Justice and International Order

A comparative exploration of Western and Chinese understandings of justice and their possible use to reframe Sino-American relations and international governance.The concept of justice is central to politics: it justifies the ordering of society and the distribution of rewards. In Justice and International Order, Richard Ned Lebow and Feng Zhang compare and contrast Western and Chinese conceptions of justice. Theyargue that justice can almost invariably be reduced to the principles of fairness and equality, although they are developed and expressed differently in the two cultures. Lebow and Zhang show that there has been a noticeable shiftin both in favoring equality over fairness in the modern era. They analyze the growing conflict between China and the West in the light of these conceptions of justice and show how they might be deployed to ameliorate it. The authors also offer a critique of what passes for global order and explore ways in which fairness and equality, and trade-offs between them, offer pathways to better and more peaceful worlds.

“"This is a big book. Ned Lebow and Feng Zhang collaborate in a kind of cultural hermeneutics to recover from both the classical Western and Chinese canons the root meaning of their respective conceptions of justice, and then explore how these different meanings play out in the international relations of the modern state system. While importantly different, what is shared between them is that justice for both seems to be a variable calculus of fairness and equality." -- Roger T. Ames, Peking University "Every political order claims some notion of justice. Comparing Chinese and Western conceptions of justice, ancient and modern, Lebow and Zhang contends that East-West's overlapping conceptions of justice may just provide a foundation for forestalling a possible conflict and building a more inclusive global order. A tour de force and an enlightening read for anyone who cares about our future." -- Shiping Tang, Fudan distinguished professor, Fudan University, Shanghai, author of The Social Evolution of International Politics and The Institutional Foundation of Economic Development”

Readers leave this text with a better grasp on the causes of current international differences between China and the West and with some practical means toward future cooperative flourishing. D. P. Prianti, CHOICE
This is a big book. Ned Lebow and Feng Zhang collaborate in a kind of cultural hermeneutics to recover from both the classical Western and Chinese canons the root meaning of their respective conceptions of justice, and then explore how these different meanings play out in the international relations of the modern state system. While importantly different, what is shared between them is that justice for both seems to be a variable calculus of fairness and equality. Roger T. Ames, Peking University
Every political order claims some notion of justice. Comparing Chinese and Western conceptions of justice, ancient and modern, Lebow and Zhang contends that East-West's overlapping conceptions of justice may just provide a foundation for forestalling a possible conflict and building a more inclusive global order. A tour de force and an enlightening read for anyone who cares about our future. Shiping Tang, Fudan distinguished professor, Fudan University, Shanghai, author of The Social Evolution of International Politics and The Institutional Foundation of Economic Development
Lebow and Zhang make a compelling argument for the importance of smaller states and their inhabitants' perceptions of justice in international orders. Testing the effects of those perceptions on states' and individuals' behaviours would be a tremendous addition to their fascinating work. The book is an eclectic work of political theory, IR and foreign policy analysis, relevant to anyone interested in the processes and bases of international order. International Affairs
These expert authors with impressive command of the broad range of relevant social science, historical, and related literature needed for this book have done a remarkable job in making their case for improvement in US-China relations and the broader world order. Robert Sutter, Pacific Affairs

Richard Ned Lebow is Professor of International Political Theory in the War Studies Department of King's College London; Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge; and James O. Freedman Presidential Professor, Emeritus, at Dartmouth College. He has authored or coauthored forty-five books and over three hundred peer-reviewed articles and chapters in international relations, political theory, comparative politics, history, psychology,classics, and philosophy of science. His most recent books are The Quest for Knowledge in International Relations: How Do We Know? (2022); Ethics and International Relations: A Tragic Perspective (2020); Between Peaceand War: 40th Anniversary Revised Edition (2020); Reason and Cause: Social Science and the Social World (2020); and with Feng Zhang, Taming Sino-American Rivalry (Oxford, 2020).Feng Zhang is Professor of International Relations and Executive Dean of the Institute of Public Policy at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, and editor of the book series IPP Studies in the Frontiers of China's Public Policy published by Palgrave. He studies Chinese foreign policy in East Asia, international relations in East Asian history, and international relations theory. He is the author of Chinese Hegemony: Grand Strategy and InternationalInstitutions in East Asian History (2015) and, with Richard Ned Lebow, Taming Sino-American Rivalry (Oxford, 2020). He previously held positions at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Murdoch University and Australian NationalUniversity in Australia.

A comparative exploration of Western and Chinese understandings of justice and their possible use to reframe Sino-American relations and international governance.The concept of justice is central to politics: it justifies the ordering of society and the distribution of rewards. In Justice and International Order, Richard Ned Lebow and Feng Zhang compare and contrast Western and Chinese conceptions of justice. They argue that justice can almost invariably be reduced to the principles of fairness and equality, although they are developed and expressed differently in the two cultures. Lebow and Zhang show that there has been a noticeable shift inboth in favoring equality over fairness in the modern era. They analyze the growing conflict between China and the West in the light of these conceptions of justice and show how they might be deployed to ameliorate it. The authors also offer a critique of what passes for global order and explore ways in whichfairness and equality, and trade-offs between them, offer pathways to better and more peaceful worlds.

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