Asymmetry and systemic misperception: China, Vietnam and Cambodia during the 1970s

Abstract

While the differences between the perspectives of countries disparate in size and power provide fertile ground for the individual misperceptions analyzed by Robert Jervis in his seminal work, the imbalance of vulnerability between the stronger and weaker sides in an asymmetric relationship can also create systemic misperceptions. The structurally based misperceptions of each side have a negative complementarity, that is, they will tend to produce a vicious circle in which the interpretation of the actions of the other side becomes further and further removed from the other side's subjective intentions, and negotiation breaks down. The constraints on asymmetric misperceptions are very different from the ‘golden rule’ because treating another as oneself is premised on reciprocity. The management of asymmetric relationships is based in part on the neutralization of issue areas by means of inclusive rhetoric and routinization and in part on creating a sleeve of normalcy for transactions through precedent and diplomatic ritual. Structural misperception is illustrated by considering two extreme dyads, that of China and Vietnam in the 1970s and that of Vietnam and Cambodia in the same period. These dyads are particularly interesting because Vietnam is in the weaker position in one and in the stronger position in the other, and it behaved according to its different dyadic positions.