People's Republic Of China And United States Of America:Differences And Similarities In The Approaches To Space Diplomacy

The study of International Relations in the new frontiers of space and cyber space is,nowadays,of crucial importance.Space diplomacy and cyber diplomacy,or the employment of a country's technological capabilities(in outer or cyber space)in order to influence other actors'behaviors,are vital tools in contemporary geopolitics.The objective of this paper is to bring a new constructivist point of view to the debate on space politics.It will propose a cultural-historical comparative research,focused on finding reasons for differences and similarities between Chinese and American approaches to space diplomacy.This work,comparing American and Chinese behaviors in this domain,starting from a cultural and historical study and proceeding though the comparison of past and contemporary space programs,activities and overall strategies,will illustrate how and why these two powers' approach to space politics is,as of today,defined more by similarities than by differences.The first part of this work will review previous theoretical approaches and various international relations theories employable to analyze the space policy approach of the United States of America and of the People's Republic of China.It will also introduce a constructivist theoretical approach more suitable to describe and predict these two countries'positions.The second part will briefly introduce the history of Chinese and American space related activities.Finally,the third part will analyze some explicatory contemporary case studies,regarding similarities and differences between these two actors' national space strategies,both in the civil and in the military domain.