ABSTRACT
Chinese foreign policy covers a wide and ever-expanding range of domains. This foreign policy structure is composed of four levels of variables: policies; principles; the basic line, world-view and national identity. All four levels of variables represent inputs to the foreign policy decisionmaking process. The search for domestic factors to explain foreign policy action or change assumes that such policy is an extension of domestic politics. The demise of East-West conflict, combined with the global trend toward democratization, makes it easier for external factors to influence a state's domestic politics even as domestic special-interest groups intervene more aggressively in the shaping of state foreign policy. A significant portion of empirical and theoretical literature in comparative foreign policy and international relations in recent years has shown that foreign policy leaders generally engage in "satisficing" behavior rather than "rational" behavior. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
