The Trust-building Theory Between Countries

Mutual trust between countries has become a heated topic in international politics.On the basis of practice of international relations,more and more countries are being aware of this issue.However,there is not sufficient theoretical study on trust-building in scholarship.Mutual trust between countries is not a only a state of mind,but also a foreign policy.It is paramount to explore the factors regarding trust-building.The study could contribute to the development of realism and constructivism theory,as well as understanding of the nature and rule of international relations.It is also helpful for the establishment of China's foreign policymaking.The dissertation focuses on three dimensions of trust-building:rational choice,emotion and psychology and cultural identification.Sino-U.S.rapprochement between 1967-1979 is taken as a case study to verify the theory.The first dimension,rational choice is mainly about the perspective of policymakers'maximization of their utility.The policymakers calculated the relative powers between countries and also take common threat into consideration.In addition,they send and receive signals with diverse costs and meanings and reach agreement on the level of trust in the end.In that case,the mutual trust could be built to some extent.The rational choice approach concerning trust study and realism in international relation theory are two major theoretical pillars in this part.The second dimension,emotion and psychology involve two levels about trusting-building between countries.On the one hand,the personality and traits of policymaker and emotional links between leaders contribute a lot to mutual trust.On the other hand,the emotional connection between peoples is helpful for trust-building.The optimistic and tolerant leaders are more willing to trust otners.The third dimension,cultural identification means the similarity of cultures between countries,especially about cultures on trust and politics.Generalized trust is closely related to international trust for a country.The more similar on culture between two nations,the more likely trust can be built.Cultural exchange is important to mutual trust building,which enhances mutual understanding.Sino-U.S.rapprochement between 1967-1979 is regarded as a typical case to illustrate the theory in the dissertation.The two countries had been overwhelmed by deep suspicion since 1949.In the late 1960s,both of China and the U.S.realized the signification of reconciliation and trust-building.The two countries saw Soviet Union as a common threat to national security and strove to send costly and friendly signal to demonstrate its policy.In the process of rapprochement,the emotional connection had been established to certain extent,which is of great help for trust-building.Yet,the cultural clashed and lacks of cultural identification were obstacle for the friendly relations between two countries in this period.The three dimensions of trust building theory are paramount to the Sino-U.S.relations today,which contributes a lot to the construction of newly-type relations between two great powers.The relations among three dimensions are as follows.First,each dimension is independent.But as long as mutual trust could be built between countries,there must be at least one dimension.Secondly,mutual trust could be built mainly on the basis of rational choice.Emotional factor contribute to consolidate instrumental trust,which create common interest between countries.Cultural identification makes policymaker understand the meaning and motivation of his or her counterparts and enhance rationality-oriented mutual trust In addition,cultural exchange could foster emotional connection between both policymakers and the public.All in all,rational choice,emotional psychology and cultural identification interact and interconnect in the building of mutual trust among agents in the international arena.