The Power Rivarly between China and India: Managing the Buffer Zone between the Two States

The presented master's thesis titled The Power Rivalry between China and India: Managing the Buffer Zone between the Two States examines the strategic behaviour of China and India with respect to the buffer zone located around their common border. In recent years, it is possible to observe a higher intensity or tension in the mutual relations of China and India on both the regional, as well as global level. In regard to China and India, the buffer zone located near their common border is a distinctive factor of strategic importance that influences the dynamics within mutual Sino-Indian relations. The main pillars of the analysis of China's and India's policy towards each other and towards the common buffer zone present in the thesis are offensive and defensive realism in combination with the geopolitics of buffer zones. From the analytical point of view, the thesis divided into two parts. The first part of the analysis focuses on the common Sino-Indian border and adjacent areas, and whether it is possible to characterized them as the buffer zone. The second part concentrates specifically on China and India and their policies, not just towards each other, but towards the buffer zone as well. Regional interactions of China and India are analysed especially from the perspective of offensive and..