Foreign Policy Restructuring as Adaptive Behavior: China's Independent Foreign Policy 1982-1989

Little attention had been given to the study of foreign policy restructuring (FPR) as a type of foreign policy behavior. This book systematically examines the restructuring of China's foreign policy from a rigid and single-dimensional anti-Soviet united front foreign policy to a flexible and omni-directional 'independent foreign policy of peace' in the 1980s. The adaptive behavior approach is used as the framework for the analysis. This book addresses five issues: the driving forces behind China's FPR, the interaction of these forces in generating such a restructuring, the reasons for China to choose an 'independent foreign policy of peace' as opposed to others, restructuring activities, and the effectiveness of China's FPR. This book not only provides a systematic analysis of Beijing's foreign policy in the 1980s, but also uses the analysis to develop more general propositions about FPR. As dramatic and unprecedented changes are unfolding around the world, a study of FPR has a practical significance in understanding new alignments currently occurring in international politics.