Lampton and the contributors also address the vitally important question of where China's foreign and security policy is currently and where it is going, given the change the country has witnessed since Deng Xiaoping launched sweeping economic, political, and social reforms in 1978. These reforms transformed China into a new and different country (from communist totalitarianism to authoritarian free-market capitalism), and this brought new policies almost across the board. China's opening to the outside world and its very rapidly growing economic and military strength have meanwhile engendered new approaches to the world and to various countries China deals with. Thus, the writers' task is not a small one.

Lampton, in the introductory chapter, provides a broad-brush overview of China's foreign and security policy. He introduces most of the central questions that are dealt with in subsequent chapters. He also delineates the change that China has experienced since the Deng era began in late 1978 and the implications of that change, such as decentralization of decision making, globalization, and so on. Thus, he sets the stage for what follows.

In the next five chapters, Lu Ning assesses the central leadership, Tai Ming Cheung writes on the party's Central Military Commission, Peter T. Y. Cheung and James T. H. Tang do the provinces' impact on foreign policymaking, H. Lyman Miller and Liu Xiaohong analyze the “third generation” leadership, and Joseph Fewsmith and Stanley Rosen look at public opinion and foreign policy.

The chapters on the central leadership and the third generation will be more helpful to students studying how foreign policy is made, whereas the other chapters offer analysis that is not generally part of the literature and may be considered more unique. In total they constitute what Lampton calls the domestic scene.

In the next two chapters, Thomas Moore and Dixia Yang deal with the issue of China's economic interdependence, and Elizabeth Economy examines China's decision making relating to international regimes. Both chapters stand the test of time (recent events having impacted both issues), although China's “cautious” approach to global economic ties, some say, has been replaced by the notion that China (now that it is booming economically and the United States and the rest of the world are not) may be able to more often dictate the rules of international economics, rather than grudgingly accepting them as it has done so far. One will have to wait and see about this.

The final four chapters are what Lampton calls “case studies.” Bates Gill assesses China's policy on arms control, Michael Swaine does China's Taiwan policy, Margaret Pearson looks at China's decision to join the World Trade Organization, and Samuel Kim dissects China's decision to deal with two Koreas.

However, these chapters are more than case studies. Gill, for example, deals with the international implications of arms control and U.S.-China relations, and Swaine analyzes the internal components and workings of the decision-making process as it applies to Taiwan.

For what is designed to be a text in a course on Chinese foreign policy, critics may find the chapters in this book too narrow in focus. Also, together they do not provide a sufficiently complete coverage of the subject. Readers may also question whether the case studies were necessary to serve as tests for proving theses in previous chapters, and why there is little attention paid to China's relations with the two or three countries that are most important to it (the United States, Russia, and Japan). They might even query the varied (or uneven) backgrounds and experience of the contributors. All of these sniggles might lead to the conclusion that this book would not be very suitable for a text.

Although these points may be valid, this book nevertheless is well researched, and well written, and it makes a significant contribution to the literature on China's foreign and defense policy. The writers have all been thorough in their analysis and their products are up to date. Many of the chapters cover areas not written about in so much depth elsewhere. This book is thus highly recommended to scholars in the field and students interested in the subject. The Making of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy in the Era of Reform will work well as a text on the subject if supplemented with another book or two. Its chapters will also serve as valuable outside reading.