JFK Jr. Forum: Destined for War - Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

The U.S.-China relationship and whether the two countries can avoid war was the focus of the John F. Kennedy, Jr Forum on Wednesday, March 22 in a discussion titled “Destined for War - Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?”

Forum participants included Belfer Center Director Graham Allison, Senior Faculty Fellow Niall Ferguson, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, and moderator Arne Westad, S.T. Lee Professor of U.S.-Asia Relations at the Kennedy School.

The panelists began the discussion by providing an historical context for U.S.-China relations and referencing China’s rise and its possible challenge to the United States as a world power. They discussed the theory espoused by ancient Greek historian Thucydides that when a rising power threatens to displace a ruling one, the most likely outcome is war.  This theory has been coined The Thucydides Trap and is the theme of a forthcoming book by Graham Allison asking whether the United States and China can escape Thucydides’s Trap in the coming years. The panel discussed aspects of the Allison book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?, including examples in history in which rising and ruling powers collided and – in many cases – went to war.

Watch 6 video highlights from the Forum

Watch the full-length Forum event

View and download the full transcript below.