Symbiotic Realism: Way Forward for Great Power Relations

Abstract

Rise of China, its bend towards Russia, its increasing sphere of influence in Asia and Africa has posed perplexing questions like will the four decades of cooperation between USA and China end in great War; will the drive to maintain/attain hegemony be the guiding principle for USA and China; and what will be the impact of strife on states like Pakistan, recipients of both USA and China. The international politics pundits, well versed in Machiavellian-Hobbesian Realist discourses, predicts a coming war with continued pattern of hegemonic contention, competition, and shift in hegemony. But Realism is not a unified paradigm and variants of Realist discourse(s), advocate divergent courses of statecraft, depending on state status in global order. The paper aims to analyse the prospective Sino-US relation with the lens of Symbiotic Realism given by Nayef Al Rodhan believing in sustainable multi-sum security principle, co-existence, and mutual dependence between great powers.