Status Signaling, Multiple Audiences, and China’s Blue-Water Naval Ambition

doi:10.1017/CBO9781107444409.009

6 - Status Signaling, Multiple Audiences, and China’s Blue-Water Naval Ambition

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014

Xiaoyu Pu and

Randall L. Schweller

Edited by

T. V. Paul ,

Deborah Welch Larson and

William C. Wohlforth

Show author details

Xiaoyu Pu: Affiliation:
University of Nevada
Randall L. Schweller: Affiliation:
Ohio State University
T. V. Paul: Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Deborah Welch Larson: Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
William C. Wohlforth: Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Relations among established and ascending powers tend to be troubled and often violent. According to power transition theory, the onset of war between a dominant and rising power grows more likely as the gap in relative strength between them narrows and as the latter’s grievances with the existing order – grievances that expand in lockstep with its mounting capabilities – move beyond any hope of peaceful resolution. Little wonder, then, that rising powers have been portrayed in both theory and practice as “troublemakers” that “feel constrained, even cheated, by the status quo and struggle against it to take what they think is rightfully theirs.” And because status demands are usually at the forefront of their dissatisfaction with the established order, rising powers are expected to act assertively to signal their increased strength and preferred higher status.

Contrary to this familiar story, we argue that status signaling among rising powers is a more complicated matter, particularly in the current world, than is typically assumed. First, rising powers do not always choose to maximize their international status. Determined to sustain their growth trajectory, emerging powers tend to be inward-looking states, reluctant to take on the burdens and responsibilities associated with a leading role on the world stage. Second, national leaders of rising powers face multiple audiences, making it difficult for them to send clear and coherent signals and to target only specific audiences. Third, and unique to current international politics, contemporary China (owing to the unprecedented size of its population) possesses historically unparalleled flexibility in terms of the type of status it can choose to signal. No other state in history has ever boasted the world’s second-largest economy while ranking 100 among all countries in GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita. China is a veritable optical illusion; a state that can be seen (and, therefore, credibly signaled) as both a powerful rising challenger and a weak developing country.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Status in World Politics , pp. 141 - 162

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107444409.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

DiCicco, Jonathan M. and Levy, Jack S., “Power Shifts and Problem Shifts: The Evolution of the Power Transition Research Program,”The Journal of Conflict Resolution 43, no. 6 (December 1999), 675–704CrossRef Google Scholar

Chan, Steve, China, the U.S., and the Power-Transition Theory (New York: Routledge, 2008)Google Scholar

Friedberg, Aaron L., “Hegemony With Chinese Characteristics,”The National Interest, no. 114 (July/August 2011), 18Google Scholar

Murray, Michelle, “Identity, Insecurity, and Great Power Politics: The Tragedy of German Naval Ambition Before the First World War,”Security Studies 19, no. 4 (October 2010), 656–688CrossRef Google Scholar

Schweller, Randall L. and Pu, Xiaoyu, “After Unipolarity: China’s Visions of International Order in an Era of U.S. Decline,”International Security 36, no.1 (Summer 2011), 41–72CrossRef Google Scholar

Zakaria, Fareed, From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America’s World Role (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998)Google Scholar

Christensen, Thomas J., Worse Than a Monolith: Alliance Politics and Problems of Coercive Diplomacy in Asia (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011)CrossRef Google Scholar

Johnston, Alastair Iain, “Realism(s) and Chinese Security Policy in the Post-Cold War Period,” in Unipolar Politics: Realism and State Strategies After the Cold War, eds. Kapstein, Ethan B. and Mastanduno, Michael (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 261–318Google Scholar

Deng, Yong, China’s Struggle for Status: The Realignment of International Relations (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008)CrossRef Google Scholar

Larson, Deborah Welch and Shevchenko, Alexei, “Status Seekers: Chinese and Russian Responses to U.S. Primacy,”International Security 34, no. 4 (Spring 2010), 63–95CrossRef Google Scholar

Johnston, Alastair Iain, “How New and Assertive is China’s New Assertiveness?”International Security, 37, no. 4 (Spring 2013), 7–48CrossRef Google Scholar

Mearsheimer, John J., Why Leaders Lie: The Truth About Lying in International Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 16–20Google Scholar

Schweller, Randall L., “Rational Theory for a Bygone Era,”Security Studies 20, no. 3 (July/September 2011), 460–468CrossRef Google Scholar

Fearon, James D., “Two States, Two Types, Two Actions,” Security Studies 20, no. 3 (July 2011), 437CrossRef Google Scholar

