ABSTRACT
The conflict between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan has received a great deal of attention. Despite enormous time, energy, and financial and intellectual capital devoted to the topic by scholars and policy analysts in the United States, the PRC, and Taiwan, and despite its significance and danger, the PRC–Taiwan conflict does not loom large in mainstream International Relations (IR) literature. It is not a critical case either for theory building or for hypothesis testing. Indeed, mainstream IR theorists seem to be positively shy of discussing the PRC–Taiwan conflict, even in the context of other conflicts in the world. While the PRC–Taiwan conflict is a popular and contentious issue for the media and think tanks, many analyses and policy papers have yet to make a significant contribution to reducing the tensions in the Taiwan Straits.
