Multilateral global governance and peace from the perspectives of agonistic and Confucian relationality: China, BRICS, and the ASEAN Regional Forum

Abstract

To address the pluralising dynamics of global governance, this study engages with a plurality of perspectives. A plurality of perspectives can be engaged in knowledge production on two levels. First, multiple perspectives in international relations studies are applied to transcend the narrow ontological, epistemological, and normative underpinnings of one’s own go-to-perspectives. And second, different perspectives of political actors are chosen as one’s objects of study in their own right. Using qualitative (partly AI-assisted) content analysis and the relational perspectives of Agonism and Confucian relationalism, this study empirically analyses Chinese, BRICS, and ASEAN Regional Forum visions for multilateral global governance. These cases serve as examples of engaging with a plurality of perspectives and contributions to international relations debates on pluralism. They enable us to examine how, from relational perspectives, peace is embedded in multilateral global governance, thus also contributing to discussions on relationalism, peace, and multilateralism.