Do Not Throw Them in the Same Basket: China and Russia Through the Perspective of US Engagement
Abstract
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has applied a policy of
engagement towards China and Russia. During the administration of
Barack Obama, this approach led to two different outcomes: while the
American relations with Russia reached their lowest point and international
sanctions were imposed on Russia during his term, in the case of China, the
US relations with it were better than prior to the election of Barack Obama.
The goal of this article is to determine why this occurred. I come to the
conclusion that China and Russia adopted different forms of engagement in
regard to the US. While China has been working on its power and prestige
in close cooperation with the United States, and therefore it should not be
labeled as a “revisionist power”, Russia has tried to re-establish its power
potential and international prestige in opposition to the United States.
Therefore Russia can be called a “revisionist power”.
Keywords
US Foreign Policy, Engagement, Revisionism, Barack Obama, China, Russia
Author Biography
Pavel Hlaváček
Pavel Hlaváček, born in 1980 in Zlín, he earned his university degree (a Master’s Degree in Political Science) at the Department of Political Science and European
Studies, Palacky University in Olomouc. Later he continued with studies
(gaining a PhDr. & a PhD in Political Science) at the Department of Political
Science and International Relations, the University of West Bohemia in
Pilsen, where he currently works as a full time professor. As a student he
held a short term internship at the University of Portsmouth (2002),
Valdosta State University (2004) and Universidad Pablo de Olavide (2004-
2005). His research area is focused primarily on US foreign policy and
security issues of the East Asia region. He has repeatedly been a visiting
professor at Hanoi University in Vietnam and the National University of
Mongolia.