THE NORWICH UNIVERSITY John and Mary Frances Patton Peace & War Center is pleased to publish the second edition of the Journal of Peace and War Studies (JPWS), which addresses a most challenging issue in the current global community—escalation of the U.S.-China rivalry. Our inaugural 2019 edition interrogated North Korea’s nuclear and missile challenges from the perspectives of key stakeholders: the United States, China, South Korea, and Japan. Since the 2008–2009 financial crisis, the international community has witnessed an escalation of the U.S.-China rivalry. Moreover, the present-day COVID-19 pandemic, which began in China in late 2019, seems to have transformed the two great powers’ strategic and economic rivalry into an ideological one. Such intensification of the U.S.-China rivalry is likely to bear largely on the world community, as did the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Reflecting on these circumstances for our 2020 issue, seven strategic thinkers scrutinize various dimensions of the U.S.-China rivalry and share their insights.
Min Ye closely examines central discourses regarding the U.S.-China rivalry in the academic and policy communities, such as the Thucydides Trap, clash of civilizations, and divided peace. Based on her critical assessment of such preexisting approaches, she provides an alternative lens on the roles domestic and international agencies have played in reducing tensions between the two superpowers.
While presenting the detailed empirical evidence of the increasing China-Russia military cooperation, Lyle Goldstein and Vitaly Kozyrev offer a number of practical policy recommendations for U.S. national security to deter the strengthening of China-Russia military ties and maintain a certain level of cooperation with the two nations on such global issues as climate change and nuclear non-proliferation.
Krista Wiegand and Hayoun Ryou-Ellison analyze U.S. and Chinese strategies concerning the South China Sea through an international law framework, illuminating that both powers have often utilized their own legal interpretations to support their claims on the area, as opposed to simply resorting to military force.
By exploring policy positions of Israel, one of America’s closest allies, vis-à-vis the U.S. and China, Zhiqun Zhu reveals a common dilemma that many world nations have faced—i.e. they want to work with both great powers for their security and economic interests, rather than choosing either the U.S. or China, but the rising U.S.-China rivalry tends to force the latter option.
Dawn Murphy thoroughly traces the evolution of U.S.-China economic competition during the Trump administration, implying that it might be difficult for the current trend to get reversed considering the transition of economic rivalry to strategic and ideological realms after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the above scholarly articles, four Norwich University students—John Hickey, Shayla Moya, Kathryn Preul, and Faith Privett—explain America’s foreign policy blunders in Afghanistan utilizing the Just War theory. They also suggest political, economic, and military approaches that could bring stability in conflict-stricken Eastern Ukraine.
Thank you. We hope you find the contents of the 2020 issue insightful, and we look forward to your thoughts and feedback.
Yangmo Ku
Associate Director, Peace & War Center
Editor, Journal of Peace and War Studies
Associate Professor, Political Science
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Peace & War Center
John and Mary Frances Patton Peace & War Center—a Norwich University academic center of excellence
