World hegemony in question: the complexities & contradictions of China’s ‘passive revolution’ in its global context

Abstract

China’s unprecedented meteoric rise has dramatically altered the structure and functioning of the global order sparking debate about whether it may become a ‘world hegemon’. The Neo neo-Gramscian perspective adopted here understands hegemony as a power relationship between state-society complexes, each determined by the social forces emergent from its particular class configuration. To enjoy world hegemony a state-society complex must, amongst other things, enjoy politico-cultural hegemony over its subordinate counterparts, manifested in intellectual and moral leadership, enabling it to remaking the world in its ‘own image’. In order to assess China’s ‘hegemonic credentials’ (and the kind of world order it would be) according to this criterion, this study examines the evolving and contradictory nature of the country’s ongoing top-down social restructuring – a passive revolution – within the context of a changing global capitalist system. Contemporary China stands at a crossroads, its growth model “unstable, unbalanced and uncoordinated” and its society far from “harmonious”. Against the backdrop of authoritarian Caesarism, we argue, a nascent hegemonic project has emerged under Xi Jinping, which seeks not just to carry out profound domestic social reform, but to extend Chinese hegemony internationally, as witnessed over the last few years. We conclude that for the foreseeable future Chinese world hegemony appears unlikely, amongst other reasons because its present societal model fails to inspire emulation abroad, a key requirement for intellectual and moral leadership.