The South China Sea: a battlefield for regional dominance? Testing defensive and offensive realism in the South China Sea

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2020-05-23
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en
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This research is focused on the relatively high Chinese risk propensity in the South China Sea. The research explores the case by testing both defensive and offensive realism to determine which strain of the grand theory of realism can explain the high-risk propensity by China. The methodology of the analysis is grounded in process tracing to draw conclusions from the observations that were made. The analysis found that both strains of realism were able to explain the Chinese high relative risk propensity in the South China Sea and therefore no theory can be fully excluded. However, offensive realism seemed to be able to give the strongest explanation for the case. Furthermore, it was found that much of the explanation depends on the outcome of ongoing negotiations on a new code of conduct on behavior of the actors in the South China Sea.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen