Transition Scenarios: China and the United States in the Twenty-First Century - Softcover

Rapkin, David P.; Thompson, William R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 022604047X ISBN 13: 9780226040479

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2013

Synopsis

China’s rising status in the global economy alongside recent economic stagnation in Europe and the United States has led to considerable speculation that we are in the early stages of a transition in power relations. Commentators have tended to treat this transitional period as a novelty, but history is in fact replete with such systemic transitions—sometimes with perilous results. Can we predict the future by using the past? And, if so, what might history teach us?

With Transition Scenarios, David P. Rapkin and William R. Thompson identify some predictors for power transitions and take readers through possible scenarios for future relations between China and the United States. Each scenario is embedded within a particular theoretical framework, inviting readers to consider the assumptions underlying it. Despite recent interest in the topic, the probability and timing of a power transition—and the processes that might bring it about—remain woefully unclear. Rapkin and Thompson’s use of the theoretical tools of international relations to crucial transitions in history helps clarify the current situation and also sheds light on possible future scenarios.

About this title

About the Author

David P. Rapkin is associate professor emeritus of political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. William R. Thompson is Distinguished Professor and the Donal A. Rogers Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. He lives in Bloomington, IN, and is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including The Arc of War, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022604047X
• ISBN 13: 9780226040479
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 282