| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The European Union (EU) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) both use the terms 'multipolarity' and 'multilateralism' in their 'public diplomacy' rhetoric and in their analyses of the international system. However, while the EU stresses multilateralism, the PRC remains explicit in its welcome of multipolarity. Yet shifts are apparent. In part, there may be some 'international socialisation' in play in which EU multilateralism usage, normative underpinnings, rub off on the PRC. In part, both terms are being supplemented by still wider overlapping terms of references for an untidy multilevel international system, such as 'interpolarity', 'asymmetrical multipolarity', 'region-polarity', 'inter-regionalism', 'multilateralising multipolarity' and 'multi-multilateralism'. An untidy multilevel EU may find it easier to operate in such a shifting international system than a tidy sovereignty-sensitive PRC?
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