Did Confucius Dream about the Balance of Power? New Orientalism in Search of the World Majority

Russia in Global Affairs. 2025. Vol. 23. No. 4. P. 192–217.

Alexander V. Solovyov

Amid the growing debate about the World Majority, one key question is: what countries does it comprise? Some suggest that the World Majority’s countries constitute civilizations in which the history of interstate relations “has never been understood in terms of competition, fierce struggle, or anarchy, which can be counterbalanced only by power predominance of individual states or alliances.” This article considers that thesis in light of East Asia’s traditional tributary system, and the degree to which it retains influence on modern China’s views on international relations. Foreign policy ideas, characteristic of Sinocentric East Asia, are analyzed using classical ancient and medieval texts, some unfamiliar to IR specialists. The results cast doubt on a historical-tradition-based conceptualization of the ‘World
Majority.’

Keywords: alliances, hierarchy, International Relations Theory, hegemony, anarchy, bandwagoning, balancing, tributary system, Westphalian system, East Asian political thought, moral pragmatism