International Disorganization: Fragmentation and Foreign Policy in Sino-Cambodian Relations, 1975-1979

Observers of China take for granted that Chinese domestic politics are highly fragmented. At the same time, they tend to relax these assumptions when analyzing China as an international actor. The thesis of this article is that domestic institutional fragmentation in Chinese bureaucratic politics carries over into its international behavior. Using the historical case of Chinese foreign assistance to Democratic Kampuchea, this article demonstrates that the effectiveness of Chinese foreign aid—and the influence that comes with it—is only as good as the domestic institutions that manage the bilateral relationship. This has implications for understanding the veracity of Chinese global influence today as well as refocusing attention to the domestic constraints on Beijing's international behavior.