Description
How do elites produce threat and reassurance? In US-China relations, interaction ritual chains (IRC) manifest in two ways. The first is the direct interaction of American and Chinese state entities and the mutual surveillance of military forces. These practices bring state-coded bodies together, spark emotional energy and create lasting symbolism. The second is when ritualised practices (e.g. exercises) conducted by one state are re-interpreted by the other. Whereas traditional deterrence theory has concerned itself with the correct production of signals, mobilising IRC adds to our understanding by asking why some practices fail while others succeed. This paper argues that the two states’ elites emphasise different canonical events and practices in their understanding of deterrence effectiveness. PRC deterrentifications of US practices not always intended as deterrence signals contrast with US routinisation, eschewing the spectacular for the ubiquitous. The discordant political contexts ensure that US-China rituals of reassurance only weakly produce shared moods. Conversely, practices that conjure feelings of threat successfully chain together, stoking mutual fear. This finding holds importance for deterrence studies more widely, pointing to a tension between the demand for long-term maintenance of threat and the risk that repetition robs practices of their emotional impact – and thereby undermines deterrence.
