Wenting He presents research on China’s engagement with international monetary order at OCIS
Wenting He presented new research at the 10th Annual Conference of The Oceanic Conference on International Studies (OCIS), held at the University of Melbourne from July 5th to 7th, 2023.
Delivering a paper entitled, “A Historical Institutionalist Analysis of China’s Engagement with the Reform of International Monetary System since 1997,” Wenting examined China’s evolving interpretations of the international monetary system and the role of the US dollar since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. She argued that China’s policy interests in reforming the international monetary system – and particularly its growing interest in steering the international monetary system away from dollar centrality – have been shaped by the sequential dynamics of a set of Chinese ideas. These ideas encompass both cognitive theories and normative goals, and derive from discursive struggles between China’s financial elites over the lessons of economic crises.
In addition to the OCIS main conference, Wenting also participated in a two-day pre-conference theory forum, where she unpacked her particular approach to institutionalist theory. She provided a critical analysis of historical institutionalism and discursive institutionalism, exploring both their insights and limitations when applied to instances of policy continuity and change. In response to the limitations posed by these two approaches, Wenting adopts a holistic theoretical approach in her research by integrating discursive institutionalism into historical institutionalism. This holistic approach allows her to underscore the sequential dynamics of shifting ideas and interests as they evolve through discursive interaction, during periods of both crisis and stability.
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