China's Century? Why America's Edge Will Endure

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Beckley

Two assumptions dominate current foreign policy debates in the United States and China. First, the United States is in decline relative to China. Second, much of this decline is the result of globalization and the hegemonic burdens the United States bears to sustain globalization. Both of these assumptions are wrong. The United States is not in decline; in fact, it is now wealthier, more innovative, and more militarily powerful compared to China than it was in 1991. Moreover, globalization and hegemony do not erode U.S. power; they reinforce it. The United States derives competitive advantages from its hegemonic position, and globalization allows it to exploit these advantages, attracting economic activity and manipulating the international system to its benefit. The United States should therefore continue to prop up the global economy and maintain a robust diplomatic and military presence abroad.

Author(s):  
Michelle Murray

This chapter summarizes the book’s main argument, outlines its contribution to international relations scholarship, and applies the argument to current debates about the rise of China. Two positions dominate current debates about US foreign policy and the rise of China: engagement, which calls for integrating China deeply into the global economy and institutional architecture of the international order; and containment, which sees security competition as an inevitable outgrowth of Chinese power, and calls for the United States to preemptively increase its military presence in the region. This chapter argues that by focusing narrowly on China’s economic and military interests, the current debate misses an important aspect of China’s rise because it fails to consider the social motivations of rising great powers. Building on the core argument of this book, it suggests that only by accepting China’s recognition-claims can the United States facilitate China’s peaceful rise. The chapter concludes by exploring how the United States might navigate a foreign policy that both approaches China as a recognized partner in leading the international order and also protects its regional and global interests—and if such recognition is even possible.


Author(s):  
أ.د.حميد شهاب احمد ◽  
م.م.زيدون سلمان محمد

China's economic policy and its huge capabilities operate according to an expansion strategy, especially in investing foreign projects, as the past ten years have witnessed a major development in the elements of comprehensive strength, especially in the economic field, in 2014 China launched the largest initiative in the world, represented by the Belt and Road Project (BRI), which links nearly 70 countries, through this project, a very important region has emerged, which is (the port of cadres) in Pakistan, as China has headed towards that region and given the highest importance that is in its interest in the first place regardless of the great Pakistani interest, This is consistent with its future aspirations, especially after breaking the economic monopoly of the West, specifically (the United States), as it is a force in a state of decline and is no longer the dominant force economically. Which, in turn, led to the generation of an obsession with fear of this power and what it poses from a potential threat to the entire global economy, and what it seeks in the future to employ cadres not only to develop its economy and compete with other countries commercially , rather it takes another place aimed at increasing the Chinese military presence in the region, especially as China continues to work to develop everything available to its pioneering path in the international system in order to distinguish China as a major country and perhaps a superpower.


Author(s):  
Brian Schmidt

This chapter examines some of the competing theories that have been advanced to explain U.S. foreign policy. In trying to explain the foreign policy of the United States, a number of competing theories have been developed by International Relations scholars. Some theories focus on the role of the international system in shaping American foreign policy while others argue that various domestic factors are the driving force. The chapter first considers some of the obstacles to constructing a theory of foreign policy before discussing some of the competing theories of American foreign policy, including defensive realism, offensive realism, liberalism, Marxism, neoclassical realism, and constructivism. The chapter proceeds by reviewing the theoretical debate over the origins of the Cold War and the debate over the most appropriate grand strategy that the United States should follow in the post-Cold War era.


2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octavio Amorim Neto ◽  
Andrés Malamud

AbstractIs it domestic politics or the international system that more decisively influences foreign policy? This article focuses on Latin America's three largest powers to identify patterns and compare outcomes in their relations with the regional hegemon, the United States. Through a statistical analysis of voting behavior in the UN General Assembly, we examine systemic variables (both realist and liberal) and domestic variables (institutional, ideological, and bureaucratic) to determine their relative weights between 1946 and 2008. The study includes 4,900 votes, the tabulation of 1,500 ministers according to their ideological persuasion, all annual trade entries, and an assessment of the political strength of presidents, cabinets, and parties per year. The findings show that while Argentina's voting behavior has been determined mostly by domestic factors and Mexico's by realist systemic ones, Brazil's has a more complex blend of determinants, but also with a prevalence of realist systemic variables.


2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 1170-1172
Author(s):  
Robert Jervis

Foreign policy difficulties usually produce extensive scholarship. Vietnam led to numerous appraisals and reappraisals, many of which paralleled the protests in being heartfelt and radical. Perhaps because of the lack of a draft, Iraq's protests have been cooler and more muted, and the scholarship has tended to be more analytical and mainstream. James Lebovic's excellent study looks at both cases to drive home the argument that was part of the Vietnam critique: Even if the United States is the most powerful state in the international system, there are sharp limits to what it can accomplish, and its very power creates some of those limits (see William J. Fulbright, The Arrogance of Power, 1966)


