Politics does not stop at the ‘nuclear edge’: neoclassical realism and the making of China’s military doctrine

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-384
Author(s):  
Paolo Rosa ◽  
Paolo Foradori
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Nuclear Test ◽  
Military Doctrine ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
Atomic Weapons ◽  
General Hypothesis ◽  
Puzzling Aspect

The article tries to explain why China, after having launched a crash programme in the mid-1950s to develop a nuclear deterrent, did not formulate a clear operational doctrine with respect to the targeting and employment of atomic weapons until the mid-1980s. Propositions derived from neoclassical realism are used to shed some light on this puzzling aspect of China’s nuclear doctrine. The general hypothesis of the study is that, international predicaments notwithstanding, China’s domestic politics prevented the possibility of articulating a clear and detailed nuclear doctrine during the period following the first nuclear test, when such a doctrine was more necessary.

China–Turkey Relations from the Perspective of Neoclassical Realism

2021 ◽  
pp. 234779892110626
Author(s):  
Mustafa Cüneyt Özşahin ◽  
Federico Donelli ◽  
Riccardo Gasco
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
Middle Power ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Middle Powers

There is plenty of studies focusing on China’s global outreach through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In tandem with this, the extensive literature on China depicts it as the next hegemon to succeed in the USA. Along this line, flourishing ties with various Asian nations, including the Middle Eastern countries, as a result of China’s recent foreign policy activism has been addressed extensively. While most research has been stressing the rising assertiveness of China in world politics, only a limited number of studies have touched upon the responses from middle or small powers against China’s ascent. Drawing from neoclassical realism, this article contends two levels of analysis for delineating the interaction between Turkey, a middle power, and China, a rising great power. First, the exchange between Turkey and the USA is vital in determining the cordial relations between Turkey and China. Alteration in the American policy vis-à-vis Turkey in the wake of the Arab Spring is relevant to Turkey’s growing relations with China. Second, is the rising anti-Westernism of foreign policy elites as part of the alteration in the strategic culture of Turkish politics, which makes Turkey’s rapprochement with China possible. Nevertheless, it should be noted that these two levels are intertwined and feed each other. Consequently, employing a neoclassical realist approach, the article argues that the middle powers’ stance against a rising hegemon is conditional upon the bilateral relations with the current hegemon and peculiarities of domestic politics.

Neoclassical Realism

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norrin M. Ripsman
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
International System ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
Leader Perceptions ◽  
Point Of Departure

Neoclassical realism is an approach to foreign policy analysis that seeks to understand international politics by taking into account the nature of the international system—the political environment within which states interact. Taking neorealism as their point of departure, neoclassical realists argue that states respond in large part to the constraints and opportunities of the international system when they conduct their foreign and security policies, but that their responses are shaped by unit-level factors such as state–society relations, the nature of their domestic political regimes, strategic culture, and leader perceptions. Neoclassical realists have identified a number of important limitations to the neorealist model—for example, states do not always perceive systemic stimuli correctly, or the international system does not always present clear signals about threats and opportunities. Adherents of neoclassical realism insist that their approach represents a significant improvement on existing approaches to international relations and foreign policy, including “Innenpolitik” approaches. Nevertheless, neoclassical realism faces a host of criticisms, such as the claim that it is comparatively inefficient and that it is impossible to separate international and domestic variables. To overcome these challenges, neoclassical realists need to consider a few key avenues for future research, such as generating well-specified neoclassical realist theories of foreign policy and devoting more attention to the domestic politics of international cooperation in order to shed the “competition bias” of neoclassical realism.

scholarly journals Forum: Rethinking Neoclassical Realism at Theory's End

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustav Meibauer ◽  
Linde Desmaele ◽  
Tudor Onea ◽  
Nicholas Kitchen ◽  
Michiel Foulon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
The West ◽  
Grand Theory ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Current State ◽  
Theoretical Structure ◽  
Classical Realism

Abstract This forum presents a snapshot of the current state of neoclassical realist theorizing. Its contributors are self-identified neoclassical realists who delineate their version of neoclassical realism (NCR), its scope, object of analysis, and theoretical contribution. From the standpoint of NCR, they contribute to and reflect on the “end of IR theory” debate. NCR has come under criticism for its supposed lack of theoretical structure and alleged disregard for paradigmatic boundaries. This raises questions as to the nature of this (theoretical) beast. Is NCR a midrange, progressive research program? Can it formulate a grand theory informed by metatheoretical assumptions? Is it a reformulation of neorealism or classical realism or an eclectic mix of different paradigms? The forum contributors argue that NCR, in different variants, holds considerable promise to investigate foreign policy, grand strategy and international politics. They interrogate the interaction of international and domestic politics and consider normative implications as well as the sources and cases of NCR beyond the West. In so doing, they speak to theorizing and the utility of the theoretical enterprise in IR more generally.

“Air Power Is Peace Power” The Aircraft Industry's Campaign for Public and Political Support, 1943–1949

1996 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Miller
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Political Support ◽  
National Defense ◽  
Air Power ◽  
Atomic Weapons ◽  
Acceptable Solution ◽  
Public Relations Campaign

An analysis of the aircraft industry's public relations campaign suggests that individuals' thoughts and feelings about airplanes and atomic weapons, domestic politics, and international events had greater influence on public opinion and political action than the PR program. However, the industry's public relations program did bring together many groups interested in air power. By linking these groups and capitalizing on the domestic and international situation, the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton of New York helped to create a climate in which air power was an acceptable solution to national defense and budgetary problems.

On Systemic Paradigms and Domestic Politics: A Critique of the Newest Realism

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Narizny
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
Top Down ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Methodological Errors ◽  
Intervening Variables ◽  
Societal Preferences ◽  
Do So

Both Gideon Rose's neoclassical realism and Andrew Moravcsik's liberalism attempt to solve the problem of how to incorporate domestic factors into international relations theory. They do so in very different ways, however. Liberalism is a “bottom-up” perspective that accords analytic priority to societal preferences; neoclassical realism is a “top-down” perspective that accords analytic priority to systemic pressures and treats domestic factors as intervening variables. These two approaches are not equivalent, and the choice between them has high stakes. Although it has gained rapidly in popularity, neoclassical realism is fundamentally flawed. Its intellectual justification is weak; it is logically incoherent; and it induces the commission of methodological errors. Realism can incorporate certain domestic factors without losing its theoretical integrity, but it does not need and should not use neoclassical realism to do so.

The United States and the Iranian Nuclear Programme

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hurst
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nixon Administration ◽  
Comprehensive Plan ◽  
The Us ◽  
Nuclear Issue ◽  
The Relationship

The United States, Iran and the Bomb provides the first comprehensive analysis of the US-Iranian nuclear relationship from its origins through to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. Starting with the Nixon administration in the 1970s, it analyses the policies of successive US administrations toward the Iranian nuclear programme. Emphasizing the centrality of domestic politics to decision-making on both sides, it offers both an explanation of the evolution of the relationship and a critique of successive US administrations' efforts to halt the Iranian nuclear programme, with neither coercive measures nor inducements effectively applied. The book further argues that factional politics inside Iran played a crucial role in Iranian nuclear decision-making and that American policy tended to reinforce the position of Iranian hardliners and undermine that of those who were prepared to compromise on the nuclear issue. In the final chapter it demonstrates how President Obama's alterations to American strategy, accompanied by shifts in Iranian domestic politics, finally brought about the signing of the JCPOA in 2015.

Japan: New Diplomatic Horizons, Old-Style Domestic Politics

Asian Survey ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51
Author(s):  
Hans H. Baerwald
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Politics
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