Pragmatism in China’s Foreign Policy: Operationalising pragmatism in international relations

Pragmatism in International Relations (IR) is on the rise in the last decade. Pragmatism presents itself as a panacea to the ‘ivory tower’ effect in IR theory, having lost touch with reality and the increasing theory-praxis gap. However, dissecting the two key book length exposition of Pragmatism in IR, there is strong sense of growth potential of this topic but applying Pragmatism at the IR discipline level fails to appreciate the contextual problem solving approach that Pragmatism can offer. Hence, this article will focus on Pragmatism in Foreign Policy (FP; sub-discipline of IR) where it is operationally possible to appreciate nuances of its contextual problem solving. FP Analysis literature has hitherto focused on the macro-structure and micro-agency perspectives. There is a need to focus on meso-relational perspectives in problem solving context. It is through FP events that FP thinking becomes clearer; similarly, it is through the usage of Pragmatism in FP that Pragmatism in IR becomes clearer (assuming IR is a dynamic interplay of FP of various countries). Specifically, this article will illustrate how Pragmatism in China’s FP works, the enablers and inhibitors of China’s Pragmatism: historical context, geography, power (military, economic, diplomatic), political system, stage of development, socio-culture, philosophy (Confucian Zhongyong, Sun Zi, Taoist, Yin Yang) and personalities (such as Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping).