China In The International System 1918 20

Examines the images, hopes, and fears that were evoked during China’s century-long subservience to external powers.

This book considers the evolving relationship between China and the international system, and the interaction between a China of profound change in its identity, capability, and influence, and an international system that is itself experiencing a process of far-reaching transformation. It develops an analytical framework that allows us to capture, understand and explain a more dynamic pattern of agent-structure interaction in China’s relationship with the international system. By demonstrating a more dynamic and mutually constitutive relationship between China and the international system, the book explores the extent to which both transform themselves in the process, and provides a fuller and more effective assessment of the evolving nature of the relationship. In doing so, it addresses key issues in the current literature on the relationship of China and the international system, and helps close the gap in our knowledge of the conditions and consequences of change and stability in the international system as a result of the change in distributions of power, capability and influence among nation-states.

Historians often ignore, treat cursorily, or relegate to footnotes specific incidents in international relations in order to facilitate the construction of a larger narrative. The contributors to this volume argue that researchers do so to their peril, as individual or seemingly isolated incidents can play significant roles in the overall course of history. Incidents are crucial in determining the mental maps that decision makers form regarding the countries and individuals with whom they interact. Incidents can either initiate or block new policies with consequences that are both far-reaching and unexpected. People make foreign policy and an understanding of what elements of an incident were important to these individuals at key points essential to an appreciation of policies subsequently advocated. How individuals view other cultures and nations, how they react to the actions of such nations, and their perceptions of such actions all form key components in this study. Using a variety of examples, these essays show the value of detailed examinations of events, illuminating such matters as British policy in the Far East, French imperial policy, Italian military actions in the interwar period, British attitudes toward Hitler, and the effect of the Soviet Union on British thinking in the 1930s.

This book is a reinterpretation of China's international relations since 1949. Employing the notion and theory of international society, it offers a systematic examination of China's unique relationship with the society of states from its alienation in the 1950s and the 1960s to its political socialisation and economic integration in the 1980s and the 1990s. It explores how such a unique relationship has shaped and is likely to shape Chinese foreign policy. This book provides an entirely new perspective for our understanding of forces influencing Chinese foreign policy behaviour.

East Asia's rapidly changing role in international security, the global economy, development and global governance are expertly accounted for in this much-needed, state-of-the-art text. Xiaoming Huang offers an engaging and informed account of the key concepts, issues and actors working in this area. Ranging from the region's history, to culture and a comparative assessment of the region's states, this text is informed throughout by a compelling theoretical framework. In so doing, it unpicks the often complex relationships both at the domestic level and externally. Only with this understanding is it possible to make sense of the region's complex relationships both internally and externally. Structured around key concepts in international relations of war and peace, economic development and increased contemporary security threats, this text offers an empirically-rich, engaging account of the changing fortunes of East Asia.

This book is a study of the making of foreign policy of China, a rising power in the 21st century. It examines three sets of driving forces behind China’s foreign policy making. One is historical sources, including the selective memories and reconstruction of the glorious empire with an ethnocentric world outlook and the century of humiliation at the hands of foreign imperialist powers. The second set is domestic institutions and players, particularly the proliferation of new party and government institutions and players, such as the national security commission, foreign policy think tanks, media and local governments. The third set is Chinese perception of power relations, particularly their position in the international system and their position relations with major powers. This book consists of articles from the Journal of Contemporary China.

Most people believe China's foreign behavior is driven by its growing power status in world politics. Chinese leaders still firmly uphold some traditional values in foreign policy such as sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national unification. However, it is often neglected that China's behavior is also shaped by its changing perception of the globalizing world and, to a large extent, is a result of external pressure on China. By examining the dynamics of paradigm shifts in China's foreign policy thinking, this book explores the ideological sources of China's international relations in the new century. With growing economic interdependence with the outside world, which creates both constraints as well as incentives to adapt to the prevailing norms in contemporary international relations, authors of this volume analyze indigenous Chinese sources of intellect on the paradigm shifts. The concepts studied in this volume include national identity, nationalism, globalism, multilateralism, sovereignty, and the role of international law in Chinese foreign policy. This volume helps to shed new light on how the dynamics of paradigm shifts affect China's behavior in international affairs.