National Role Conception and Neoclassical Realism

Despite Chinas alignment with Russia being one of the most significant factors shaping the international order, the dynamics of their historic relationships and, more importantly, the sources of Chinas alignment policy remain under-explored. In National Role Conception and Neoclassical Realism: A Synthetic Exploration into the Sino-Soviet Alignment, Guangyi Pan investigates this question by analysing the changes in Chinas national role conception from a cross-level perspective. Adding value to existing scholarly works on Chinas decision-making logic, he examines two critical and dramatic moments in the history of Beijings alignment policy towards Moscow: the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s and the normalisation in the 1980s. Based on massive historic documents and archives, he argues that the evolution of Beijings approach to aligning with Moscow results from its changing perception of Chinas role in the world platform, especially its role relationship with the Soviet Union. The fundamental logic lies in how China positions itself, with the Soviet Union long serving as a mirror reflecting Beijings desired roles during pivotal transformations. By developing a more rigorous and coherent framework to analyse role conceptions, Guangyi Pan explores unit-level factorsincluding leader images, elite cohesion, and political culturealongside the impact of systemic stimuli. This approach constructs the complex process of role formation, evolution, performance, and policy outcomes, offering a comprehensive understanding of Chinas alignment with Russia throughout modern history. Aimed primarily for scholars whose research fields include International Relations theory, the Cold War history and politics of China, National Role Conception and Neoclassical Realism may also be of interest foreign policymakers, students, and political history enthusiasts.