自從習近平在「莊園會晤」時向歐巴馬提出，中美共同建立新型大國關係，中共在亞太地區已經是掩蓋不住大國崛起的態勢。此時的平壤早已察覺到大國的壓力，面對中美關係日趨緊密，北韓為維持政權延續以及從中獲取利益，盡其所能提高在中美大國競爭時的籌碼，尤其是在東北亞各國政權更替時，施展戰略邊緣政策。 美國藉由北韓核試爆議題，成功部署軍事規劃、高舉國際輿論的大旗，迫使中共不得不對北韓施以必要措施。對於北韓不斷的舉行核試爆與導彈試射，中共在維護其重要國家利益與面對美國再平衡戰略的考量下，轉而借力使力，運用北韓核議題的持續發酵，得以延長應對美國及國際壓力。 因此，整個東北亞的關係結構，就是有關各國在中共與美國之間，取得對自己最大利益的位置。 / Xi Jinping proposed to Obama in the "Ennenberg Estate” summit in California during June 2013, Beijing has aftermath tried every effort to establish a “New Type of Great Power Relations” with Washington. China rise has been an obvious trend in the Asia-Pacific region. In this critical moment, Pyongyang has been aware of the pressure of big powers, in the face of China and the United States increasingly conciliatory relationship. In order to stabilize the North Korean regime and continue to take advantage of power politics in this area, North Korea tries to facilitate its bargaining gravity within the Sino-American interaction when they seek to use Pyongyang to counterbalance against each other. Particularly North Korea tends to exert its caliber of brinkmanship policy while it notices that the East Asian area is in the process of regime reshuffles. . Against the backdrop of North Korea's threat of continuing nuclear tests, Washington successfully accomplished military deployment and dominate direction of world public opinion in forcing China to impose the necessary measures on North Korea. For North Korea's ongoing nuclear test and missile test, China intends to manipulate its advantage based on its national interest. In the meantime, China implements this policy to counterweight the US “Rebalancing” strategy. Beijing goes to use the issue of North Korean nuclear development to further exert its strategy in responding to the pressures from both the United States and international community. Therefore, the international structure in the Northeast Asia, therefore, is that the concerning countries are seeking for their maximize advantage in the Sino-U.S. strategic engagement.

This study uses defensive realism, offensive realism and power transition theory (PTT) in order to examine the great powers’ grand strategies in the Arctic region, aiming to recontextualise the security theatre in the Arctic as a reflection of the return of great power politics and the end of Arctic exceptionalism, and to examine the explanatory power of the different strands of realism on the great power behaviour identified in their Arctic strategies. The study is conducted using qualitative content analysis and utilises Jacob Westberg’s theorisation of grand strategies through the categories of context, ends, means and ways as analytical framework, to which the theoretical framework is applied. The result shows that realism is a suitable theory for predicting great power behaviour in the Arctic, where PTT provides the strongest explanatory power; that the dichotomy between hard and soft security is eroding; and that the strategies were highly context-dependent, thus rendering generalisable results difficult to discern.

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This dissertation offers a framework for understanding the strategies of states engaged in competition for regional hegemony. Although international relations literature refers extensively to such competition and obliquely to states' strategies, to date little has been done to show how states' strategies in such competition may be analyzed. Drawing on a variety of strategic literature, this dissertation synthesizes a theoretical approach to analyzing the strategies of states engaged in regional security competition. Employing insights drawn from business strategy, this dissertation argues for an essentially asymmetric understanding of fundamental policy goals for states engaged in competition for regional hegemony, with one state attempting to maintain a dominant position and another attempting, by focusing limited resources, to supplant it. The competition is understood metaphorically (based on an anecdote from the end of the Cold War) as a “race with no finish line,” with the reigning hegemon attempting to extend the race and the challenger attempting to create a finish line and cross it. With homage to realism, liberalism, and constructivism, possible state goals are categorized as belonging to three realms: security, welfare, and intangible goals. These are used as metrics for a state's success or failure in any given competitive scenario, as well as the resources at its disposal. Drawing on military strategic literature, this thesis then applies decision-cycle analysis to state competitive behavior. The conclusions from this analysis are then synthesized into a framework for analysis of similar regional competitive scenarios, the first such framework yet devised for such purposes. A case study: the “Dreadnought Race” between Britain and Germany prior to World War One, is then examined, in which states' performance is analyzed in the competitive scenario in light of the above strategic precepts.