Beyond Compliance: China, International Organizations, and Global Security

Extract

Beyond Compliance: China, International Organizations, and Global Security. By Ann Kent. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007. 334p. $65.00.

International organizations and treaties are critically important for “maintaining international order and enhancing international prosperity and global security” (p. 252). They do so by assisting “the integration and socialization of nonliberal states in the international community” (p. 252). In Beyond Compliance, Ann Kent argues that earlier pessimistic predictions about Beijing's participation in international organizations are unwarranted. Since 1971 when China regained its seat in the United Nations, it has generally played a constructive role in multilateral diplomacy. As the book's title suggests, China's behavior has often extended beyond formal compliance with international agreements to a “deeper” cooperation involving changing attitudes and domestic reform.