A Q Methodology Analysis of Chinese Policy Makers' Perceptions of China's Foreign Policy Decision-Making Process concerning South Korea's THAAD Deployment

Abstract

This paper explores the diverse ways Chinese policymakers view the foreign policy process in China. Two approaches characterize conventional accounts of the foreign policy decision-making process. One of these, based on Graham Allison's rational, organizational, and bureaucratic politics models, focuses on intragovernmental aspects of foreign policy decision-making processes, while the other highlights extra-governmental domestic and foreign factors. However, these approaches have neglected the question of who leads foreign policy and how state, society, and grassroots interact through coalition. We interviewed Chinese scholars and foreign policy experts using Q statements to explore China's foreign policy response to South Korea's deployment of THAAD. Our findings offer new theoretical insights into China's foreign policy process by identifying statedriven, grassroots-based, and state-society coalition models.