文明研究與「後西方國際關係」的可能性

Civilization Studies and the Possibility of“Post-Western International Relations”

近年來，國際關係學界已經開始探索「後西方國際關係」與「後西方國際關係學」的可能性，各種「地方性」或「區域性」的「學派」之提法，也如雨後春筍般逐一浮現（例如『中國學派』或『亞洲學派』）。本文的主要論旨是，談論「後西方」不妨先將西方相對化，揭露西方國際關係理論與實踐的「文明性」；若要突破所謂的「西方中心主義」，不能只流於理論的論述，而應有具體的經驗基礎，故而「國際關係歷史社會學」（Historical Sociology of International Relations, HSIR）正可提供這樣的基礎。
HSIR可以有很多作法，本文則主張以「文明研究」作為切入點。主要的理由是，文明包涵許多面向，而國際關係只是文明的一個面向。每個文明的表現方式都有其時空背景（包括物質與精神條件），因此不一定能普遍化。換言之，所謂的「西方的」國際關係也只是「西方文明」的一個面向。因此，要理解「國際關係」本身，就必須避免孤立地研究國際關係，而應該把研究範圍擴及「文明」。本文認為從HSIR的發展經驗汲取教訓，採取反化約主義的「整體論」思維，並以麥可・曼恩（Michael Mann）的IEMP模式作為分析架構來從事文明分析，重新對中國文明與西方文明做比較研究，如此才可能開創出真正的「中國學派」。

As students of International studies have recently begun exploring the possibilities of Post-Western international relations”and“Post-Western International Relations”, various“local”or“regional”schools of International Relations are now emerging (The“Chinese School”, for example). The main thesis of this paper is that the talk of“Post-Western”IR may begin with relativizing the West through exposing the“civilization-ness”of Western IR and its practices. And to do away with Western-centrism, we must not be content with theoretical discourse; instead, the discourse should be empirically grounded. This paper argues that Historical Sociology of International Relations (HSIR) can provide such empirical foundation. There are many approaches in HSIR, and“Civilization Studies”is just one of them; but the author argues that this approach is most conducive for cutting into this subject. The main reason is that civilization is composed of many dimensions, and international relations is just one among them. The way each civilization expresses itself has its temporal-spatial backgrounds, including both material and ideational conditions, and thus it can hardly be universalized. In other words, Western international relations is but one dimension of Western civilization, and thus to fully understand international relations, one must not study it in isolation; instead, one must expand the scope of study to cover civilization as a whole. The author proposes that we take advantage of the advancement in HSIR and adopt an“anti-reductionist”, holistic approach, which builds largely upon Michael Mann’s IEMP model, to engage in this enterprise. And by revitalizing the comparison of the Chinese and Western civilizations, we may eventually create a genuine“Chinese School”of IR.