2026-10-06T13:05:50Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34042278 2026-10-01T09:54:11Z category_34433 category_34430 portal_771 item_type_8 month_year_10_2026

The Politics of China’s Global AI Governance Cass Maughan (25155765) International relations Government and politics of Asia and the Pacific China Artificial Intelligence Global Governance Global AI Governance School: School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations 440808 International relations 440807 Government and politics of Asia and the Pacific 230302 International aid and development 230303 International organisations 230399 International relations not elsewhere classified 230299 Government and politics not elsewhere classified Degree Discipline: International Relations Degree Name: Master of Arts Degree Level: Masters <p><strong>Global artificial intelligence governance (GAIG) is an emerging area of research in international relations and political science. Of particular interest is China’s current and future role in a GAIG regime, given its sizable AI capabilities and geopolitical tensions with other AI leaders. This thesis begins with the observation that China’s GAIG behaviour is often inconsistent and sometimes even contradictory. This incoherence is difficult for theories that conceptualise China as a unitary actor to reconcile. The thesis instead takes the view that global and state transformations have diverted control over policymaking and execution away from the central government and towards sub-state actors. Intellectual, institutional, and industrial actors separately influence, interpret, and implement China’s GAIG. Variation in their preferences leads to discordant policies as each pursues distinct agendas, generating the observed incoherence in China’s GAIG posture. The model’s fit is tested over two case studies using discourse analysis and process tracing methods: China’s development of AI safety and AI access policy. In each case, sub-state actors heavily influence the GAIG guidelines issued by the central government. The central government briefly reasserts authority through these guidelines, steering priorities and scoping discussion. Sub-state actors then selectively interpret or ignore these guidelines according to their prior convictions, before enacting their ideas in domestic and international contexts. To understand China’s approach to GAIG, we must look under the hood of the Chinese state to the political dynamics and domestic actors driving their approach. The thesis ends by discussing its implications for China’s GAIG and GAIG as a whole.</strong></p> 2026-10-01T00:00:00Z Text Thesis 10.26686/jrk6-akv4 https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/The_Politics_of_China_s_Global_AI_Governance/34042278 CC BY-SA 4.0