%0 Journal Article
%T Reluctant allies: system
%A Alexander Korolev
%A Vladimir Portyakov
%J International Relations
%@ 1741-2862
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0047117818812561
%X This article attempts to advance the neoclassical realist framework by elaborating on the interaction between system-level and unit-level factors in the formation of states¡¯ behavior. With an empirical focus on post-Cold War China¨CRussia relations, which represent the ambivalent combination of a consistently growing strategic entente and a simultaneous reluctance to form a full-fledged political-military alliance, this study establishes two major unit-level factors ¨C differing economic models and negative historical memories ¨C that create hurdles for alliance formation between the two countries. However, under greater systemic pressure from the US-led unipolarity, China¡¯s and Russia¡¯s state leaders have not only increased bilateral military-to-military cooperation but have begun to actively implement policies to deliberately transform, if not remove, the existing non-systemic hurdles. Therefore, the neoclassical realist framework can be understood and further tested as a dynamic interaction model in which the unit-level circumstances, while moderating the causal impact of the system, are themselves being transformed by the system via state policies, as is their impact on states¡¯ foreign policy
%K China-Russia relations
%K foreign policy
%K neoclassical realism
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0047117818812561