A New Cold War? Great Power Relations in the 21st Century

Catalog description

The end of the Cold War in 1991 was a glorious moment to be a multilateralist and liberal democrat. Even previously closed-off China had chosen the path of economic liberalization and some political reform. It seemed like the whole world wanted to become a democracy and join the democratic community of states. Today, great power competition is back with many describing our present era as a "New Cold War" between the United States and China. How did the international system go from euphoria about democracy, globalization, the West, and the United States three decades ago, to uncertainty about democracy, doubt about the liberal international order, and fear about the rise of illiberal great powers? Moreover, is the Cold War label an illuminating or distorting analogy, and how stable or enduring is this current moment of global confrontation? This course seeks to analyze contemporary U.S.-China relations. We will begin by reviewing the major theories in IR, from both Western and Chinese scholars. Then, in our second session, we will study the historical origins of U.S.-China relations, examining the interplay between three central drivers of international relations ? power, regime types, and leaders ? over time. The third part of the course will focus on assessing the similarities and differences between the Cold War and U.S.-China relations today along three dimensions of the international system: (1) power, (2) ideology, and (3) competing conceptions of global order. The fourth and final part of the course will discuss a set of concrete policy recommendations for how U.S. leaders can (and should) meet the challenge of great power competition in the 21st century. The main text for this course will be the draft of Professor McFaul's upcoming book, tentatively called Great Power Competition in the 21st Century: Lessons from the Cold War for Competing with China and…