International bargaining and domestic politics: U.S.–China relations since 1972 (1986)

THE interplay between domestic and international politics and the international behavior of states is a source of debate among scholars of comparative foreign policy. Often, the literature presents a skewed picture: one analytical perspective is overemphasized so that the explanatory value of the other is greatly underrepresented. Such is the case inmuch of thewriting onChinese policy toward theUnited States since 1972, particularly concerning the sources of conflict in the otherwise mutually beneficial U.S.–China relationship. The most difficult task has been to integrate our admittedly insufficient knowledge of Chinese domestic politics with the analytical conclusions suggested by the dynamics of U.S.–Soviet-P.R.C. triangular politics.