China-India Face-offs: How Does Reputation Matter in Crisis Management?

ABSTRACT This article examines five direct border conflicts between China and India to study how well the reputational effects of their crisis management conformed to conventional deterrence expectations. This article finds that how these crises are settled suggests that instead of deterrence expectations of resolve-oriented behavior, China and India have engaged in reassurance-oriented behavior. Answering why reassurance has taken precedence over resolve even under crises conditions, it is argued that despite the two countries being at odds on the specific and highly salient border issue, they recognize the value of broader joint gains, which in turn is buttressed by a shared ‘post-colonial’ identity and common worldview on questions of global order.