Strategies under Constraint: China’s Rise, Regional Responses, and the Strategic-Relational Dynamics of the Indo-Pacific

To understand how state structures are strategically selective, privileging certain strategies while constraining others; and how agents navigate these contexts to maximize their power and interests, the Strategic-Relational Approach (SRA), developed by Bob Jessop (2008), provides a critical political economy framework. SRA rejects the view of the state as a neutral or monolithic actor, instead conceptualizing it as a strategically selective field. SRA emphasizes the interplay between structural contexts (constraints, institutional legacies, and systemic pressures) and strategic agency (actors’ choices and maneuvers). Structures are not equally open to all strategies; they privilege some while constraining others. At the same time, institutional state agents develop strategies within these selective contexts to pursue their goals. Outcomes, therefore, result from the dialectical interaction between structural selectivity and strategic agency.