International Structures and Chinese Foreign Policy

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between international and Chinese foreign policy. It looks at how a particular kind of international factor might affect Chinese foreign policy, namely, international structure. In particular, there are two kinds of structures, the existence and effects of which are at the core of international relation (IR) theory debates today: material power structures and normative structures. The predominant arguments about material power structures in IR come from neorealist theory. Neorealism's influence on IR theory has been profound. Sovereignty is an example of a normative structure with a direct impact on Chinese foreign policy because the concept is deeply internalized and institutionalized in the decision process. Human agency—the power to act according to intentions—occurs within normative structural boundaries and within the meaning these structures provide to material realities. The chapter discusses different ways in which Chinese foreign policy has been affected by the interplay of domestically generated and institutionalized identity and changing international norms.