Rivalry Peril
Regular price
€31.99
A01=Michael Brenes
A01=Van Jackson
America
Author_Michael Brenes
Author_Van Jackson
Category=JP
Category=JPSD
Category=JW
Category=NHK
China
Cold War
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Geopolitical
geopolitics
Great-Power competition
Great-power rivalry
Russia
United States
Product details
- ISBN 9780300272895
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 25 Mar 2025
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
How the U.S. policy of competition with China is detrimental to democracy, peace, and prosperity—and how a saner approach is possible
For close to a decade, the U.S. government has been preoccupied with the threat of China, fearing that the country will “eat our lunch,” in the words of Joe Biden. The United States has crafted its foreign and domestic policy to help constrain China’s military power and economic growth. Van Jackson and Michael Brenes argue that great-power competition with China is misguided and vastly underestimates the costs and risks that geopolitical rivalry poses to economic prosperity, the quality of democracy, and, ultimately, global stability.
This in-depth assessment of the trade-offs and pitfalls of protracted competition with China reveals how such a policy exacerbates inequality, leads to xenophobia, and increases the likelihood of violence around the world. In addition, it distracts from the priority of addressing such issues as climate change while at the same time undercutting democratic pluralism and sacrificing liberty in the name of prevailing against an enemy “other.” Jackson and Brenes provide an informed and urgent critique of current U.S. foreign policy and a road map toward a saner, more democratically accountable strategy of easing tension and achieving effective diplomacy.
For close to a decade, the U.S. government has been preoccupied with the threat of China, fearing that the country will “eat our lunch,” in the words of Joe Biden. The United States has crafted its foreign and domestic policy to help constrain China’s military power and economic growth. Van Jackson and Michael Brenes argue that great-power competition with China is misguided and vastly underestimates the costs and risks that geopolitical rivalry poses to economic prosperity, the quality of democracy, and, ultimately, global stability.
This in-depth assessment of the trade-offs and pitfalls of protracted competition with China reveals how such a policy exacerbates inequality, leads to xenophobia, and increases the likelihood of violence around the world. In addition, it distracts from the priority of addressing such issues as climate change while at the same time undercutting democratic pluralism and sacrificing liberty in the name of prevailing against an enemy “other.” Jackson and Brenes provide an informed and urgent critique of current U.S. foreign policy and a road map toward a saner, more democratically accountable strategy of easing tension and achieving effective diplomacy.
Van Jackson is a senior lecturer in international relations at Victoria University of Wellington and a senior nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Michael Brenes is the co-director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and lecturer in history at Yale University, and a senior nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy. He lives in Hamden, CT.
