Ideational Divergences between European Union and China: Cases of International Interventions

The dissertation attempts to explain the EU and China’s interventions or non-interventions in humanitarian crises. The research is motivated by the high-profile debate on humanitarian intervention in international fora, and the concepts of normative power and norms contestation. The main research question here is to what extent their professed principles and norms, for instance, Responsibility to Protect vis-à-vis Non-Interference in domestic affairs, have affected the policy-makings of the EU and China. After the reviews of the two international actors’ positions, principles, and policy-making processes on crisis intervention, the dissertation traces two empirical cases, the Darfur and Libyan crises. The research findings reveal that the ideational factors have permissive, regulative, and incentive effects on the EU and China’s policy-makings on crisis intervention. In return, the empirical study provides new reflections on the normative powers, as well as the EU and China’s global roles.