Apr 26, 2016

In contrast to Jared McKinney’s recently reviewed “China Dream” by Liu Mingfu, Michael Pilsbury has a China Nightmare. The Dream is for China to become a powerful global leader that assumes its rightful place in the world as a respected and prestigious nation. The Nightmare is that China achieves this and then imposes its values on the world.

Apr 12, 2016

Liu Mingfu’s 2010 book China Dream initially sparked a bidding war, only to be marginalized for fear that it would affect China-U.S. relations. From disrepute it became canonical after Xi Jinping delivered his 2012 “China Dream” speech. Sifting out rocks of Chinese exceptionalism, Jared McKinney explores the gems of insight found in Liu’s condemned and congratulated work.

Mar 03, 2016

Hawks today see the U.S. as withdrawn, docile, and weak by choice. They see China as aggressively violating norms and threatening American leadership. Yet any action would wrongfully assume the differing Chinese expectations of honor, history, and geography.

Oct 08, 2015

Alternatively quoting or denouncing Thucydides is becoming an integral part of U.S.-China discourse. Jared McKinney argues that we should look at what Thucydides actually had to say: power transitions do not make war inevitable, and other variables—such as contests for honor and competing alliance systems—matter just as much.