DPhil candidate, Department of Politics and International Relations
Chenchao Lian is a DPhil candidate in International Relations at the University of Oxford. He has research experience in China’s research institutions and think tanks, and he is the author of numerous Chinese academic and commentary articles. He is broadly interested in Chinese politics and foreign policy, global governance, and China-Europe relations. He will be glad to be reached at chenchao.lian@politics.ox.ac.uk as well as lianchenchao@126.com.
DPhil topic
Chenchao Lian’s DPhil thesis seeks to explain why China's maritime disputes have remained unsettled. As more scholars start to investigate how domestic politics affect China’s foreign policies, this research proposes a modified and more sophisticated bureaucratic politics model to analyse China’s foreign policy making process. This research examines China’s practice in dealing with maritime and land-boundary disputes and explores the process that domestic actors shape foreign policy outcome. It investigates both historical and contemporary developments, and it will mainly adopt research methods of case study (process tracing) and primary source research.
