power, Image

Rosemary Foot

Introduction
1:Defining the Scope
2:UN Peace Operations
3:The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda
4:The Responsibility to Protect
5:The Syrian Crisis
6:The UN's Human Rights Bodies
7:Positioning Development in Human Protection
8:Conclusion: Shaping from Within?

China, the UN, and Human Protection

Beliefs, Power, Image

Rosemary Foot

Author Information

Rosemary Foot, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford; Emeritus Fellow, St Antony's College, Oxford

Rosemary Foot is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, and an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford. In 1996, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Her publications include China, the United States and Global Order (with Andrew Walter, CUP, 2011) and Rights Beyond Borders (OUP, 2000). Her research interests cover security relations in the Asia-Pacific, human rights diplomacy, China's influence on regional and global order, and China-US relations.

China, the UN, and Human Protection

Beliefs, Power, Image

Rosemary Foot

Reviews and Awards

A Foreign Affairs Best Book 2021

"With admirable clarity, Foot makes the case that Chinese policy vis-à-vis human protection is a product of a regime that is not only increasingly self-conscious of its status and responsibilities as a great power but also increasingly confident within multilateral fora, and no longer hesitant to champion its own particular worldview." - Timothy Donais, International Peacekeeping

"It will be essential reading not only for those interested in Chinese foreign policy or the UN's humanitarian agenda, but also for those concerned with the evolving international order. It will also aid decision-makers' and activists' understanding of the obstacles faced in promoting a global humanitarian agenda." - Zheng Chen, Fudan University, Global Responsibility to Protect

"The rigour and focus that Foot dedicates to the analysis of human protectionpolicy areas makes this work a key reference for academics and practitioners.Overall, her book also makes an important contribution to understanding China as a participant in shaping global order and norms." - Emily Venturi, International Affairs

"...innovative and insightful...an important contribution to understanding China as a participant in shaping global order and norms." - Emily Venturi, International Affairs

"At the center of Rosemary Foot's brilliant study of China in the United Nations is a puzzle that is as difficult to understand as it is worth wrestling with." - Joseph Fewsmith, Perspectives on Politics

"In an era of growing competition between China and the West, Foot offers a grand illumination of the normative battlefield." - G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

"Recommended." - Z. Zhu, Bucknell University, CHOICE

"Explores China's engagement with the concept of human protection and the policy dilemmas that it poses, focusing on Beijing's ideological beliefs and its image in world politics." - Journal of Economic Literature (Volume 59, no. 1)

"empirical grounding and rigorous theoretical approaches are vital within increasingly politicized debates on China's role in world order and governance issues—and Rosemary Foot delivers just that...The rigour and focus that Foot dedicates to the analysis of human protection policy areas makes this work a key reference for academics and practitioners. Overall, her book also makes an important contribution to understanding China as a participant in shaping global order and norms." - Chatham House, UK

"China's rise as an economic power has been accompanied by increased anxiety over what role it will play in reinforcing or challenging global order. Rosemary Foot tackles this crucial question head on by analyzing Chinese responses to one of the most controversial areas of contemporary global policy-making: the effort to widen the rubric of international peace and security to emphasize human protection.This pathbreaking book is essential reading not only for those interested in Chinese foreign policy, peacekeeping, and policy agendas such as the 'responsibility to protect', but also for those concerned with the broader trajectory of the liberal international order." - Jennifer Welsh, Canada 150 Chair in Global Governance and Security, McGill University

"At a time when many commentators make simplistic statements about China and the 'liberal order', Rosemary Foot's book reminds us that when one actually does theoretically informed and sophisticated empirical research, as she does here, one learns much more about the complexities, trade-offs, and scope conditions under which China influences, and is influenced by, international norms. This is an excellent study, the go-to analysis of China's approach to human protection." - Alastair Iain Johnston, Professor of Government, Harvard University

"For those who seek to advance the protection of human rights through the intergovernmental mechanisms and peace operations of the United Nations, the constraints on cooperation applied by an increasingly assertive China are today of paramount importance. Rosemary Foot's deep research and clear analysis of China's attitudes and actions across the range of UN activities offer invaluable insights to practitioners." - Ian Martin, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General