Multipolarity and Multilateralism as International Norms: The Chinese and European Perspectives

Abstract

International norms have been playing an important role in world politics. International norms could be defined, in a simple way, as the rules of game or normative principles in international society that both enable and restrict state behaviour. They are closely linked to power, identity, values and national interest. As Peter Katzenstein argued, we can use ``the concept of norms to describe collective expectations for the proper behavior of actors with a given identity. […] Norms thus either define (or constitute) identities or prescribe (or regulate) behavior, or they do both.''1