Darwin’s Lock: America, China and the Shared Future of Nations

by Joshua Cooper Ramo

There is no more urgent question in global affairs Can the United States and China find a way to coexist—or are they on a collision course that threatens the entire planet?

In Darwin’s Lock, Joshua Cooper Ramo offers a brilliant new analysis of the most important geopolitical relationship of our time. Beginning with Charles Darwin’s concept of evolution—widely considered the most powerful idea in all of science—Ramo argues that the destinies of America and China are locked together. The choice is not between which nation will win any future struggle, but between what biologists call coevolution and coextinction.

Drawing on more than two decades at the forefront of American foreign policy and China business, Ramo leads readers through a clear-eyed examination of what is really at stake between the two nations. Touching on everything from the history of Chinese urban design to the lessons of nuclear weapons brinkmanship to Ramo’s firsthand experience of the wobbly bridge between the two great powers, Darwin’s Lock presents a truly novel framework for US-China relations.

Can the US and China avoid the killing trap of nationalist competition? Ramo offers a set of innovative science-based experiments that can turn both countries toward a more rational path. It’s an approach that will make each nation more fit, more secure and better able to help the world confront the dangers of our age. Urgent, hopeful and deeply informed, Darwin’s Lock is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where the world is headed—and what it will take to get there safely.

243 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 20, 2026

About the author

JOSHUA COOPER RAMO IS CO-CEO OF KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, THE ADVISORY FIRM OF FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE DR. HENRY KISSINGER. HIS LAST BOOK WAS THE INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER “THE AGE OF THE UNTHINKABLE”

Based in Beijing and New York, Ramo serves as an advisor to some of the largest companies and investors in the world. He is a member of the boards of directors of Starbucks and Fedex.

A Mandarin speaker who has been called “one of China’s leading foreign-born scholars” by the World Economic Forum, Ramo is best known for coining and articulating “The Beijing Consensus,” among other writings on China.

His views on global politics and economics have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, Foreign Policy and Fortune. He has been a frequent guest on CNN, CNBC, NBC and PBS. In 2008 he served as China analyst for NBC during the Beijing Olympic Games. For his work with Bob Costas and Matt Lauer during the Opening Ceremony, Ramo shared in a Peabody and Emmy award.

Before entering the advisory business, Ramo was a journalist. He was the youngest senior editor and foreign editor in the history of Time magazine, wrote more than 20 cover stories and ultimately oversaw the magazine’s technology coverage and online activities.

Ramo has been a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders for Tomorrow, The Leaders Project, The Asia Society 21 Group, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a founder of the US-China Young Leaders Forum, and Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. His last book, “The Age of the Unthinkable,” was translated into more than a dozen languages. His first book, “No Visible Horizon,” described his experiences as a competitive aerobatic pilot.

Raised in Los Ranchos, New Mexico, Ramo holds degrees from the University of Chicago and New York University. He is an avid pilot and motorcyclist.