Peaceful Coexistence - A Means to an End?
Author
Larsen, Kristian Behrens
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2014
Pages
45
Abstract
This thesis examines the concept of Peaceful Coexistence and its contemporary use in the People’s Republic of China’s foreign policy. Using a process-tracing methodology within a neoclassical realist framework, it analyzes three connected cases: the Soviet Union’s development of the concept under Lenin and subsequent leaders, China’s adaptation from 1949 to the present, and current border disputes in the South China Sea. The study shows that Peaceful Coexistence was initially employed by Soviet Russia as a way to maintain relations with capitalist states without abandoning communist ideology, thereby sustaining regime legitimacy in conditions of military inferiority. In China, the principles were used by Mao to navigate relations with the superpowers and later to provide internal stability for economic modernization and to rebuild CCP legitimacy. Today, China maintains that the Five Principles remain the cornerstone of its foreign policy, yet its behavior in the South China Sea includes coercive elements to consolidate claimed territory without full-scale armed conflict. The thesis finds that whether these actions align with the principles depends on interpretation, while Peaceful Coexistence continues to function as a pragmatic tool to secure both international partnerships and domestic stability, with indications of some genuine adherence.
Dette speciale undersøger begrebet fredelig sameksistens og dets nutidige anvendelse i Folkerepublikken Kinas udenrigspolitik. Med udgangspunkt i en proces-tracing tilgang og et teoretisk rammeværk fra neoklassisk realisme analyseres tre sammenhængende cases: Sovjetunionens udvikling af konceptet under Lenin og senere ledere, Kinas tilpasning fra 1949 til i dag, samt de aktuelle grænsestridigheder i Det Sydkinesiske Hav. Specialet viser, at fredelig sameksistens oprindeligt blev anvendt i Sovjetunionen som et middel til at opretholde relationer med kapitalistiske stater uden at opgive den kommunistiske ideologi, og som et redskab til at bevare regimets legitimitet under militær underlegenhed. I Kina blev principperne brugt af Mao til at navigere mellem supermagterne og senere til at skabe intern stabilitet for økonomisk modernisering og genopbygning af CCP’s legitimitet. I dag fastholder Kina, at de Fem Principper er hjørnestenen i landets udenrigspolitik, men adfærden i Det Sydkinesiske Hav rummer elementer af pres og håndhævelse af territoriale krav uden fuld væbnet konflikt. Specialet finder, at fortolkningen af overensstemmelse med principperne er omstridt, men at fredelig sameksistens fortsat fungerer som et pragmatisk redskab til at sikre både internationale relationer og intern stabilitet, med indikationer på vis faktisk efterlevelse.
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