Worlding orders of worth : The justification of corporate practices in China – Africa relations

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Bunskoek, Raoul ; Hönke, Jana:
Worlding orders of worth : The justification of corporate practices in China – Africa relations.
In: Pluriversal International Relations. Bd. 1 (2026) Heft 1-2 . - S. 200-222.
ISSN 2978-2066
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15495/EPub_UBT_00009607

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Abstract

This article contributes to the move beyond Western-centrism in the study of transnational practices and their justification. Taking Boltanski and Thévenot’s work on justification out of France and Europe and to Chinese practices in Africa, it develops and ‘worlds’ an ‘orders of worth’ framework that, building on and going beyond their work, uncovers an original set of repertoires of justification at work. The article develops its argument through an analysis of Chinese discourse and practices of corporate engagement with host societies in Africa. It shows that Chinese practices mobilize five orders – a ‘Market Order’, a ‘Legalist Order’, a ‘Socialist (Party Line) Order’, a ‘Confucian Order’ and a ‘Daoist Order’ – and discusses the compromises and frictions between them. Instead of emphasizing Chinese misconduct or juxtaposing a ‘Western’ with a ‘Chinese’ brand of transnational governance, we propose an orders-of-worth heuristic and a variety of practices of justification that mobilize a broader set of philosophical and practice traditions than often assumed. Importantly, we argue that such an adapted heuristic and broadened repertoire of practices are useful for capturing transnational practices of justification more fully in a pluriversal and increasingly less Western-centric world order.