South African International Relations (IR) is a prominent source of China-Africa research and analysis, producing reports, journal articles and books that seek to illuminate the emerging relationship between China and Africa. It plays an important role in the framing of the relationship, as well as how it is perceived outside of the discipline. However, critical concerns have been raised about the context within which South African IR operates. It is therefore important that IR research, including its assumptions, dominant concepts, professed values and aspirations to studying the China-Africa relationship, be critically examined. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to critical thinking in South African IR by opening up for future discussion the new directions and possibilities for China-Africa IR. Utilising a critique located in Critical International Relations Theory (CIRT), this thesis critically reflects upon both the context of South African IR’s China-Africa research and the perspectives it has produced. The thesis argues that in spite of many descriptive and empirical studies, China- Africa research is theoretically underdeveloped in South African IR. Further, it argues that theoretical work is marginalised despite the fact that both historical and contemporary research relies on concepts drawn from IR theory. South African IR’s focus on policy relevance is advanced as a reason for the prevalence of theoretical underdevelopment. This thesis concludes by reviewing arguments for the improved use of IR theory in China-Africa IR, which will lead to a better understanding of this important relationship.

This thesis analyses the different levels at which China’s presence in Namibia affects Namibia’s domestic politics and foreign policy from a constructivist viewpoint. Constructivist theory is used to examine the different perceptions of the Chinese in Namibia and how these inform Namibian politics and Sino-Namibian relations. These perceptions are formed at different levels of society in formal and informal relations, state-to-state, state-to-business,business-to-business and individual-to-group relations. The way in which perceptions of Chinese involvement in Namibia at the grassroots level of society differ from those at the top increasingly has an effect on domestic Namibian politics and, as such, Sino-Namibian relations. This identifies official and non-official perceptions of China’s political, economic and social presence to determine the effects of grassroots on China vis-à-vis official perceptions in Namibian politics and the effects of grassroots views on Namibian politics and on official views and state behaviour towards China and China’s presence in the country.

Research on geopolitics primarily focuses on nation-state actors and how geographical factors affect their policy towards other actors in international relations. The EU, as a non-state actor and a normative power, has been understudied through the lens of geopolitics as scholars believed that this Union was unlikely to apply geopolitical thinking in their foreign policy. This thesis aims to explore to what extent and under what circumstances an actor, notably a non- state actor, applies geopolitical theories in the foreign policy. The paper argues that geopolitics theories, both classical and critical ones, have been increasingly able to explain the external relations of the EU, particularly after 2013 when the Chinese government launched Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Furthermore, geopolitics theories also add more values to understand the complexity of the EU' foreign policy, given the fact that there is no single theory that can explain it comprehensively. As explanatory research, qualitative methods, including discourse analysis, content analysis, and process tracing, will be used to examine how the EU has responded to BRI. The thesis first reviews the scholarship on geopolitics and EU's foreign policy. Next, it investigates how China applies geoplitics in BRI. Last, it focuses on how the...

Realism theory provides the most powerful explanation for the state of war and the rise and fall of great powers. It expounds the important concepts and themes like national sovereignty, security, survival, interests, balance of power, balance of terror, alliance, dominance, hegemony and polarity. Realism can be classified as classical realism, structural realism and neoclassical realism. In recent years, liberalism, globalism and constructivism also have greatly influenced academics and policy-makers under the new phenomena of globalization and terrorism. This paper explores how classical realism theory has been applied to and revealed in the issue of American policy towards China. The past years of U.S. relations with China have been marked by many wars and diplomatic issues that bear important messages for contemporary policy-makers. Based upon the most representative incidents in the chronicles, this paper categorizes American relations with China into three periods: period one, from commercialism in 1784 to imperialism in 1899; period two, from dominance in 1900 to confrontation in 1949; Period three, from enemies in 1950 to competitors in 2009. From a brief retrospective of major events that occurred, it is concluded that most incidents are related to national interest and power issues, while only several cases are about ideological disputes. The emergence of China as an economic power within the last few years will shape the world as much as the United States in the late 19th century. As America is the world's greatest power and China is the world's greatest emerging power, the relationship between these two countries will largely determine the history of the twenty-first century. History teaches that such power transitions are inherently fraught with dangers and opportunities. Thus, it would serve the interests of the United States to rethink its relationship with China and make its policies more global and focused on the long term. No matter what happens in China, American policy towards that country should be guided by a clear and firm sense of American national interests.

