The Growth Of Trade In The Country Under The Shadow Of Conflict: Analysis Of A Society - The State

More and more scholars have focused on the interaction between trade growth and conflict in international relations. Most of them study this interesting issue from the perspective of trade growth inhibiting interstate conflict or inducing interstate conflict, however, with respect to whether or not conflict will impact trade relations, the existing literature does not provide a convincing explanation despite the facts of trade growth in the shadow of conflict. Therefore, understanding how trade ties and growth can develop even in the shadow of severe political tensions will not only help us better comprehend international relations theory but also facilitate the birth of new theory.To solve the puzzle, I construct a "society-state" model. "Society-state" model goes beyond traditional "state-centered" theory in terms of not regarding state as the only actor though it still insists that state is actually one of the most important actors in world politics. Meanwhile, "society-state" model posits that we should bring the society into international relations theory and consider its crucial role in world politics seriously. As two most significant actors, however, society and state have different preferences: the former seeks economic welfare while the later strives for national security. Due to their different preferences, society and state pursue different goals and consequently behave differently. The "society-state" approach has many academic merits. The biggest one is that it not only emphasizes the great diversity of preference between society and state but also aims to integrate both into a comprehensive framework in which they interact.In the struggle to affect the foreign policy, society and state will compromise rather than totally oppose each other, which makes the government balance between economic interest and security concern during the process of foreign policy making. Actually, balancing here does not mean absolute evenness on welfare or security. As to whether society or state will be considered more by government, it depends on both their power balance and the political institutions in which they exist. In addition, the final outcome stems from the international economic structure and security conditions. As a result of more emphasis on the society, trade growth can come into being even in the shadow of conflict.China-U.S bilateral trade relation and America's trade policy towards China after the cold war are selected as the case to test the "society-state" model. Trading with China has diverse impact on domestic societal actors in U.S.A., some benefit from it while other are hurt. Actors who share the same preference will form political coalitions and take part in all kinds of political activities to present their own interest. Partly because of the power balance of different coalitions, partly because of its particular political institutions, U.S. government eventually adopts a free trade policy toward China. Meanwhile, it takes wary measures and discrimination policies toward China under the realistic pressure from national security.