Introduction

The previous chapter taken on its own might be seen as a set of historicallyinformed, but abstract, reflections on the Cold War. But, in the context of this book, Chapter 1 represents a very necessary stage aimed at defining the key concept in the book. Deconstructing the Cold War is not just an academic exercise; it is key to have an in- depth account using not a comparative but rather a conceptual lens, to ensure academic rigour throughout the book and allow a historical analogy to be made. Many scholars and commentators nowadays challenge the idea that there might be a New Cold War between the US and China, therefore, Chapter 1 confirmed that this term – often undefined in scholarly accounts of the New Cold War – is not used superficially but with an awareness of the implications of doing so, of the historical- academic background of the concept, and of its strengths and weaknesses. An indisputable observation about the Cold War which emerged from Chapter 1 is the fact that there was a coexistence of competitive, if not confrontational, drivers with factors of restraint, or even cooperation, that means a vector of high competition remains cold as opposed to evolving into a waged war. These factors, furthermore, coexist in a systemic context, in the sense that relations between competing actors are framed by international structures – large geopolitical blocs of alliances, multilateral institutions, globalization – but also in the sense that their actions could have system- changing implications.

In light of this, this chapter translates the main findings of the previous chapter – that is, the forementioned coexistence of tendencies towards conflict with cooperation or restraints – into the language of International Relations (IR) theory. This task is necessary for one important reason: it allows content that is not contemporary and is predominantly the subject of historical analysis to be made more manageable for those working in contemporary IR. It means being able to interact with literature not only on IR but also, and above all, with those studying current US– China relations, by moving from the abstract to the empirical through different stages.