11 Items

Flowers bloom around graves of World War I soldiers prior to a foundation laying ceremony at Loos British Cemetery in Loos-en-Gohelle, France, Thursday, May 4, 2023.

AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

The Peril of Peaking Powers: Economic Slowdowns and Implications for China’s Next Decade

| Summer 2023

Peaking great powers facing a slowdown in growth are likely to try to violently shake up the world. These findings amend classic theories of great power conflict. They help explain some of the most consequential geopolitical events in modern history. And they have ominous implications for contemporary Chinese foreign policy. 

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- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

International Security

| Fall/Winter 2017-2018

A sampling of articles in the Fall 2017 of the Belfer Center's journal International Security.

International Security is America’s leading journal of security affairs. The International Security journal is edited at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center and published quarterly by the MIT Press. Questions may be directed to IS@harvard.edu.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao waved upon his arrival at Chaklala airbase in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Dec. 17, 2010, for a rare visit that focused on expanding trade between the neighbors and longtime allies.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Yale Journal of International Affairs

China and Pakistan: Fair-Weather Friends

| March 2012

Two assumptions dominate current debates on US foreign policy toward Pakistan. First, Pakistan shares a robust "all-weather" friendship with China centered on core national interests. Second, Pakistan's ability to turn to China in times of need insulates it from US pressure and renders hardline US policies counterproductive. Both of these assumptions are mistaken.

In this photo taken March 18, 2010, Chinese workers assemble sports shoes at a factory in Wenling in south China's Zhejiang province.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Harvard Business Review

How Big a Competitive Threat Is China, Really?

| February 29, 2012

"Is China becoming a serious economic competitor to the United States? Is China, in effect, a giant Japan?...For many reasons, China is unlikely to repeat Japan's success. Most important, China is developing in a far more challenging international environment than Japan faced in the second half of the 20th century. As a result, its economy will remain more compatible than competitive with America's for the foreseeable future."

Customers shop for vegetables at a supermarket in Hangzhou, China, 14 Oct. 2011. China’s inflation eased somewhat in September, but food costs, a major force behind price rises, remained stubbornly high by jumping 13.4 percent, the same as in August.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Quarterly Journal: International Security

To Stay Ahead of China, Stay Engaged in Asia

| January 2012

"China narrowed the gap in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and will likely overtake the United States as the world's largest economy sometime between 2015 and 2040. What matters for national power, however, is not gross wealth, but net wealth—the wealth left over after people are clothed and fed. China's 1.3 billion people produce a large volume of output, but they also consume most of it immediately, leaving little left over for national purposes."

A Chinese clerk counts U.S. dollar banknotes next to RMB (renminbi) yuan banknotes at a bank in Huaibei, east China's Anhui province.

Imaginechina via AP Images

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

China's Century? Why America's Edge Will Endure

| Winter 2011/12

The current hype that China is overtaking the United States is wrong. China is rising, but it is not catching up. Globalization and hegemony, often considered burdens, are actually helping the United States maintain its edge by allowing it to reap financial advantages and manipulate the international system to its benefit. The United States should therefore continue to prop up the global economy and pursue a robust diplomatic and military presence abroad.

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Audio - International Security

Podcast: Michael Beckley

| Dec. 14, 2011

Much has been made of the rise of China's economy, and some fear that China will surpass the United States as the world's largest economy in the coming years. Michael Beckley goes against the grain, arguing that the size of a nation's economy doesn't necessarily dictate its global power, and that the United States is not in great danger because of China's economic developments.

Elderly Chinese people visiting Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, Apr. 28, 2011. China's population is aging rapidly. The data from a national census carried out late in 2010 will fuel debate about whether China should continue its "one-child" policy.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Christian Science Monitor

Don't Worry, America: China is Rising But Not Catching Up

| December 14, 2011

"But China is not an emerging superpower in the mold of the Soviet Union, nor is it a great power like early-twentieth century Germany. It is a large developing country and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Americans, therefore, should not fear China. But neither should they shy away from competing with this rising power for influence in Asia."

Audio - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Podcast: China's Economy

| Dec. 04, 2011

Much has been made of the rise of China's economy, and some fear that China will surpass the United States as the world's largest economy in the coming years. Michael Beckley goes against the grain, arguing that the size of a nation's economy doesn't necessarily dictate its global power, and that the United States is not in great danger because of China's economic developments.

Beckley and Sean Lynn-Jones discuss this and the state of the Chinese economy as a whole when compared to the United States'.