ABSTRACT

The Chinese leadership, under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping, has committed itself to a policy of reform, an action which, according to all reports, is aimed at producing profound change in the Chinese economic, political, and defense systems. As with almost all reform programs there are a number of outcomes and implications, some of which are intended, and some which are not. Sometimes unintended implications are foreseen and subsequently accomodated by containing their effect. More often, however, unintended outcomes are unforeseen and create conditions conducive to political instability. Such outcomes are the stuff of the development studies pursued by a number of political scientists. Sometimes outcomes and implications are not only unintended and unforeseen but also are not readily or easily identified. The balance of power theory is based on the argument that, in an anarachical, hostile world in which conflict is the norm, states pursue power.