China-Russia Strategic Alignment in International Politics

Alexander Korolev

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040794227
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Economy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Post-Cold War China-Russia strategic cooperation has displayed significant development and become an increasingly important factor in contemporary international politics. However, there has been no theory-grounded framework and corresponding measurements that would allow an accurate and systematic assessment of the level of China-Russia alignment and its progress over time. How closely aligned are China and Russia? How to define and measure strategic alignments between states? This book bridges area studies and International Relations literature to develop a set of objective criteria to measure and explain the development of strategic alignment in post-Cold War China-Russia relations. China-Russia Strategic Alignment in International Politics establishes that on a range of criteria, China-Russia alignment has been moving towards a full-fledged alliance, showing a consistent incremental upward trend. There are strong structural incentives for furthering the China-Russia alignment. The alignment framework developed in the book is applicable to other cases of interstate strategic cooperation and enables systematic comparisons of different strategic alignments.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction The Elusive Nature of China–Russia Relations and the Need for Theory
• 2 The Ordinal Model of Strategic Alignment
• 3 Military Cooperation: Approaching Alliance
• 4 Alignment Incentives: The Three Balances
• 5 Robustness Check: Economy and Diplomacy
• 6 Comparative Mapping: US-India and China–Russia Alignments
• 7 Conclusion Empirical Findings and Theoretical Implications
• Index