China's new multilateral institutions: a framework and research agenda

Abstract

China has recently taken the lead in fostering several new multilateral initiatives which mirror the policy tasks of existing institutions. This article provides a framework for studying such 'parallel institutions' and sketches an emerging research agenda. First, it provides an empirical overview of China's new institutions. Second, it defines parallel institutions and provides analytical categories for describing types of parallel institutions and integrating them into existing IR theory. This centers on a typology of relationships between parallel institutions and incumbent institutions, which can be reinforcing, complementary, substitutive, or competing. Third, it examines explanations for parallel institution building. Fourth, it considers the implications of parallel institutions in the context of an international power shift.