Law, University of Calgary / Associate, Stikeman Elliot

Hai’s Question: What affects a country’s foreign relation with another?

Keystone Title: Living With A Giant: A study on how domestic constraints influence Sino-American relations

Abstract: This keystone examines how domestic interest groups from China and the United States affected the political relationships between the two countries in the late 20th century. This paper argues that the difference in political, cultural, and historical backgrounds between the two countries caused the drastic difference in foreign policy after the two countries ceased to be united against the security threat of the Soviet Union. In this void, domestic forces started to demand more voice in each country’s foreign affairs, competing with official foreign-policymaking and constituting a shaping constraint on foreign behaviour.

What Concentration Courses did you take?

History, Historians, and Historiography (Arts & Humanities)
Colonialism, Race, and Identity (Arts & Humanities)
Contemporary Political Ideologies (Social Sciences)
Comparative Democratic Institutions (Social Sciences)
Contemporary Political Institutions (Social Sciences)
International Relations Theory (Social Sciences)
Ethics (Arts & Humanities)
Calculus I (Mathematics)