The Philosophical System of the All-Under-Heaven in the World Discourse of Geopolitical Science

Abstract

In modern geopolitical science, attempts to systematically explain the establishment of a new world order, carried out by researchers from China as a country that not only claims economic world hegemony, but also offers a new model of international relations, attract increasing attention. Using the example of a comparative analysis of the Chinese philosophical model of systemic globalization with leading Western systemic models of globalization, a reconstruction of the world discourse of geopolitical science has been carried out. Currently, the world is not only ex-periencing economic, political, or military competition between leading geopolitical players – we are talking about a world discourse on the most successful systemic conceptualization of international relations. The purpose of this paper consists in an attempt to compare the Chinese version of the All-Under-Heaven system with leading Western versions of the systemic approach in geo-politics – neoliberalism, conservatism, and social systems theory. Zhao Tingyang’s concept of the All-Under-Heaven system is chosen as one of the most recognized in modern Chinese philosophy of globalization. The concept of trust as a social virtue and the theory of the end of history, crea-ted by Francis Fukuyama, presents a neoliberal model of globalization. Immanuel Wallerstein’s world-system theory is considered to be a critical attempt to conceptualize a conservative model of globalization. Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory presents a functional approach to ex-plaining globalization as a special way of ensuring social communication. The strengths and weaknesses of Western systemic models of globalization are identified, as well as the prospects for the development of the concept of the All-Under-Heaven system in the direction of conceptual rapprochement with Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory. The prospects for the modern un-derstanding of the traditional Confucian idea of the All-Under-Heaven are outlined.