Authored by Dr. Liu Feitao, deputy director of Dept. for American Studies at CIIS, the book is based on Dr. Liu’s Ph.D. dissertation, which was finished in 2006 under the guidance of Prof. Shi Yinhong, a renowned Chinese scholar in the field of international relations (IR). The book mainly discusses the United States “realpolitik” thoughts and practices in three historic periods – the founding of the USA, civil war, and the rise of the United States to a world power. The purpose of the research is to depict the uniqueness and features of the “realpolitick” thoughts in U.S. history and U.S. context. Since the “realpolitick” thoughts in the aforementioned three periods constitute the American source of the “classic” realism in American IR theories that emerged in the second half of the 20th century, this book can be regarded as an academic work in the discipline of the history of IR thoughts, and it will enrich our understanding of American political thoughts and the history of IR thoughts as well.
The book was published in Beijing by World Affairs Press in July 2015.