{"product_id":"towards-strategic-pragmatism-in-foreign-policy-9781032065410","title":"Towards Strategic Pragmatism in Foreign Policy","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat is pragmatism? Is it a means to an end, or an end in itself? Is it antithetical to ideology or morality?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArguing that pragmatism is a skill much more than an attribute, Phua examines how viewing it in this way can help achieve better foreign policy outcomes. He examines and contrasts the ways in which the United States, China and Singapore have incorporated pragmatism into their approaches to foreign policy. In doing so he debunks dualistic myths around pragmatism and ideology and promotes the view of pragmatism as a skill that can be developed. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn essential primer for students, analysts and policymakers, with a fresh and practical approach to pragmatism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Early in the book, Charles Phua quoted Humpty Dumpty: When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less. Pragmatism is perhaps one such word. By discussing pragmatism in the context of how three very different countries view it - China, the US and Singapore - Phua has been able to develop a conceptual framework for the analysis of the word in academic discourse and distinguish between its use in social conversation and as an organizing principle in statecraft.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGeorge Yeo, former Foreign Minister, Republic of Singapore\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Dr Charles Phua has written a book that uniquely considers how the philosophy of pragmatism, in both practice and principles, influences the exercise of foreign policy and statecraft in nations. In particular, he carefully examines the policies and approaches of China, the US and Singapore, and considers how each nation is shaped by a blend of idealism, realism and contextual opportunities and constraints. As we move towards a more complex geopolitical environment, Dr Phua’s book offers fascinating ideas on how nations mould their agendas, and fashion their policy formulations and implementations.\"---\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Tan Eng Chye, President, National University of Singapore\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"As the world changes, foreign policy must change. As this book makes clear, pragmatic foreign policy is needed to contend not just with politics narrowly understood but also with the full range of global challenges: economic, social, climate, and others.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Craig Calhoun, University Professor of Social Sciences, Arizona State University, former president of London of School of Economics and Social Sciences Research Council (SSRC)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A highly original and interesting book that compares and connects Chinese, Singaporean and American thinking on foreign policy. There is much food for thought for scholars and practitioners to ponder.\"---\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Qin Yaqing, former President, Chinese Foreign Affairs University\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Is Singapore’s foreign policy based on realism, as many have claimed? Dr Phua is right to say it is not. It is based on pragmatism or a combination of realism and idealism in pragmatism.\"---\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, and former President, Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A well-analyzed book on pragmatism in foreign policy, a topic that has not received much attention in scholarly debates. The case studies are illuminating.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eT.V. Paul, James McGill Professor of International Relations, McGill University, Canada, former President, International Studies Association, and author of: \u003ci\u003eRestraining Great Powers: Soft Balancing from Empires to the Global Era \u003c\/i\u003e(Yale University Press, 2018).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Pragmatism\" is a slippery term, touching on different domains of human behaviour - psychological, philosophical, social, political, economic, and others. Charles Chao Rong Phua's book takes an interdisciplinary approach to case studies - China, Singapore, the U.S. - in order to delineate the \"system[s] that supports 'being pragmatic'\" and thus provides the context for pragmatism in the contemporary global order.\"---\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Robbie Goh, Provost, Singapore University of Social Sciences \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"It is hard to do justice to the scholarly range of this challenging book which ranges from the mysteries of Daoism to the emerging properties of American decision making. The author rightly warns that we need strategic pragmatism more than ever - perhaps it is timely to recalibrate the pendulum swings between ‘strategic narcissism’ and 'strategic autism’ tendencies, both of which are threatening world peace.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Christopher Coker, Director, LSE IDEAS\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Pragmatism has long been held up as a primary organising concept for policy-making. But what does pragmatism mean in the policy context? And how are we to understand its application in the process of policy formulation? By way of a comparative study of the United States, China, and Singapore, Charles Phua helps us navigate these complex conceptual and practical issues. This book should be essential reading for those interested in the fundamental philosophical underpinnings of “pragmatic” policy thinking and making.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Joseph Chinyong Liow, Dean of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"This is an intriguing and systematic assessment of pragmatism as an element of foreign policy formulation and implementation in three very different states. The author draws out some important practical implications for policymakers from his study, and one can only agree with his concluding argument that future generations would benefit from pragmatic responses to complex global challenges such as managing climate-change and ensuring environmental sustainability.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDr Tim Huxley, former Executive Director, IISS-Asia\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A must read for anyone seeking to understand how China’s \"idiosyncratic mixture of principle and pragmatism\" shapes its relations with the rest of the world.