Theory of international relations: the interaction of the USA and China

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

This study examines how China is portrayed in U.S. political discourse, a topic of significant interest in Image Studies. No other country has captured the American public's attention as extensively and controversially as China throughout the history of their bilateral relations. The article explores the main schools of International Relations Theory-realist, liberalist, and constructivist-and demonstrates their pivotal role in shaping China's representation while overlooking other perspectives, both in the United States and globally. The review then delves into various definitions of image and representation, offering a historical overview of work on China's imagery, primarily from an interpretivist tradition. It further examines cultural, media, and communication studies, highlighting specific approaches to analyzing China's portrayal in U.S. political discourse, such as constructivist and critical approaches, including critical constructivism and critical geopolitics. The final section is dedicated to an overview of poststructuralist thought, illustrating how representational practices define power relations through discourse.

About the authors

Vadim O. Kozlov

Georgy Arbatov Institute for the U.S. and Canada Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: kozlov-vadm@yandex.ru
Moscow, Russian Federation

References

  1. Allison, G. Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? Brazilian Political Science Review, 2018, 8. P. 2-17.
  2. Azpíroz, M.L. Framing and Political Discourse Analysis: Bush's trip to Europe in 2005. Observatorio, 2014, 8(3), pp. 75-96.
  3. Boulding, K.E. National Images and International Systems. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1959, 3(2), pp. 120-131.
  4. Boulding, K.E. The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society. University of Michigan Press. Chicago, 1956. 172 p.
  5. Cho, Y.C., Hwang, Y. Mainstream IR Theoretical Perspectives and Rising China Vis-À-Vis the West: The Logic of Conquest, Conversion and Socialisation. Journal of Chinese Political Science. 2019. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11366-019-09620-3
  6. De Graaff, N. US-China Relations and the Liberal World Order: Contending Elites, Colliding Visions.International Affairs, 2018, 94(1) pp. 113-131.
  7. Dichter, E. What's in an image. The Journal of Consumer Marketing. 1985. No. 1, P. 75-81.
  8. Goffman, E. Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. CA.: Harvard University Press, 1974. 586 p.
  9. Goh, E. Constructing the U.S. Rapprochement with China, 1961-1974: From "Red Menace" to "Tacit Ally". New York: Cambridge UP, 2005. 316 p.
  10. Golan, G. J., and Lukito, J. The Rise of the Dragon? Framing China's Global Leadership. Elite American Newspapers, International Communication Gazette. 2015, 77(8), pp. 754-772.
  11. Hall, S. Representation. Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage/The Open University, 1997. 395 p.
  12. Jespersen, Ch. American Images of China, 1931-1949. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1996. 254 p.
  13. Latham, A.A. China in the Contemporary American Geopolitical Imagination. Asian Affairs, 2001, 28(3), pp. 138-145.
  14. Li, H.Introduction: Image and Perception in U.S.-China Relations, in Li, H. and Zh. Hong (eds.) Image, perception, and the making of U.S.-China relations. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1998. P. 10-24.
  15. Lippmann, W. Public Opinion. N.Y.: Macmillan, 1960. 214 p.
  16. Mawdsley, E. Fu Manchu versus Dr. Livingstone in the Dark Continent? Representing China, Africa and the West in British broadsheet newspapers. Political Geography, 2008, 27, pp. 509-529.
  17. Miller, S.C. The unwelcome immigrant: the American image of the Chinese, 1785-1882. Berkely and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969. 259 p.
  18. Ooi, S., D'Arcangelis, G. Framing China: Discourses of Othering in US News and Political Rhetoric. Global Media and China, 2018, 2(3-4), pp. 269-283.
  19. Pan, Ch. and Kavalski, E. Theorizing China's Rise in and beyond International Relations.International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 2018, 18(3), pp. 289-311.
  20. Said, E. Orientalism. NY.: Pantheon Books, 1978. 350 p.
  21. Scott, D. China and the International System, 1840-1949: Power, Presence, and Perceptions in a Century of Humiliation, Albany: State University of New York, 2009. 358 p.
  22. Song, W. Securitization of the ‘China Threat' Discourse: A Poststructuralist Account. China Review, 2015, 15(1). pp. 145-169.
  23. Tang, M. Metaphorical Mirrors of the West: China in the British Economic Press. Historia y comunicación social, 2017, 22(2), pp. 397-413.
  24. Tuathail, G.O. (Dis)Placing Geopolitics: Writing on the Maps of Global Politics. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. 1994, 12(5), pp. 525-546.
  25. Tunsjø, Ø. US Taiwan Policy: Constructing the Triangle. New York: Routledge, 2008. 194 p.
  26. Yee, H. and Storey, I. The China Threat: Perceptions, Myths and Reality London. New York: Routledge. 2002. 412 p.
  27. Vukovich, D. China and Orientalism. London: Routledge, 2012. 208 p.
  28. Webb, J. Understanding representation. London: Sage, 2008.176 p.
  29. Yan, F. Image, Reality and Media Construction: A Frame Analysis of German Media Representations of China. Singapore: Springer. 2020. 249 p.

Copyright (c) 2023 Russian Academy of Sciences

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies