2023-02-10
[Course Share] Prof. Harry Harding / U.S.-China Relations: The Failure of the American Engagement Policy toward China
Prof. Harry Harding is going to have a course "U.S.-China Relations: The Failure of the American Engagement Policy toward China". Here are a letter from Prof. Harry Harding and attachments of the course. If you are interested in the issue, welcome to register the course in the system and attend the first class on Feb 17th!
I would like to welcome student in the IDAS, IMAS, and IMPIS and other graduate programs to enroll in the graduate seminar on US-China relations I am offering this semester. The course number is 265788001, and the full title of the course is "U.S.-China Relations: The Failure of the American Engagement Policy toward China." Students in other programs can come to the first class on February 17 next Friday at 10am and I can add them to the class roster.
For students interested in the recent history of American policy toward China and the causes of the deterioration in US-China relations over the past decade, the course will help you understand the adoption and the later abandonment of America's so-called “engagement policy.” Its original meaning was a policy of frequent dialogue and negotiation with Beijing on the full range of issues facing the two countries, from human rights to trade to security. But it came to mean far more: a variety of other measures intended to produce a more cooperative and stable relationship between them. These additional measures included trying to integrate China into what is now called a "rules-based international order," deepening the societal and economic interdependence between the two countries, and even creating personal friendships between Chinese and American leaders. The problem was that the engagement policy produced disappointing results for both countries, especially in the US, but neither Beijing nor Washington appeared willing to make the concessions or accommodations that might have produced more satisfying results and kept the relationship on track. By the mid-2010s the policy was being sharply criticized both in China and especially in the United States, and with the inauguration of the Trump Administration in 2017, the policy was abandoned, and China was increasingly described as a strategic competitor of the United States rather than a prospective strategic partner. The course will describe and analyze this transformation of America's relationship with China from partners to competitors and will conclude with a discussion of whether the two countries are now likely to engage in another Cold War or even a direct military conflict.
For students interested in theories of international politics, including students in the IDAS and IMPIS programs, the course will also identify and evaluate the theories around which the various elements of the engagement policy were constructed. All policies are based on theories, whether they are superficial or robust, and whether they are explicit or implicit. The major elements of the engagement policy were based on different international relations theories, including classic liberalism, neo-liberalism, classic realism, neo-realism, and constructivism. But all policies based on theory are contingent and probabilistic. That is, there is almost always the possibility that they will fail, and there are certain conditions that must be met for them to succeed. In trying to understand what went wrong with the engagement policy, we will identify the theories on it policy was based, the conditions that were required for it to succeed, and why the probabilities of failure were either underestimated or ignored until it was too late.
Finally, for students with interests in the humanistic social sciences, the course will also examine the failure of the engagement policy as a tragedy, one of the most important forms of drama whether on the stage, on the screen, or in opera. But what kind of tragedy was it? Was it what can be called a "tragedy of fate," a tragedy that was virtually inevitable because of the nature of the two countries' systems and values and the circumstances in which they found themselves? Or was it a "tragedy of folly," a tragedy that could have been avoided if leaders in both countries had made wiser decisions at key points in the history of the relationship?
For further details about the course, a copy of the most recent version of the syllabus is attached. Keep in mind that there may be some changes in the syllabus before the first meeting of the class on February 17.
Harry Harding
University Professor Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Public Policy
Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Faculty Senior Fellow, Miller Center of Public Affairs
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
E-mail: hharding@virginia.edu
Yushan Scholar and University Chair Professor, College of Social Sciences
National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan
E-mail: hharding@nccu.edu.tw
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