Is China on the Verge of a Weltpolitik? A Comparison of the Current Shift in the Balance of Power between China and the West and the Shift between Great Britain and Wilhelmine Germany

Since its reopening in the 1980s, China has been progressively reclaiming the place it enjoyed in the world economy prior to the industrial revolution and the colonization of China by imperialist powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the resurgent Chinese economy is now expanding in a globalized world economy characterized by a high degree of interdependence rather than in the context of relatively independent, inward-looking ‘world economies’, as Braudel described the economic world system prior to the 16th century. The dramatic growth of China’s economy is generating a profound shift in the global balance of power. 1 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.