World political science regards world politics as an integrated whole, aiming to study the evolution of the nature and basic order of world politics. Its research approach is to examine the common factors and forces that shape the world political landscape and world order, as well as trigger their major changes. World political theories attempt to explain the main factors and mechanisms of order transformation from three dimensions: fundamental driving forces, direct driving forces, and operational mechanisms.
The fundamental driving forces of world politics include technological revolutions, struggles for recognition, capital and the world market, etc. These fundamental driving forces give rise to the direct driving forces of world politics—the ebb and flow of world political thoughts and the changes in the landscape of world political forces. The world political landscape shapes the world political order through such operational mechanisms as power coercion, learning and internalization, and political compromise. Eventually, through domestic and international political struggles, diverse concrete forms of basic international order and national institutions come into being.
To promote the research and academic exchanges of world political science, World Politics Research Center of Chenghai Institute of Global Development and Security has launched a series of publications titled World Politics Briefing. The Briefing is intended to present readers with academic masterpieces closely related to the research agenda of world political science, including monographs and papers published by scholars both at home and abroad in recent years. It is issued on a monthly basis, with each issue introducing the main contents of three academic achievements. The Briefing is for academic research purposes only, and the contents of the compiled works do not represent the views of this Center.
Four papers are selected in this issue for studies:
"The Intellectual Origins of Modern World Politics: How Liberalism Shapes Domestic and International Orders" by Huang Chen. From the perspective of world politics, this paper examines how liberalism has driven the evolution of modern domestic and international orders, breaks through the limitations of traditional international relations studies, and elucidates the intellectual origins of world politics. The author analyzes the causal relationship among liberal thought, domestic order, and international order, outlining the causal mechanism of "political thought – domestic order – international order". The author points out that, as the most influential political ideology in modern times, liberalism has evolved through four historical stages, each of which profoundly shaped the domestic political regimes and international order of its era.
"Imperial Studies in World Politics: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Revival" by Shi Qipeng. The author argues that the wave of "rediscovering empire" in contemporary Western academia presents a fragmented intellectual landscape: on the one hand, imperialism is absent from empire studies; more importantly, researchers separate capitalism from imperialism, reducing the latter to a generalized expansionist policy. In view of this, the author advocates returning to the classical tradition of imperialism studies. The paper maintains that Marxism—especially Lenin's theories on imperialism, colonies, and semi-colonies—as the backbone of the classical tradition, offers significant advantages in two respects: as a structural theory, it grasps capitalism as the central thread; as an emancipatory theory, it actively explores paths to liberation. Subsequent research has carried out inheritance, deviation, and revival of this classical tradition around these two dimensions.
"The Decline and Resurgence of Imperialism Studies" by Shi Qipeng. The author further elaborates on the academic debates behind this research topic. First, regarding the revival of imperial studies, the author argues that Western academia's focus on empire since the 21st century stems not only from the academic background of the "historical turn" but also from the real‑world context in which contemporary Western nation‑states face multiple crises. In addition, imperial studies involve the issue of the temporal and spatial boundaries of social scientific analysis. Second, concerning the two threads in the classical tradition of imperial studies, the author holds that both the thread of "capitalism" and the thread of "subjective agency" must be emphasized, and practical theories should not be overlooked. Third, the author affirms that imperialism studies remain highly relevant today. Finally, the author stresses that while theoretical debates are important, applying one’s favored theories to conduct historical analysis is no easy task.
"Global Governance: The Twin Challenges of Economic Inequality and Disinformation" by Lisa L. Martin. From the perspective of global governance, this paper explores two intertwined challenges confronting the contemporary international order, namely domestic economic inequality and disinformation. The author argues that these two phenomena are not isolated from each other but are mutually causal: the intensification of economic inequality fuels social resentment and anti-elitism, thereby spurring demand for disinformation; meanwhile, the spread of disinformation further erodes public trust in international institutions and elite governance, undermining the legitimacy of the Liberal International Order (LIO). Such dual erosion not only threatens the democratic stability within nations but also weakens the authority and operational capacity of international organizations. On the one hand, the author builds upon and innovates the research tradition on the crisis of the Liberal International Order by integrating structural economic inequality with the spread of disinformation. On the other hand, the author calls on the academic community to pay attention to the social communication dimension of international organizations, advocating for the integration of political communication and global governance studies to address governance challenges in the post-truth era. Faced with the "dual challenges" of inequality and disinformation, only by striking a balance between structural reform and communication innovation can international organizations rebuild the social foundation of global governance.