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Carla P. Freeman, Executive Director, SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A solid contribution to the study of what the author calls strategic pragmatism in foreign policy, with the fascinating comparative illustrations of the United States, China, and Singapore. Insightful and thought provoking, while necessarily controversial in some points of the policies conducted by the three states.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Shi Yinhong, Distinguished Professor of International Relations, Renmin University of China\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Charles has written a creative piece linking philosophy, public policy and international affairs. It isworth a read to examine its implications to our theory and practice of international affairs in both US and China.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Wang Yizhou, Boya Chair Professor and Associate Dean, School of International Studies, Peking University\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"By operationalizing pragmatism, a frequently used but vague and elusive term, Phua not only successfully develops a conceptual framework of foreign policy but also succinctly substantiates it by the foreign policy practice of China, the U.S., and Singapore in a way that will be useful to academics and practitioners alike. An original work on pragmatic foreign policy!\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Zhang Qingmin, Chair, Department of Diplomacy, School of International Studies, Peking University\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"This book seeks to be a synthetic primer on Pragmatism as applied in US, Chinese and Singaporean foreign policies. Moreover, Pragmatisms in the three countries are subtly different. This book not only helps us to understand current policies of the three countries, but it also constructs a theoretical framework of Pragmatism for foreign international politics in the world.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Xufeng Zhu, Associate Dean, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Towards Strategic Pragmatism in Foreign Policy crafts a unique and integrative approach, embodying both academic rigor and practical relevance in treating the role of pragmatism in political process. Charles Chao Rong Phua unfolds a paradigm for optimizing unstable equilibria amidst ever-shifting currents of public policy, national interest, international relations, and geostrategic positioning. He authoritatively reconciles variegated meanings and nuances of pragmatism, without contradiction, among three contrasting polities: China, USA, and Singapore. This original and illuminating work is highly recommended!\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLou Marinoff, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies, The City College of New York, founding President of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association, and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Middle Way\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Charles Chao Rong Phua offers an important corrective to the realist notion that international structure compels pragmatism in foreign policy. Through a close examination of Chinese, American and Singapore foreign policies, Phua establishes that pragmatic leaders necessarily act as realists simultaneously in both domestic politics and international politics and that pragmatism is filtered through leadership personalities. Foreign policy pragmatism may be the ideal of realists,, but it is illusive, except in the extreme. More generally, Phua shows that foreign policy tends toward a hybrid mix of the imperatives of personal politics and international politics.\"---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Robert S. Ross, Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Associate, John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1.\u003c\/strong\u003e A Pragmatic Definition of Pragmatism (Problem Solving Approach) \u003cstrong\u003eI. What is Pragmatis\u003c\/strong\u003em \u003cstrong\u003e2.\u003c\/strong\u003e Fitness Beats Truth: Towards a Definition of Pragmatism \u003cstrong\u003e3. \u003c\/strong\u003eBig P and Small P Pragmatism, Strategic Pragmatism and Grand Strategy \u003cstrong\u003e4. \u003c\/strong\u003eAgential and Structural Factors of (Pragmatic) Production \u003cstrong\u003e5.\u003c\/strong\u003e Pragmatism in Policy Process Framework \u003cstrong\u003e6.\u003c\/strong\u003e Varieties of Pragmatism \u003cstrong\u003eII.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChina \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e7.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Dao of Pragmatism: Going With the Flow Without Being Swept Away \u003cstrong\u003e8.\u003c\/strong\u003e Seeking Truth from Facts \u003cstrong\u003e9.\u003c\/strong\u003e Red Lines (and Pink Lines) in Chinese Foreign Policy \u003cstrong\u003eIII\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003cstrong\u003eSingapore \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e10.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Ideology of Pragmatism \u003cstrong\u003e11.\u003c\/strong\u003e A Friend to Everybody and an Ally to None \u003cstrong\u003e12.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Geography of Pragmatism \u003cstrong\u003eIV.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe United States\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e13.\u003c\/strong\u003e The System (Systemic Pendulums) of Pragmatism \u003cstrong\u003e14.\u003c\/strong\u003e Small P and Big P Pragmatism on the Election Trail \u003cstrong\u003e15.\u003c\/strong\u003e How the Emergent Properties of the US System Force Unpragmatic Actors to Make\u003cstrong\u003e V. What Have We Learnt? \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e16.\u003c\/strong\u003e From Varieties of Pragmatism: Muddling Through, In Style \u003cstrong\u003e17.\u003c\/strong\u003e Strategic and Systemic Pragmatism Through Dynamic Equilibria\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor \u0026 Francis Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51018820976983,"sku":"9781032065410","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781032065410.jpg?v=1750778278","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/towards-strategic-pragmatism-in-foreign-policy-9781032065410","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}