Beyond Power Transitions: The Lessons of East Asian History and the Future of U.S.-China Relations

by David Kang, Xinru Ma

280 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[Des · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and argued case that the true ‘universality’ of an important part of International Relations theory is questionable because the Asian historical experience has been almost entirely ignored in its derivation. “The causes, factors, and patterns hypothesized by power transition theory are hard to identify in East Asian history”. The authors further posit that a key lesson from East Asian history is that “Internal challenges are often far more consequential to the fate of nations than are external threats”. This debate is central to the question of whether, in the near future, a rising China will inevitably be drawn into conflict with the US, the current preeminent global power. Whilst internal challenges seem to be somewhat derailing China’s global ambitions lately, Ian Bremmer’s Eurasia Group rates an “unmanaged decoupling in the world’s most important geopolitical relationship” as a top three risk for 2025. Generally there is the sense that the world is indeed moving in a direction that would be very familiar to Thucydides, one of “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. Special thank you to Columbia University Press & NetGalley for a no obligation digital advance review copy.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many an empire fell from within than from external forces. Reminder that many countries’ problems are internal whether financial, social, spiritual, political.