Russia and China: A Theory of Inter-State Relations

by Voskressenski,Alexei D.

• ISBN13: 9780700714957
• ISBN10: 0700714952
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-06
• Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon

Summary

This study incorporates elements from the disciplines of international relations and history to address key international and domestic elements that have shaped the interactions between Russia and China over time. It demonstrates how changes in the inter-state relationship were, and are, initiated. Controversial issues are examined through previously unobtainable materials from sources including the Archives of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, the Archives of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation and the Russian Centre for the Preservation and Research of the Documents of Modern History.

Author Biography

Alexei Voskressenski is Professor and Head of the Department of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO) and Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre of Euro-Asian Studies, University of Reading, UK.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
List of abbreviations	xi
Introduction	xiii
PART I	1	(88)
Problems within existing Historical Approaches	3	(22)
The scholarly depth of the field and the limitations of existing studies	3	(11)
Points of discussion in the history of Sino-Russian and Sino-Soviet relations	14	(6)
The theoretical limitations of existing historical approaches	20	(5)
Theoretical Approaches and Methodological Dilemmas	25	(30)
Limitations of existing approaches in political science and international relations	25	(17)
The need for an integrative approach in international relations and in Sino-Russian interaction	42	(13)
Multi-factor Equilibrium and the Method of Controlled-focus, Structured Comparison	55	(34)
General remarks	55	(5)
Specification of variables	60	(2)
Core external and internal factors in maintaining equilibrium	62	(3)
Conceptualizing multi-factor equilibrium	65	(5)
System adjustment and the correlation between human interests and national (societal and state) interests	70	(11)
Method of controlled-focus, structured comparison	81	(8)
PART II	89	(118)
Tsarist Russia and Qing China	91	(33)
Persistent factors and specifics in the case of Russia	91	(6)
Persistent factors and specifics in the case of China	97	(7)
Tsarist Russia and China: the search for a stable equilibrium	104	(20)
Republican China and the New Russia: Provisional and Soviet Governments (October 1911--October 1949)	124	(37)
The early stages	124	(27)
The situation in the 1940s	151	(10)
From Friendship, through Confrontation, to Normalization between the Communist Powers (1949--1980s)	161	(22)
Friendship	162	(4)
Confrontation	166	(9)
Normalization	175	(8)
The Russian Federation and China	183	(24)
Structural changes, external factors and bilateral relations	183	(12)
The implications of reform for the transformation of Russian and Chinese societies	195	(4)
Possible future correlation of factors within a Sino-Russian multi-factor equilibrium	199	(8)
Conclusion: Prospects for a Stable Equilibrium in Russian-Chinese Relations	207	(6)
Notes	213	(20)
Bibliography	233	(36)
Index	269