scholarly journals The Roots of China’s Assertiveness in East Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-32
Author(s):  
Camilla T. N. Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Authoritarian Leadership ◽  
Research Fields

In order to analyse the main driving forces in Chinese foreign policy, this article advances a neoclassical realist argument detailing how certain domestic dynamics that develop between an authoritarian leadership and the society when the country is ‘rising’ constrain its foreign policy behaviour in complex ways. Subsequently, the derived analytical framework is applied in an analysis of China’s ‘assertive turn’ in East Asia. It shows how certain authoritarian regime concerns intensify as China’s great power capabilities and influence grow, resulting in a different room to manoeuvre for Beijing in East Asia, which both encourages and enables a more assertive foreign policy behaviour. In the foreign policy literature, there is general agreement that regime type matters and has explanatory power when seeking to specify the domestic restraints on states’ foreign policy. However, there is still a lack of systematic conceptualisation of the regime type variable and theoretical explanations for how it matters. The neoclassical realist argument on the foreign policy of rising authoritarian states developed in this article is a step in this direction bridging the research fields of international relations, comparative politics and area studies.

Regime Change and Foreign Policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Dossi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
Theoretical Issue ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Policy Adjustments

Regime change and foreign policy adjustments have been closely intertwined in Myanmar’s recent experience. Since 2011, domestic political transition has been paralleled by changes in the country’s foreign policy posture, with Naypyitaw reconsidering its dependence on Beijing while seeking rapprochement with Washington. Taking Myanmar as a case study, this essay aims to address the theoretical issue of how regime change influences the foreign policy of a country. The first two sections draw on Foreign Policy Analysis and Comparative Politics to develop an analytical framework for the study of foreign policy choices during regime change. The focus is on how transitional politics interacts with external influence, against the background of loosened distinctions between the domestic and international levels. The last two sections test the analytical framework against the ups and downs of Myanmar’s economic cooperation with China. Two decisions of the Myanmar government are analysed: the 2011 decision to suspend cooperation on the Myitsone dam, and the 2012 decision to continue cooperation on the Letpadaung mine. While apparently contradictory, Naypyitaw’s behaviour on these two occasions helps to unravel the dilemmas that foreign policy decision-makers face at times of political transition.

scholarly journals China's Power Status Change: East Asian Challenges for Xi Jinping's Foreign Policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 105-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Cook
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
Status Change ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Major Powers

Rapid changes in power relativities inevitably aggravate security fears among smaller, weaker states and those in relative decline. The closer these states are to the major power and the deeper their historical relationships with it, the more this is true. It is preponderant on rising or remerging major powers to assuage these worries in word and action. If not, the rising or reemerging power will face resistance. Under Xi Jinping, Chinese foreign policy has embraced China's status as the leading power in East Asia and one of two major powers globally. Acceptance and support for China's new major power status and corresponding regional initiatives like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and a "new Asian security order" face three particular challenges in East Asia. The first challenge is increasingly public concerns about possible future Chinese hegemony with the East and South China Sea disputes, in particular aggravating these worries among the non-Chinese disputants. The second challenge is the disruption of the liberal virtuous cycle between growing economic interdependence and more aligned strategic interests and greater strategic trust. The third is the strengthening of alliance and security partnerships between the United States and a growing number of East Asian states from Vietnam and Singapore to the Philippines and Japan. Chinese foreign policy under and after Xi Jinping will have to respond to these concerns and reassure its East Asian neighbours in order to succeed.

Autocratic Regimes and Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Kneuer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Research Interest ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Autocratic Regimes ◽  
International Behavior ◽  
Nondemocratic Regimes

The foreign policy of autocratic regimes reflects the research interest in the international behavior and decision making of domestic actors in nondemocratic regimes. The regime type (its nature, structure, leadership constellation, legitimation strategies, relation between leadership and public) thus is presumed to have explanatory power for the foreign policy actions and decisions of autocratic actors.

The Contributions of the political economy approach: An analysis of Socio-economic development in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Falih Suaedi ◽  
Muhmmad Saud
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Developmental Studies ◽  
Socio Economic Development ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Political Economy Approach

This article explores in what ways political economy as an analytical framework for developmental studies has contributed to scholarships on Indonesian’s contemporary discourse of development. In doing so, it reviews important scholarly works on Indonesian political and economic development since the 1980s. The argument is that given sharp critiques directed at its conceptual and empirical utility for understanding changes taking place in modern Indonesian polity and society, the political economy approach continues to be a significant tool of research specifically in broader context of comparative politics applied to Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. The focus of this exploration, however, has shifted from the formation of Indonesian bourgeoisie to the reconstitution of bourgeois oligarchy consisting of the alliance between the politico-bureaucratic elite and business families. With this in mind, the parallel relationship of capitalist establishment and the development of the state power in Indonesia is explainable.<br>

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