Dittmar, Helga, The Social Psychology of Material Possessions: To Have Is to Be (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992)Google Scholar

George, Alexander L. and Bennett, Andrew, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005), 75Google Scholar

Sartori, Anne E., Deterrence by Diplomacy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005)Google Scholar

Glaser, Charles L., “Realists as Optimists: Cooperation as Self-help,”International Security 19, no. 3 (Winter 1994), 50CrossRef Google Scholar

Fearon, James D., “Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes,”American Political Science Review 88, no. 3 (September 1994), 577CrossRef Google Scholar

Spence, Michael A., Market Signaling: Informational Transfer in Hiring and Related Screening Processes (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974)Google Scholar

Zahavi, Amotz and Zahav, Avishag, The Handicap Principle: A Missing Piece of Darwin’s Puzzle (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)Google Scholar

Mingwang, Lin, Choosing War: A Loss-Aversion Theory of War Decision (Beijing: World Knowledge Press, 2010), 86–87Google Scholar

Veblen, Thorstein, The Theory of the Leisure Class (New York: Penguin Books, 1899 [1967])Google Scholar

Jervis, Robert, System Effects: Complexity in Political and Social Life (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997), 68Google Scholar

Putnam, Robert D., “Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games,”International Organization 42, no. 3 (Summer 1988), 427–460CrossRef Google Scholar

Pei, Minxin, China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006)CrossRef Google Scholar

Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International Ambition (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991), 20Google Scholar

Tsai, Lily L., Accountability without Democracy: Solidarity Groups and Public Good Prevision in Rural China (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007)CrossRef Google Scholar

Weeks, Jessica L., “Autocratic Audience Costs: Regime Type and Signaling Resolve,”International Organization 62, no. 1 (January 2008), 35–64CrossRef Google Scholar

Weiss, Jessica Chen, “Authoritarian Signaling, Mass Audiences, and Nationalist Protest in China,”International Organization, 67, no. 1 (January 2013), 1–35CrossRef Google Scholar

Suchman, Mark C. and Eyre, Dana P., “Military Procurement as Rational Myth: Notes On the Social Construction of Weapons Proliferation,”Sociological Forum 7, no. 1 (March 1992), 137–161CrossRef Google Scholar

Eyre, Dana P. and Suchman, Mark C., “Status, Norms, and the Proliferation of Conventional Weapons: An Institutional Theory Approach,” in The Culture of National Security: Institutionalism, Norms, and Identity in World Politics, ed. Katzenstein, Peter J. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 79–113Google Scholar

Cunningham, Fiona, “The Stellar Status Symbol: True Motives for China’s Manned Space Program,”China Security 15, no. 3 (2009), 71–86Google Scholar

Brady, Anne-Marie, “The Beijing Olympics as a Campaign of Mass Distraction,”China Quarterly 197 (March 2009), 1–24CrossRef Google Scholar

Hirsch, Fred, Social Limits to Growth (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976)CrossRef Google Scholar

Frank, Robert H., Choosing the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest for Status (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess (New York: The Free Press, 1999)Google Scholar

Bourdieu, Pierre, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984)Google Scholar

Hirsch, Fred, The Social Limits to Growth (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 1976), 20CrossRef Google Scholar

Tang, Shiping, “The Positional Market and Economic Growth,”Journal of Economic Issues 44, no. 3 (December 2010), 1–28Google Scholar

Spence, Michael A., Market Signaling: Informational Transfer in Hiring and Related Screening Processes (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974)Google Scholar

Akerlof, George A. and Kranton, Rachel E., Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010)CrossRef Google Scholar

Hamlin, Alan and Jennings, Colin, “Expressive Political Behaviour: Foundations, Scope and Implications,”British Journal of Political Science 41, no. 3 (July 2011), 645–670CrossRef Google Scholar

Schuessler, Alexander A., A Logic of Expressive Choice (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000)Google Scholar

Erickson, Andrew S., Denmark, Abraham M., and Collins, Gabriel, “Beijing’s ‘Starter Carrier’ and Future Steps: Alternatives and Implications,”Naval College Review 65, no. 1 (Winter 2012), 15–54Google Scholar

Levin, Richard C., “Top of the Class: The Rise of Asia’s Universities,”Foreign Affairs 89, no.3 (May/June 2010), 63–75Google Scholar

Shambaugh, David, “China Engages Asia: Reshaping the Regional Order,”International Security 29, no. 3 (Winter 2004/2005), 64–99CrossRef Google Scholar

Cha, Victor D., Beyond the Final Score: The Politics of Sport in Asia (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009)Google Scholar

