ABSTRACT
The importance of international structure and domestic politics in great power relations has been a source of ongoing debate in the international politics literature. On the one hand, realist scholars argue that international circumstances determine a country’s security policy and are the primary determinants of great power conflict and war.1 On the other hand, other scholars argue that domestic political change and leaders’ political interests are the primary sources of policy belligerence and heightened tension and that domestic politics is the primary determinant of the course of great power conflict.2 This article joins the debate with a case study of U.S.–China relations following the June 1989 Beijing massacre.
