Professional Affiliation

Assistant Professor of International Relations, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

Expert Bio

Joshua Shifrinson is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University. His first book, Rising Titans, Falling Giants: How Great Powers Exploit Power Shifts, was published by Cornell University Press in 2018; other research has appeared in International Security, the Journal of Strategic Studies, The Washington Quarterly, and other venues. A graduate of MIT and Brandeis University, Shifrinson’s research examines broad issues of great power politics, international security, and diplomatic history. Currently, he is engaged in several projects examining how great powers address potential security rivals, the conditions and pathways by which states coerce their allies, and options for addressing nuclear proliferation in politically fragile states.

Expertise

• Cold War
• History
• Security and Defense
• Asia
• Europe
• Russia and Eurasia

Wilson Center Project

• Shaping the Future: Great Powers and the Management of Future Peer Competitors
• The U.S.-China Competition in Historical and Theoretical Perspective

 

Project Summary

Amid talk of talk of growing US-China "competition," this project investigates the range of great power competitions that exist in world politics and their implications for the US-China relationship. Leveraging diplomatic history and international relations (IR) theory, it distinguishes among ideological, economic, and military conflicts, as well as combinations thereof. It then considers both where in the spectrum of competitions the nascent US-China contest falls and identifies conditions under which the existing contest may change. Finally, the work highlights prospective consequences for the US, PRC, and international security if and as the nature of the US-China competitions changes form.

Major Publications

• Rising Titans, Falling Giants: How Great Powers Exploit Power Shifts
• Deal or No Deal? The End of the Cold War and the U.S. Offer to Limit NATO Expansion
• Neo-Primacy and the Pitfalls of US Strategy toward China

Previous Terms

• Wilson China Fellow: March 1, 2020 — March 31, 2021
• June 6–August 26, 2011