本书的两位作者倡导一种分析上的折中主义（Analytical Eclecticism），主张以问题研究为导向，跨越实证主义与后实证主义的界限，从不同的理论中汲取合理的成分，以更实用地解释国际关系中的经验现象。

自去殖民化以来，安全的各种地区模式在国际政治中已经变得更为显著。本书提出了一种新的安全概念和一种新的研究框架，讨论的焦点是冷战后时代，但对于每个地区安全复合体的起源和发展历史也进行了追溯。作者将安全的地区脉动同当下有关全球权力结构的辩论联系起来，对冷后战时代的国际安全提出了一种独特的解释，既避免了世界单极论的极端简化倾向，又避免了全球主义者世界新无序论的极端去领土化倾向。

As China emerges as an international economic and military power, the world waits to see how the nation will assert itself globally. Yet, as M. Taylor Fravel shows in Strong Borders, Secure Nation, concerns that China might be prone to violent conflict over territory are overstated. The first comprehensive study of China's territorial disputes, Strong Borders, Secure Nation contends that China over the past sixty years has been more likely to compromise in these conflicts with its Asian neighbors and less likely to use force than many scholars or analysts might expect. By developing theories of cooperation and escalation in territorial disputes, Fravel explains China's willingness to either compromise or use force. When faced with internal threats to regime security, especially ethnic rebellion, China has been willing to offer concessions in exchange for assistance that strengthens the state's control over its territory and people. By contrast, China has used force to halt or reverse decline in its bargaining power in disputes with its militarily most powerful neighbors or in disputes where it has controlled none of the land being contested. Drawing on a rich array of previously unexamined Chinese language sources, Strong Borders, Secure Nation offers a compelling account of China's foreign policy on one of the most volatile issues in international relations.

本书是关于美国霸权的著作，在这本充满新意的专著中，克里斯托弗·莱恩认为美国外交政策的目标在过去60多年里始终未变，即使是在布什政府时期仍然坚持20世纪中期制定的策略--这种做法肯定有问题。尽管冷战的结束深刻而永久地改变了国际环境，但是人们并没有看到美国外交政策的目标和内容发生相应变化。在未来几十年里，美国究竟应该奉行什么样的大战略？作者在书中大加赞赏他所称的”隔岸平衡”战略，这就是美国应该利用外交手段促成其他大国相互制衡，而不是通过炫耀武力控制其他国家。

Product Description Clear, comprehensive, and well-balanced, this unique assessment takes the measure of what is arguably the most important geopolitical change in today's world: the growth of China's power. In the only book on the subject to be based on extensive interviews with elite political leaders, diplomats, and others in China, the United States, and countries on China's periphery, David M. Lampton investigates the military, economic, and intellectual dimensions of China's growing influence. His account provides a fresh perspective from which to assess China--how its strengths are changing, where vulnerabilities and uncertainties lie, and how the rest of the world, not least the United States, should view it. Lampton gives a valuable historical framework by discussing how the Chinese have thought about state power for over 2,500 years, and he asks how they are thinking about the future use of power through instruments such as their space program. He also provides broad suggestions for policy toward China in light of the 2008 elections in the United States and China's hosting of the Olympic Games, in a book that is essential reading for understanding one of the most significant developments of the twenty-first century. From the Inside Flap "By learning more not only about China, but from China, America is more likely to sustain a constructive relationship with the rising China. Lampton insightfully provides us with the much-needed guidance."-Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies "Professor Lampton's stimulating and well-researched book provides a comprehensive framework for intelligent thinking about the implications for the United States and the world of the rapid expansion of China's economic and military power. Serious students of world affairs and non-specialists concerned about the outlook for U.S.-China relations will all benefit from the historically-based insights and judgments that fill the pages of this thought-provoking volume."--J. Stapleton Roy, former United States ambassador to China

在线阅读本书 A decade after the cold war ended, policy makers and academics foresaw a new era of peace and prosperity, an era in which democracy and open trade would herald the "end of history." The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, sadly shattered these idyllic illusions, and John Mearsheimer's masterful new book explains why these harmonious visions remain utopian. To Mearsheimer, great power politics are tragic because the anarchy of the international system requires states to seek dominance at one another's expense, dooming even peaceful nations to a relentless power struggle. Mearsheimer illuminates his theory of offensive realism through a sweeping survey of modern great power struggles and reflects on the bleak prospects for peace in Europe and northeast Asia, arguing that the United States's security competition with a rising China will intensify regardless of "engagement" policies.