TONY YINGCHONG LI
First Principles: The Art of War’s Pertinence in Contemporary International Relations Analyses
Tony Li is a senior at Tufts University majoring in history and international relations. As a Laidlaw Scholar under the tutelage of Tufts’ Prof. Xu Man, he researched and applied Pre-Qin philosophy in contemporary IR contexts. At Tufts, he served as an editor in history and IR-related journals. He is also the Editor-in-Chief at IUCJ.
What drove you to write this piece about Sun Tzu’s Art of War?
The Art of War by Sun Tzu was the first classical Chinese works of philosophy I came across as a child. Reading it growing up, I kept on thinking that the book was primarily about military treaties about warfare and strategy. But through years of reflecting on and writing about history, I’ve grown to appreciate how it can be applied to a variety of settings, especially political science and international relations. A major paradigm shift happened for me when I realized that at its core, the Art of War was not primarily focused on warfare, but about conflict resolution and the avoidance of outright warfare. One of its sources of relevance that carries its content and philosophical significance to this day, is its emphasis on indirect approaches to conflict. The key overarching theme of the book is to understand the essence and the inner workings of competition, whether that’s between armies or states or individuals.
You talk about strategic potential in your publication. Could you elaborate on your thoughts?
Strategic potential is basically this perimeter of what potentialities of political situations entails. It’s not what has happened, but what possibilities that a certain situation can lead to. For example, competition between the PRC and the US has been fogged with complexities, that the two states have been working hard to balance. On the surface it may look like they’re balancing policies, resources, but fundamentally they are balancing what the policies and resources can potentially do and potentially lead to. Looking at how the PRC and the US have overcome challenges in both communication and competition has allowed me to see international relations not just as this amalcum of quantifiable data and numbers, but situational potentials that are constantly changing and interacting with each other.
What do you hope readers can take away from your piece?
I hope that this piece can peak the interest of those who are not just interested in seeing foreign affairs and themes in IR through a more technical analysis, but also those who want to have more cultural and historical understanding of why states do what they do.
What was the writing process for this piece like?
This particular paper was originally much longer and more expansive, since I initially applied ideas in the Art of War to a variety of time periods and cultures and settings, not just political ones.
How was your experience publishing your work with our team at IUCJ?
After working with IUCJ’s editors, we really cut my piece down to size and expanded the practical elements of my disposition in a more focused way. I think that’s the most valuable part of working with a group of very driven, focused, curious and intellectually rigorous people. Bouncing ideas off of each other helps me not just clarify my ideas, but also streamline my methodology in the long term, and I have IUCJ’s wealth of editorial experience and resources to thank for that.