Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

China’s Search for Security by Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell (review)

China’s Search for Security by Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell (review) Contemporary Southeast Asia Vol. 37, No. 1 (2015), pp. 154–56 DOI: 10.1355/cs37-1l © 2015 ISEAS ISSN 0129-797X print / ISSN 1793-284X electronic China’s Search for Security. By Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. Hardcover: 406pp. China’s Search for Security presents the anti-alarmist perspective within the American debate concerning the rise of China. While many other commentators describe China as calculatingly assertive and bent on driving the United States out of Asia to make way for a revival of Chinese domination, Nathan and Scobell portray Chinese security policy as a reflection of China’s fundamental weakness and defensiveness: “Vulnerability to threats is the main driver of China’s foreign policy” (p. 3), they write. Their theoretical approach is “mostly realist”, augmented for “nuance” by borrowing from Constructivism, Institutionalism and Liberalism. Somewhat oddly, the authors define the latter as domestic interest groups driving foreign policymaking (p. xvi). Most sections of the book contain ample historical background, which helps stretch the length of the book to over 400 pages. As the authors are American, there is a heavy focus on US-China relations. The book also has very good summaries of the economic and domestic political aspects of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

China’s Search for Security by Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell (review)

China’s Search for Security by Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell (review)


Abstract

Contemporary Southeast Asia Vol. 37, No. 1 (2015), pp. 154–56 DOI: 10.1355/cs37-1l © 2015 ISEAS ISSN 0129-797X print / ISSN 1793-284X electronic China’s Search for Security. By Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. Hardcover: 406pp. China’s Search for Security presents the anti-alarmist perspective within the American debate concerning the rise of China. While many other commentators describe China as calculatingly assertive and bent on driving the United States out of Asia to make way for a revival of Chinese domination, Nathan and Scobell portray Chinese security policy as a reflection of China’s fundamental weakness and defensiveness: “Vulnerability to threats is the main driver of China’s foreign policy” (p. 3), they write. Their theoretical approach is “mostly realist”, augmented for “nuance” by borrowing from Constructivism, Institutionalism and Liberalism. Somewhat oddly, the authors define the latter as domestic interest groups driving foreign policymaking (p. xvi). Most sections of the book contain ample historical background, which helps stretch the length of the book to over 400 pages. As the authors are American, there is a heavy focus on US-China relations. The book also has very good summaries of the economic and domestic political aspects of

Loading next page...
 
/lp/institute-of-southeast-asian-studies/china-s-search-for-security-by-andrew-j-nathan-and-andrew-scobell-vVRYphB6Ul

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Copyright
Copyright © The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
ISSN
1793-284X
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Contemporary Southeast Asia Vol. 37, No. 1 (2015), pp. 154–56 DOI: 10.1355/cs37-1l © 2015 ISEAS ISSN 0129-797X print / ISSN 1793-284X electronic China’s Search for Security. By Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. Hardcover: 406pp. China’s Search for Security presents the anti-alarmist perspective within the American debate concerning the rise of China. While many other commentators describe China as calculatingly assertive and bent on driving the United States out of Asia to make way for a revival of Chinese domination, Nathan and Scobell portray Chinese security policy as a reflection of China’s fundamental weakness and defensiveness: “Vulnerability to threats is the main driver of China’s foreign policy” (p. 3), they write. Their theoretical approach is “mostly realist”, augmented for “nuance” by borrowing from Constructivism, Institutionalism and Liberalism. Somewhat oddly, the authors define the latter as domestic interest groups driving foreign policymaking (p. xvi). Most sections of the book contain ample historical background, which helps stretch the length of the book to over 400 pages. As the authors are American, there is a heavy focus on US-China relations. The book also has very good summaries of the economic and domestic political aspects of

Journal

Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic AffairsInstitute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: May 6, 2015

There are no references for this article.