China Makes Its Entry into Global Social Science

China is on the rise, and is establishing as a major force both militarily and economically, and is often mentioned as a possible challenger to U.S. hegemonic dominance. However, the social sciences are at present firmly in the hands of Western countries. This is something that the Chinese seek to change with the launch of International Critical Thought.

In 2011 China launched its scientific flagship, International Critical Thought, which they themselves describe as a multidisciplinary forum “for reflection upon and insight into the major problems facing humanity”. Further, the mission of the journal is to provide a new global forum as they themselves say that “none of the existing social and political philosophies have been proven entirely right or wrong”. According to the Chinese it is a response to recent “developments that have crippled the capitalist regime and led the world to a period of fundamental change”.

International Critical Thought is published on Routledge, and is run by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). This Academy was founded in 1977 and includes the fields of philosophy and the social sciences. One of its goals is to contribute to raising China to the very top of international social science research, and to gain prestige both home and abroad.
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