The Politics of Constructive Engagement

The policy of constructive engagement as it was called 20 something years ago. The idea behind it was that if we engage with china economically and help make them rich then that they would become more like us. There were people who warned that this was a foolish approach So most notably the realist scholar john mirshimer at the university chicago Warren back in 2002. We want to engage in positive sum relationships that generate more trade and more wealth for united states but have to be aware and concerned about the balance of power.