Confucians toward China’s Celestial Empire

Question 1

The article by Zewei revolves around the view of Confucians toward China’s Celestial Empire in line with the Tributary System that persisted until the 19 ^th century’s end. The period serves as the same one in history through which contemporary international law was instituted in China while it witnessed vicissitudes in the country. The contemporary international law ended up colliding as well as integrating with the conventional Chinese Confucianism. For the Qing administration, it was introduced to the broader international community as well as a global legal framework by powers from the West, although the contemporary international law did not play any significant role in influencing foreign relations during Qing’s administration. Rather, the imbalanced treaty regime contributed greatly to the administration’s foreign relations. During the time, international law, regulations, as well as norms were considered as only applicable in the Western states driven by civilization and Christianity rather than China. The Unequal Treaty regime served as the only law applicable to China while relating with foreign nations. ¹ In this perspective, therefore, it is apparent that the article aims at depicting the manner in which the view of the Chinese did not fit to the equal international relations that a large number of Western nations anticipated.

Question 2

According to the article by Steinberg, the main ideas that become apparent entail the manner in which terms, including ‘global civil society’ or ‘non-governmental organizations’, are utilized with the goal of labelling numerous groups, which vary significantly in terms of their objectives, structure, impact, funding, as well as other major areas. The author reveals that the impact that the organizations have emanates from exercising ‘soft power,’ which allows them to garner what they need via attraction as opposed to payments or coercion. For NGOs, the article reveals that their major area of influence becomes apparent when it comes to issues affiliated with humanitarian aid and human rights whereas the soft-power they exercise revolves around the notion of technical expertise, linked with normative and morality goals. The goals and objectives they target are not influenced by economic initiatives or bipartisan objectives. Rather, they follow the media and various other channels to make sure they realize their initiatives effectively. They are most active when it comes to issues related to the manner in which their activities influence political conflicts in line with issues related to security policies. ² In this vein, it is true that institutions contribute greatly to changing viewpoints regarding politics as well as economies.

Question 3

Regarding the article by Cragg, Arnold, and Muchlinski, the topic of business and human rights emerged as an international topic during the 1980s after the UN CCTC (Code of Conduct on Transaction Corporations) was drafted. Even with the initiative by the UN, major attention on the issue by academicians grew significantly between the early and mid-1990s. Nonetheless, on the late emergence of the issue, various reasons are attributed to the delay. For instance, it was only during the last century when conventional wisdom stipulated that the role of safeguarding as well as boosting human rights’ respect belonged to the government. Concerning the viewpoints, the role that private business entities played with regard to exercising their duty in safeguarding human rights were those regarded as legal through indirect means. During the 1990s, doubts concerning the efficacy attributed to responsibility allocation commenced realizing growing attention, particularly owing to the influence of the globalization phenomenon. Since globalization extended the economic need and reach of multinational firms, a process facilitated by international and national treaties and laws hindered governments’ capacity in regulating goods’ movement, particularly based on their production conditions. ³