In China and Climate Leadership: A Role Theory Analysis, Kim Vender investigates a central puzzle in global climate politics: why China was widely narrated as an “obstructor” at COP15 in 2009 and as a “leader” by COP21 in 2015, despite comparable policy actions and sustained emphasis on differentiation between industrialized and developing countries. Vender’s answer is not simply normative or material, but relational and social: leadership is a role relationship forged between leaders and followers/supporters, and leadership recognition also depends on intersubjective role expectations and socialization, not only on material outputs like emission reductions or climate policies. Through a sustained framework using roe theory, she offers a nuanced and comprehensive illustration of China’s evolving climate role, grounded in rich empirical work and careful conceptual development.

At the heart of the book is the argument that leadership should be conceptualized as a role composed of six auxiliary roles – initiator, agenda-setter, representative, mediator/broker, visionary and example – each of which can be exercised through mechanisms commonly invoked in the leadership literature (structural, idea/knowledge, and instrumental forms). This approach goes beyond classical leadership typologies (Oran Young, International Governance, Cornell University Press, 1994) by emphasizing the social functions that connect leaders and followers. Leadership is thus treated not as an attribute possessed by powerful states, but as an intersubjective outcome of socialization, expectation and recognition in climate change governance. China’s recognition in these auxiliary roles depends on the alignment between China’s own national role conceptions – derived from its political elite’s discourse – and external expectations from significant others (e.g. the United States, the European Union and groups of developing countries). When internal and external role expectations are congruent, leadership recognition follows; when they diverge, role conflict and strain emerge. As Vender demonstrates, evolving salience in China’s national role conceptions (e.g. cooperator, responsible major country, anti-hegemon, prosperous and strong country, leader, developing country) and changing contextual forces (the global financial crisis, geopolitical shifts, US withdrawal/re-engagement, global pandemics and wars) interact to produce the observed shift in narrative from 2009 to 2015 and beyond.

Vender’s theoretical reconceptualization of leadership offers a fresh perspective on the increasingly prominent debates surrounding climate leadership. First, by embedding leadership within role theory, the book moves beyond materialist and behavioural understandings of leadership and instead highlights the agency of followers and supporters in its social construction. This provides a fresh counterpoint to much IR and climate politics literature that treats leadership primarily as a function of structural power or issue-management capacity. Second, the identification of role strain as a tactical strategy for emerging powers adds conceptual subtlety: China could signal willingness without over-committing, thereby managing external pressures aimed at altercasting it into formal co-leadership. Third, the careful distinction between master and auxiliary roles, and the empirical unpacking of which auxiliary roles matter most for recognition at different historical moments (e.g. example and visionary roles around COP15; example in diplomacy around COP21), enriches our understanding of how leadership is socially recognized and validated. At the same time, the framework would benefit from a more explicit theorization of how power asymmetries among followers condition which role expectations ultimately prevail, as not all acts of socialization appear equally consequential despite the emphasis on intersubjectivity. Relatedly, it would also benefit from deeper engagement with how leadership is understood within Chinese political culture itself. Greater attention to indigenous debates – such as the emphasis on moral authority (daoyi) in Yan Xuetong’s Ancient Chinese Thought: Modern Chinese Power (Princeton University Press, 2011) or elite discussions of guidance (yinling) rather than command – could further enrich the analysis by situating China’s role conceptions within culturally embedded understandings of leadership.

The empirical foundation of the book is both multi-layered and robust. Methodologically, it combines qualitative content analysis, process tracing, interpretive political narrative and comparative role coding across administrations and contexts. Vender draws on a systematic analysis of elite speeches addressed to domestic and international audiences, which provides a clear basis for coding national role conceptions and tracing changes in their salience over time. This discourse analysis is complemented by detailed process-tracing of UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) negotiations, while the inclusion of leadership-recognition surveys drawn from secondary sources offers rare follower-side evidence that is often absent from studies of climate leadership. A further empirical strength lies in the use of elite interviews, which yield valuable insights into bureaucratic dynamics and the influence of advisors within China’s climate governance process. At times, however, the linkage between interview material and the book’s broader explanatory claims could be made more explicit. Although the interviews clearly enrich the analysis, the reader is occasionally left to infer how individual perspectives were assessed in terms of representativeness, how divergent views were handled, and how interview evidence was weighed against documentary and negotiation-based sources. Greater transparency on these points would further strengthen the causal arguments made in this book.

The book will be of interest to multiple audiences. It is appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in China’s environmental governance and IR theory, particularly those exploring constructivist approaches and the politics of perception. Practitioners engaged in diplomacy and climate negotiations will appreciate the insights into how expectation management and socialization tactics shape leadership narratives. The book’s focus on role dynamics also provides practical insights for negotiators from developing country coalitions seeking to enhance their influence.

In terms of disciplinary contributions, Vender’s work advances Chinese studies by linking elite discourse and domestic contestation (bureaucratic, local, public and academic) to international behaviour. It nuances simplistic labels of China as “global leader” or “reluctant follower,” showing how carefully crafted national role conceptions and their contestation shape the country’s international role. More broadly, Vender’s role-theoretical reconceptualization of leadership and her emphasis on followers’ agency contribute to debates on global leadership beyond conventional power-transition perspectives. The auxiliary-role framework also offers a transferable analytical tool for future studies of leadership in other areas, such as trade, public health and digital governance.