Zheng, Bijian, “China’s ‘Peaceful Rise’ to Great-Power Status,”Foreign Affairs 84, no. 5 (September/October 2005), 18–24Google Scholar

Han, Young Jee, Nunes, Joseph C., and Drèze, Xavier, “Signaling Status with Luxury Goods: The Role of Brand Prominence,”Journal of Marketing 74, no. 4 (July 2010), 15–30CrossRef Google Scholar

Mandelbaum, Michael, The Frugal Superpower: America’s Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era (New York: Public Affairs, 2010), 8Google Scholar

Lebow, Richard Ned, A Cultural Theory of International Relations (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 539CrossRef Google Scholar

Jervis, Robert, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976), 62–67Google Scholar

Jervis, Robert, “Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma,”World Politics 30, no. 2 (January 1978), 167–214CrossRef Google Scholar

Lampton, David M., The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Might, Money, and Minds (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008)Google Scholar

Taylor Fravel, M., “China’s Search for Military Power,”Washington Quarterly 31, no. 3 (Summer 2008), 125–141CrossRef Google Scholar

Xin, Qiang, “Extended Horizon: China’s Blue-Water Navy Ambition and its Implications,” in The People’s Republic of China Today: Internal and External Challenges, ed. Zhu, Zhiqun (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2011), 385–404Google Scholar

An, Baijie and Liu, Tianjiao, “Aircraft Carrier Nearly Restored, Report Says,”Global Times, January 21, 2011Google Scholar

O’Rourke, Ronald, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service Office, 2013), 19Google Scholar

Li, Nan, “The Evolution of China’s Naval Strategy and Capabilities: From ‘Near Coast’ and ‘Near Seas’ to ‘Far Seas,’”Asian Security 5, no. 2 (May 2009), 144–169CrossRef Google Scholar

Ross, Robert S., “China’s Naval Nationalism,”International Security 34, no. 2 (Fall 2009), 46–81CrossRef Google Scholar

Glosny, Michael A., Saunders, Phillip C., and Ross, Robert S., “Debating China’s Naval Nationalism,”International Security 35, no. 2 (Fall 2010), 161–175CrossRef Google Scholar

Glaser, Charles L., “When are Arms Races Dangerous?”International Security 28, no. 4 (Spring 2004), 44–84CrossRef Google Scholar

Li, Nan and Weuve, Christopher, “China’s Aircraft Carrier Ambition: An Update,”Naval War College Review 63, no. 1 (Winter 2010), 13–31Google Scholar

Taylor Fravel, M., “Regime Insecurity and International Cooperation: Explaining China’s Compromises in Territorial Disputes,”International Security 30, no. 2 (Fall 2005), 46–83CrossRef Google Scholar

Hickey, Dennis V., “Rapprochement Between Taiwan and the Chinese Mainland: Implications for American Foreign Policy,”Journal of Contemporary China 20, no. 69 (March 2011), 231–247CrossRef Google Scholar

Christensen, Thomas J., “Posing Problems without Catching Up: China’s Rise and Challenges for U.S. Security Policy,”International Security 25, no. 4 (Spring 2001), 5–40CrossRef Google Scholar

Horowitz, Michael C., The Diffusion of Military Power: Causes and Consequences for International Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010), 66Google Scholar

Ignatius, David, “The Future of Warfare,”Washington Post, January 2, 2011, A15Google Scholar

Goldstein, Avery, Rising to the Challenge: China’s Grand Strategy and International Security (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005)Google Scholar

Ross, Robert S., “China’s Naval Nationalism: Sources, Prospects, and the U.S. Response,”International Security 34, no. 2 (Fall 2009), 46–81CrossRef Google Scholar

Kennedy, Paul M., “The Rise and Fall of Navies,”New York Times, April 5, 2007Google Scholar

Kennedy, Paul M., The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (Atlantic Highlands: Ashfield Press, 1976)Google Scholar

Jisi, Wang, “China’s Search for a Grand Strategy,”Foreign Affairs 90, no. 2 (March/April, 2011), 68–79Google Scholar

Kennedy, Paul, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism 1860–1914 (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980)Google Scholar

Christensen, Thomas J., “Chinese Realpolitik,”Foreign Affairs 75, no. 5 (September/October 1996), 37–52CrossRef Google Scholar

Kissinger, Henry, On China (New York: Penguin Press, 2011)Google Scholar

Friedberg, Aaron L., “China’s Challenge at Sea,”New York Times, September 5, 2011, A19Google Scholar

Kaplan, Robert D., Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power (New York: Random House, 2010), 291Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.