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Ameliorate Tensions Between The United States And China

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The security dilemma is an axiom of international relations: as one state takes action to make itself more secure, it threatens the security of others as one can never be sure of another’s intentions. In this essay, I will discuss the events that give rise to the security dilemma, implications for international relations according to Structural Realists, Liberalism with Democratic Peace Theory and Liberal Institutionalism as means to mitigate this problem, and how the United States and China can use these two paradigms to ameliorate tensions between the two states. Structural Realists claim that one principle underlies most problems in international relations, including the security dilemma: anarchy. Anarchy is the absence of a sovereign in …show more content…

Looking specifically to the territorial dispute over the South China Sea, there is a great deal of tension as neither country is sure of the other’s intentions. China continues to claim territory in the South China Sea despite rival claims to land from other Southeast Asian countries and has aggressively built airstrips on said land. This is an example of the security dilemma as it demonstrates a zero-sum gain on China’s part as it takes land from less powerful countries in order to strengthen itself at the expense of others, and the United States cannot be sure why. The United States has responded by conducting freedom of navigation operations through this territory in order to monitor China’s activity. Freedom of navigation is an international law that says states cannot intercept ships under any sovereign flag. Democratic Peace Theory could help this situation as the United States pushes liberal ideals onto a country that does not identify as a liberal democracy. If China were to democratize and accept similar ideals of freedom in “international waters”, then perhaps it would not be as nervous to have a fellow democratic peer so near. Likewise, the United States would not feel the need to conduct such activities in the South China Sea as China’s intentions there were more

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The Security dilemma is the notion that states need to secure their borders by increasing military strength or strengthening alliances. This action often leads to other states responding with similar measures, with an end result of increasing the tensions and threats to each other states, even though that is not the goal. For example if we strengthened our military along the Canadian boarder, even though we told them that we would not attack, as a result Canada would strengthen their army regardless. This cycle would keep repeating it self, unless someone eventually attacked. The most well known case of the security dilemma was between the USSR and the United States in the Arm’s race during the Cold War.

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