Hegemonia and hegemonic transition theories in international relations: China's Middle East policy within the scope of the "New hegemon" discourse

The Middle East has become an increasingly important region for Chinese foreign policy. The great powers that have tried to establish global hegemony throughout history have based their dominance on their active role in the Middle East region. This historical reality has led to the a priori acceptance that China's foreign policy towards the region has also adopted a goal of global domination and hegemony. However, the fact that China's Middle East policy includes elements such as respect for sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs, and cooperation with the existing hegemonic power for political stability has made this acceptance inadequate to explain the course of Chinese foreign policy in the Middle East. The main purpose of this study is to examine the approaches that take the Chinese foreign policy comparatively with the Eurocentric powers and to reveal that these approaches are insufficient to explain the policies China is following in the Middle East. The main hypothesis of the study is that China's Middle East policy is shaped in the context of the original Chinese foreign policy theories which are blended with the hegemony understanding of the Chinese Empire and the Confucian political tradition rather than the Eurocentric model of hegemony. In order to support this argument, the arguments of the mainstream International Relations theories on hegemony and the studies dealing with Chinese foreign policy within the scope of these arguments were analyzed in detail. Materials used in these examinations were compared and interpreted within the framework of the basic theoretical framework determined in the study. According to the findings of the study, the foreign policy pursued by China in the Middle East has elements that cannot be explained by the hegemonic struggle strategy pursued by the Eurocentric Powers. Accordingly, the basic foreign policy principles pursued by Beijing in the Middle East show adherence to traditional Chinese foreign policy principles. Under the influence of China's imperial administration, a foreign policy which requires direct hegemonic struggle behind the national borders is avoided by Beijing. In line with this policy, China's foreign policy in the Middle East has been shown to be a synthesis of elements of conflict and cooperation towards national interests rather than the hegemonic struggle.