A New Cold War? Great Power Relations in the 21st Century

Thirty years ago the Cold War ended. Today, great power competition is back - or so it seems - with many describing our present era as a "New Cold War" between the United States and China and Russia. What happened? Is the Cold War label an illuminating or distorting analogy? What should the U.S. do to meet the challengers of great power competition in the 21st century? This course seeks to answer these questions about contemporary great power relations, first by tracing the historical origins of the U.S.-Russia and U.S.-China relationships, next by assessing the similarities and differences between the Cold War and U.S.-Russia relations and U.S.-China relations today along three dimensions -- (1) Power, (2) Ideology, (3) Interdependence and Multilateralism - and third by discussing unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral policy prescriptions of US. policymakers.The main text for this course will be a new book in draft by Professor McFaul, as well accompanying academic articles.