Engaging or Containing China?

The re-emergence of China as a truly great power haslong been a dominating issue among scholars andpractitioners in the foreign policy discourse in theUnited States. With the potential of becoming a peercompetitor to the U.S., the question is whetherChina's rise will be a source for global stability ora springboard leading to renewed great powerconflict. The corresponding question - regardless ofthe trajectory China's rise takes - is what anappropriate strategy should look like. In this book,Matthis Kaiser analyses the strategies that havedriven U.S. policy towards China since the end of theCold War. Uncovering the theoretical concepts thatinform the contending approaches of engagement vs.containment, he shows how these ideas have influencedthe thinking about, and policies toward China of theU.S. presidencies of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton,and George W. Bush. By focussing on both the abstractlevel of strategy and on practical foreign policyimplementation, Kaiser demonstrates which strategieshave proven successful and how U.S. China policy hasactually played out. The book is aimed at researchersinterested in international politics and U.S.-Chinarelations.