Author(s):  
Dar'ya Viktorovna Yakupova ◽  
Roman Aleksandrovich Yakupov

The relevance of this research is defined by the need for analyzing the historical experience of adaptation of foreign economic activity of the Soviet State to the challenges of Western policy deterrence, the imperatives of which are being applied to Russia in the current context. The subject of this research is the Soviet grain procurement crisis and foreign policy ways for its overcoming. The object of this research is trade and diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. The scientific novelty lies in elaboration of the concept of “commercial diplomacy” – the foreign economic activity of the USSR government aimed at solution of the domestic problems and tasks of modernization. Leaning on the newly introduced sources, the conclusion is made that the policy of commercial diplomacy implemented by the Soviet Union suggested the use of international dialogue within the framework of cooperation between the governments and public-private business circles on achieving the economic goals associated with the national interests of the Soviet Union. The critical need for grain procurement, discovery of the oil resources potential, and détente in the international relations between the two superpowers led to a new round in the Soviet Union – United States relations. It is underlined that grain and oil manifested as the factor of maintaining domestic political stability and the object of foreign policy exchange. The article answers the question: how the grain procurement problem has transformed from the economic into social issue, and the grain import has become the vulnerable spot of the Soviet Union in the ideological confrontation with the United States, and the object of international relations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. e59430
Author(s):  
Bruno Hendler ◽  
Felipe Porta

O presente artigo busca analisar quais foram os graus de mudança percebidos na política externa da Arábia Saudita nas suas relações com China e Estados Unidos. Para a realização desta análise, utilizamos os conceitos cunhados por Charles Hermann (1990), que explicam as alterações em política externa de um país a partir de quatro graus de mudança e quatro fontes geradoras destas mudanças. Não obstante, a utilização de livros, artigos, notícias e documentos oficiais dos governos foram essenciais para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho. Assim, argumentamos que há um gradual deslocamento dos Estados Unidos para a China como parceiro prioritário do referido país a partir de 2010, tendência esta acelerada pelos choques externos, como a Primavera Árabe, a queda nos preços internacionais do petróleo e o afastamento dos Estados Unidos do Oriente Médio, e pela ascensão de Mohammed bin Salman ao poder executivo do Reino. Tal deslocamento está associado ao aumento na intensidade e à alteração dos meios pelos quais o país se relaciona com a China. Entretanto, reforçamos que esta tendência não significa um abandono, pela Arábia Saudita, de sua histórica relação com os Estados Unidos.Palavras-chave: Arábia Saudita; Política Externa; Hermann.ABSTRACTThe aim of this research is to analyze the levels of changes identified in Saudi Arabia's foreign policy in its relations with China and the United States. To carry out this analysis, we used the concepts formulated by Charles Hermann (1990) about levels and sources of change in a country's foreign policy. Nevertheless, the use of books, articles, news and official government documents were essential for the development of this article. Hence, we argue that there is a gradual shift from the United States to China as a priority partner of Saudi Arabia since 2010, a trend that has been accelerated by external shocks from the International System, such as the Arab Spring, the fall of the international oil prices and the United States withdraw from the Middle East politics and by the rise of Mohammed bin Salman to the executive power. Such a shift is associated with an increase in intensity and a change in the means by which the country relates to China. Notwithstanding, this trend does not mean that Saudi Arabia abandoned its historic relationship with the United States. Keywords: Saudi Arabia; Foreign Policy; Hermann. Recebido em: 28 abr. 2021 | Aceito em: 30 set. 2021.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Suzie Sudarman

Since the end of the Cold War the Asia-Pacific region draws increased attention but there is a gap between the rich comparative and foreign policy scholarship on China, Japan, and the United States with the wider world of international relations theory. Although Pierre Lizee’s work, quoting Stanley Hoffmann, puts forward an argument that international studies as a discipline assumes that it speaks to the nature of politics throughout the entire world,1 it is evident that the study of Southeast Asia in particular, tends to be under-theorized.2 The images, concepts, and theories which underlie international studies as Hoffmann argued, must be recognized for what they are: product of the post-1945 era, when “to study United States foreign policy was to study the international system and to study the international system could not fail to bring one back to the role of the United States.”3


Author(s):  
Andrey Yevseenko

U.S. withdrawal from “forever wars” doesn't mean the complete drawdown of U.S. footprint in the Gulf region. That’s one reason why Iraqi political regime won't be toppled. The United States is going to minimize its military presence as well as make it safe for its military personnel. Nevertheless, the U.S. footprint in the Middle East is transforming and adapting for U.S. competition with “revisionist powers.” The United States intends to use their traditional foreign policy toolbox in this struggle. All typical U.S. foreign policy deficiencies, such as absence of the strategic approach, incoherence and lack of foresight, remain. Therefore, all key U.S. issues, which were set on Iraqi direction, will stay unresolved. Their scope and urgency will be contained by objective regional factors and limited U.S. competitors’ potential, not by American influence. 


Author(s):  
Jakub J. Grygiel ◽  
A. Wess Mitchell

This chapter assesses the benefits of frontier alliances for the United States both historically and today. The most important benefit that the United States derives from alliances is through their use as tools of geopolitical management that enhance its ability to compete against other states. For the United States as a maritime power of global reach, using forward-deployed alliances in the rimlands of Eurasia is a cost-effective tool for managing the international system that is preferable to the strategic alternatives now being presented for U.S. foreign policy. From this emerges the main imperative of U.S. grand strategy: to prevent the emergence of a power or combination of powers within the Eurasian landmass that could invade or economically dominate the United States. America has three basic options for how it does so: direct containment, retreat and reentry, and alliances.


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