ABSTRACT
This chapter builds on existing research by analyzing the Chinese perception of international relations (IR) and import of Western theory into a pragmatic foreign-policy program. This approach demonstrates that Chinese foreign-policy behavior, traditionally guided by ideology of elite decision makers, adopts external theories employed as practical guides. China's troubled history with and late acceptance to society of nations has meant it took a different path to an understanding of IR. China's self-perceived lack of historical stake in the development of IR, to say nothing of philosophical foundations that make it profoundly Western, has allowed for space in Chinese IR to pursue a "Chinese School" one that would suit the philosophical and cultural orientation of Chinese people. Confucianism offers a philosophical framework as starting point for identifying theoretical understandings from which to build Chinese IR theories. The pragmatic bend of Chinese IR theorists has led to a dismissal of Chinese history at large, premised on idea that imperial China lacked "international-ness".
