Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?

By Graham Allison

Book Overview

NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR. From an eminent international security scholar, an urgent examination of the geopolitical conditions that could produce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and China--and how it might be prevented.

China and the United States are heading toward a war neither wants. The reason is Thucydides's Trap: when a rising power threatens to displace a ruling one in the field of international relations, violence is the likeliest result. Over the past five hundred years, these conditions have occurred sixteen times; war broke out in twelve.

At the time of publication, an unstoppable China approached an immovable America, and both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump promised to make their countries "great again," the seventeenth case was looking grim--it still is. A trade conflict, cyberattack, Korean crisis, or accident at sea could easily spark a major war.

In Destined for War, eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison masterfully blends world history and current events to explain the timeless machinery of Thucydides's Trap--and to explore the painful steps that might prevent disaster today.

SHORT-LISTED FOR THE 2018 LIONEL GELBER PRIZE
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: FINANCIAL TIMES * THE TIMES (LONDON)* AMAZON

"Allison is one of the keenest observers of international affairs around." -- President Joe Biden

" A] must-read book in both Washington and Beijing." -- Boston Globe

" Full of] wide-ranging, erudite case studies that span human history . . . A] fine book."-- New York Times Book Review

Drawing on case studies of conflicts from ancient Greece to the modern day, this essential work of foreign policy explores:

Thucydides's Trap: The inescapable stress that occurs when a rising power challenges a ruling one--a dynamic that has led to war 12 out of 16 times in the last 500 years.Great Power Competition: How the ambitions of a rising China under Xi Jinping and a ruling America under Donald Trump fit the historical pattern of conflict, creating a collision course.Pathways to War: An analysis of potential triggers for conflict, from trade disputes and cyberattacks to accidents at sea, that could escalate into a war neither nation wants.Strategies for Peace: A sharp examination of the painful steps and difficult choices--for the U.S. and for China--that are required to avoid disaster and escape the trap.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1328915387
• ISBN13: 9781328915382
• Release Date: August 2018
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

War and Peace?

This is American warning to China! China had been abused and bullied since the 19th Century Opium Wars and suffered humiliating defeats with ceding lands and heavy indemnity. Peking was attacked by the Eight Countries Invasion to enter 20th Century. Chinese people never forgot this national infamy and dedicated their lives for a strong, wealthy and powerful country not as a hegemon but as a moral teacher. China followed the doctrine of Dr Sun Yat-sen in Three People’s Principles and in the opening under Premier Deng, China catches up as the world second economy. Washington politicians are alarmed and see China rise as a threat. This book tries to answer that critical question. In China thousands of years of history, did China gain power by conquer and murder? There were no shock and awe to gain land and power!! China five hundred years ago was powerful in politics economy and administration while Europe just came out from Dark Age and America was barren needing exploration and development. A strong China is nothing new. Maybe Washington need to change attitude and logic to accept the status. Look at Covid19, who is doing a better job?