The Rivalry Peril!
I have two half-finished posts that I’m aching to push out but am traveling this week and finding it very hard to write.1
In the meantime, I wanted to share the announcement: The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy is officially available for pre-order!
The book originated as an essay Mike Brenes and I wrote for Foreign Affairs in 2022 called, “Great-Power Competition is Bad for Democracy.”
An abstract for the book is below. If you like this newsletter, you’re going to love The Rivalry Peril. And honestly, writing Un-Diplomatic has been crucial to writing the book. This is where I road-tested many of its ideas, but also Mike and I wrote this shockingly quickly, which would not have been possible without the regular rhythm of the newsletter. A longwinded, sleep-deprived way of saying that I’m very grateful for y’all. ✌️
About the book:
For close to a decade, the U.S. government has been preoccupied with the threat of China, fearing that the country will “eat our lunch,” in the words of President Biden. U.S. foreign and domestic policy has been crafted to help the country outcompete China on infrastructure, technology, and military power. Van Jackson and Michael Brenes argue that great-power competition is misguided and vastly underestimates the costs and risks that geopolitical rivalry poses to economic prosperity, the quality of democracy, and, ultimately, global stability.
This in-depth assessment of the trade-offs and pitfalls of protracted competition with China reveals how such a policy exacerbates inequality, leads to xenophobia, and increases the likelihood of violence around the world. In addition, it distracts from the priority of addressing such issues as climate change while at the same time undercutting democratic pluralism and sacrificing liberty in the name of prevailing against an enemy “other.” Jackson and Brenes provide an informed and urgent critique of current U.S. foreign policy and a road map toward a saner, more democratically accountable strategy of easing tension and achieving effective diplomacy.
Congratulations on the new book! I’m reading your previous book and so far it’s been a good read. Hopefully this book gives the same energy as the last one!