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Išmanioji galia visiškai naujas reiškinys tarptautiniuose santykiuose, kuris apibrėžiamas kaip sumanus kietosios ir minkštosios galių instrumentų derinimas tarpusavyje konkrečioje situacijoje, siekiant efektyvaus užsienio politikos tikslų įgyvendinimo. Išmanioji galia neatsiejama nuo JAV atvejo, kurioje net ir aukščiausi pareigūnai savo retorikoje mini išmaniąją galią kaip siekį uţsienio politikos strategijoje. Todėl reikalinga ištirti, ar JAV užsienio politikoje Kinijos atžvilgiu po 2009 metų naudoja išmaniąją galią. Darbo objektas išmaniosios galios naudojimas JAV užsienio politikoje Kinijos atžvilgiu nuo 2009 metų. Darbo tikslas yra ištirti, ar JAV naudoja išmaniąją galią kaip užsienio politikos įrankį santykiuose su Kinija po 2009 metų. Šiam tikslui įgyvendinti išsikelti 4 tikslai: pristatyti tarptautinių santykių teoriją realizmą, bei pagrindines jo idėjas ir tipus, išskiriant neoklasikinį realizmą; aptarti galios terminą tarptautiniuose santykiuose, išskiriant kietosios ir minkštosios galių tipus, bei išsamiai pristatyti išmaniosios galios koncepciją, pabrėžiant jos ištakas, apibrėžimą, taikymą ir instrumentus; atlikti JAV oficialios retorikos Kinijos atžvilgiu po 2009 metų analizę, ištiriant JAV Nacionalinę saugumo strategiją ir aukščiausių JAV pareigūnų oficialias kalbas, ir įvertinant išmaniosios galios apraiškas jose; išanalizuoti išmaniosios galios raišką JAV užsienio politikoje Kinijos atžvilgiu po 2009 metų, naudojant struktūruoto tarptautinių santykių ekspertų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Smart power is a completely new phenomenon in international relations. It is defined as a smart combination of hard and soft powers„tools, which leads to effective foreign policy. Smart power is closely related with the case of the United States, in which even the highest officials in their rhetorics use the term of smart power. According to officials, smart power is an objective in foreign policy. Therefore there is a need to research if the USA uses smart power in its foreign policy towards China after 2009. The subject of this study is the use of smart power in foreign policy of the United States towards China since 2009. The aim of this study is to research if the U.S. uses the smart power as a tool of foreign policy in relations with China after the year 2009. To achieve this aim the following goals are settled: to present a theory of international relations realism, and its main ideas and types, distinguishing neoclassical realism; to discuss the term of power in international relations by distinguishing soft and hard power forms, and to present the concept of smart power by highlighting its origins, definition, application and tools; to perform an analyses of official U. S. rhetorics towards China after year 2009 by analyzing National security strategy and the speeches of the highest officials, and by evaluating the smart power evidence in those rhetorics; to analyze the smart power in U.S. foreign policy towards China after 2009 by using a structured interview method... [to full text]

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, March, 2017. / This thesis examines how African journalists negotiate the tension between their understanding of journalism and the actual practice of journalism within the context of Chinese media organisations based in Africa. Adopting the Shoemaker and Reese (1996) hierarchy of influences model and using interviews with African journalists in Kenya and content analysis, I examine this tension within the framework of the relationship between role conception and role performance. China has framed its media expansion into Africa on the premise that it aims to tell the ‘true African story’ to global audiences. This is consistent with China’s Africa policy promising mutuality and equality between China and Africa. However, the findings indicate an African and a Chinese level of gatekeeping and journalistic agency exist within Chinese media organisations based in Africa. These levels often coexist, but they also collide, resulting in Chinese interests and ideas prevailing over those of African journalists, and often in a type of journalism that de-emphasises African belonging and identity. This study represents an original contribution to the debate on the relationship between role conception and role performance, from a non-western perspective. It demonstrates the ways in which the relationship between role conception and role performance within Chinese media organisations in Africa is hinged upon conditional autonomy in relation to the typology of stories. The elements of the hierarchy of influences model are more active when Chinese interests are present in a story than when they are absent. Consequently, the editorial policy of ‘positive reporting’ promoted by Chinese media organisations is more active in the coverage of activities related to China than non-China content. This thesis enriches the five levels of analysis in Shoemaker and Reese’s hierarchy of influences model. This study proposes language as a level of influence straddling media routines and organisation influences, when applied to Chinese media organisations in Africa. This thesis also contributes to the ideologisation debate on Chinese media expansion into Africa. While the debate has been dominantly framed through the Manichean prism of positive or negative, this thesis proposes Chinese media expansion into Africa will result in a hybrid form of journalism professionalisation in which Western and Chinese journalistic traditions co-exist on the continent. / XL2018

"June 2002" Bibliography: leaves 229-270. This thesis examines the changes in diplomacy of China, the West, Tibet and India from 1911 to 1951, while Tibet functioned as an independent country, and during 1951 to 1959 while under Chinese control. Tibet maintained its own currency, government, armed forces and way of life until 1959. The thesis also examines the cultural shifts in the political, social and military spheres in these countries. It assumes that the general world trend in political life has been towards increasingly intolerant and extreme politics. If Tibet remains part of China with little chance of resuming independence, it is because the Chinese government and people were quicker to adopt radical Western philosophies than the Tibetans were.

眾所矚目的第一次「辜汪會談」在辜振甫與汪道涵握手、坐上談判桌、簽署協議後落幕，兩岸從此進入一個充滿變數的「談判時代」。無論台灣兩千萬人如何看待這次的辜汪會談，也無論各界對這次會談的定位呈現多大的認知差距，兩岸關係從對抗、隔絕到走向談判桌，已是種必然的發展。如此的時代意義，正是從事本文研究的基本動機。 　　面對兩岸談判時代的來臨，能否從第一次「辜汪會談」雙方的談判行為中尋出脈絡，作為兩岸日後談判的範例，是本文所欲深入研究之處。而文中除了對兩岸的談判行為作客觀的分析外，亦關心該會談對台灣所造成的衝擊與影響。藉由辜汪會談獲得啟示，使我方政府在面對中共這麼一個實力強大、戰略目標明確且戰術手段靈活的談判對手時，能夠步步紮實、開拓勝機，正是本文研究期許達到之目的。本論文分為五章，十四節，共計十萬餘字。第一章為導論，選寫本論文之研究動機、目的、方法、途徑、範圍與架構。第二章則將一般的談判概念及中共的談判理念作一歸納說明，並概述兩岸事務性談判。第三章說明第一次辜汪會談前兩岸關係的發展及會談的完整經過。第四章則分析台灣與中共雙方在會談中的談判行為，並以第二章所提之談判概念加以檢視。第五章結論，探討第一次辜汪會談對現階段兩岸關係及國際關係呈現的意義，並對會談作一綜合評析，以期台灣能自此次會談獲得啟示，為日後談判開拓勝機。