The Making Of Foreign Policy In China

Book excerpt: Until recently, Westerners have not adequately understood the structure of the PRC's policymaking process in the post-Mao period. Dr. Barnett's pathbreaking study provides comprehensive information on how China's foreign policy decisions are made. The author draws not only on his past research but also on intensive interviews conducted during 1984 with a wide range of Chinese officials (including Premier Zhao Ziyang), academics, and journalists to describe a major shift in top-level decision making from the Politburo and Standing Committee to the Party Secretariat and State Council. He analyzes the foreign-policy roles of various specialized party and government organizations, as well as the roles of key government ministries and the military establishment, and discusses not only the institutions and individuals involved in the policy process but also the sources of information and analyses on which their decisions are based, including major press organizations, research institutions, and universities. Taking advantage of the new openness of both leaders and working-level specialists in the PRC, Dr. Barnett has written the most detailed and up-to-date study available. One of the most distinguished China experts of our time, A. Doak Barnett was professor of government at Columbia University and a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. He is now professor of Chinese Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University.