Susan L. Shirk, China: Fragile Superpower

摘要

Over the past three decades, one important international relations issue left relatively unexplored is the relationship between domestic politics and international affairs. Susan Shirk's book entitled China: Fragile Superpower explores this relationship. The book's first four chapters are a sketch of modern China with striking discrepancies: "China is stronger economically and more secure internationally than it has been since the nineteenth century, but paradoxically, its communist leaders have a deep sense of domestic insecurity." The author thinks this contradiction should be attributed to both the long shadow of Chinese history and the CCP's legitimacy crisis since the Tiananmen protests in 1989, which results in Chinese leaders appealing to nationalism by "using an assertive foreign policy to divert attention from domestic problems... because they feel the need to stay out in front of a growing tide of popular nationalism." Furthermore, new media such as the Internet also play a role, as "every advance in communication technologies has made it easier for insurgent groups to organize collective action."