Political healing in East Asian international relations: what, why and how

TY - JOUR

T1 - Political healing in East Asian international relations: what, why and how

AU - Chen, Ching-chang

AU - Nordin, Astrid

AU - Mayer, Peter Karl

N1 - Ching-Chang Chen is Professor and Head of the department of Global Studies and director of the Global Affairs research centre, both at ryukoku university. He has recently published with the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Oxford Bibliographies, Third World Quarterly, International Studies Perspectives, and Pacific Review. He is a co-author of China and International Theory: The Balance of Relationships (routledge, 2019). Astrid H. M. Nordin holds the Lau chair of chinese International relations at the Lau china Institute, King’s college London. She has published articles in journals such as International Affairs, Review of International Studies, Millennium, Alternatives and China Information. She is the author of the mono- graph China’s International Relations and Harmonious World (routledge, 2016), and co-editor of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs special issue ‘towards Global relational theorising’. Peter Karl Mayer is Assistant Professor in the college of chinese Medicine at china Medical university (cMu) and an attending physician at cMu Hospital. He has educational backgrounds in both biomed- icine (Giessen) and zhongyi (cMu). He has recently published with the Medicine, Ageing Research Reviews, German Journal of Sports Medicine, and Journal of Ageing Science.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - the opening article of this collection serves as an invitation to academics and practitioners of international relations to rethink and transform, not merely observe and contain, long-standing conflicts in East Asia and beyond. traditionally such conflicts, and the violence that has emerged around them, have been understood through the lens of dichotomous frameworks associated with Westphalian modernity. We need alternative paradigms in East Asian political discourse to think and do differently. Here, we contribute to this effort by examining how East Asian medical thought and practice can facilitate political healing in the region. The use of medical analogies and metaphors is not uncommon in academic and policy discussions, and our approach underscores terminologies and thought processes that resonate with many in the region. East Asian medicine (EAM) is rooted in daoist yin/yang dialectics and the concept of qi, both of which stress attention to balance, ontological parity and inter-connectedness. It offers inspiration for a creative analytical approach, metaphorical imagination and normative inspiration to diagnose ongoing confrontations. Despite apparent divisions, we propose that ongoing conflicts can be treated as ailments afflicting a shared political body.

AB - the opening article of this collection serves as an invitation to academics and practitioners of international relations to rethink and transform, not merely observe and contain, long-standing conflicts in East Asia and beyond. traditionally such conflicts, and the violence that has emerged around them, have been understood through the lens of dichotomous frameworks associated with Westphalian modernity. We need alternative paradigms in East Asian political discourse to think and do differently. Here, we contribute to this effort by examining how East Asian medical thought and practice can facilitate political healing in the region. The use of medical analogies and metaphors is not uncommon in academic and policy discussions, and our approach underscores terminologies and thought processes that resonate with many in the region. East Asian medicine (EAM) is rooted in daoist yin/yang dialectics and the concept of qi, both of which stress attention to balance, ontological parity and inter-connectedness. It offers inspiration for a creative analytical approach, metaphorical imagination and normative inspiration to diagnose ongoing confrontations. Despite apparent divisions, we propose that ongoing conflicts can be treated as ailments afflicting a shared political body.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85186553239

U2 - 10.1080/01436597.2024.2322087

DO - 10.1080/01436597.2024.2322087

M3 - Article

SN - 0143-6597

VL - 45

SP - 1019

EP - 1034

JO - Third World Quarterly

JF - Third World Quarterly

IS - 6

ER -