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I have a new article in the new issue of @TWQgw assessing the nascent US-China competition. Sort of my COVID project. A short thread - a copy can be found at the below link:
https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.gwu.edu/dist/1/2181/files/2020/12/Shifrinson_TWQ_43-4.pdf
https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.gwu.edu/dist/1/2181/files/2020/12/Shifrinson_TWQ_43-4.pdf
In brief, the piece makes 3 core points. First, I argue that talk of US-Chinese "competition" obscures more than it reveals for the simple reason that "competition" is not a strategy - it says nothing about the ends sought or tools to get there.
That said - second - embedded in talk of "competition" is a new US grand strategy we can call "neo-primacy." Like the original primacy of the post-Cold War, neo-primacy holds that US dominance (vice-leadership) in int'l affairs is central to US national security.
Unlike original primacy, though, neo-primacists tacitly accept that US dominance (vice-unipolarity) is over or nearly so. As such, they instead advocate finding ways for the US to re-gain its former leads and surmount the ongoing power shift between the US and PRC/China's rise.
Significantly, it is also an approach that enjoys broad bipartisan support, uniting members of the Trump administration with leading analysts in think tanks (including many potential members of the Biden administration).
Third, I assess the costs and risks of neo-primacy, highlighting in particular the potential drawbacks to alliance politics, the sustainability of the strategy, and the very real concern that neo-primacy de facto transforms the US into a revisionist actor in its own right.
All in all, the piece that tries to move beyond discussion of whether US-PRC competition is 'good' or 'bad' (TL;DR: it's neither, competition is normal in IR) and highlight instead the underlying principles, tools, and pathways by which the US is operating. I hope it's of use.
Thanks to @AsiaProgram @TheWilsonCenter's Kissinger Fellowship for support, and many people ( @stephenWalt @stephenwertheim @dmedelstein @MirandaPriebe @JustinTLogan @BH_Friedman @CastilloJasen @EmmaMAshford Julie Thompson @sb_moller) for comments!
cc: @BUPardeeSchool @MIT_SSP
cc: @BUPardeeSchool @MIT_SSP
And, of course, @atjlennon for editing and backing the project!
