Destined for War

Extracted Attributes

• Author

  Graham Allison

• Core Concept

  Thucydides's Trap

• Key Subjects

  US-China relations, Middle East crisis, Nuclear security, Populism

• Conflict Outcome

  12 wars out of 16 cases (75% rate)

• Historical Dataset

  16 cases of power transition over 500 years

• Academic Affiliation

  Harvard Kennedy School

• Nuclear Proliferation Model

  80-80-9 framework

Timeline

• Birth of author Graham Allison, political scientist and Harvard professor. (Source: undefined)

  1940-03-23

• Graham Allison publishes "Remaking Foreign Policy: The Organizational Connection," influencing the Carter administration. (Source: undefined)

  1976-01-01

• Publication of the book "Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?" (Source: undefined)

  2017-05-30

• Modern Diplomacy publishes a review of "Destined for War," analyzing its relevance to the 21st-century US-China rivalry. (Source: undefined)

  2025-02-13

Graham Allison

Graham Tillett Allison Jr. (born March 23, 1940) is an American political scientist and the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is known for his contributions in the late 1960s and early 1970s to the bureaucratic analysis of decision making, especially during times of crisis. His book Remaking Foreign Policy: The Organizational Connection, co-written with Peter L. Szanton, was published in 1976 and influenced the foreign policy of the Carter administration. Since the 1970s, Allison has also been a leading analyst of U.S. national security and defense policy, with a special interest in nuclear weapons and terrorism.

Web Search Results

• Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?

  Most readers will likely find Graham Allison’s newest book, Destined for War, interesting and fresh. Many will agree with this reviewer that it is a work that may entitle Allison to join the ranks of Francis Fukuyama (The End of History) and Samuel Huntington (The Clash of Civilizations), who offer powerful templates, if not plausible theories, to help explain current international politics. This book is therefore highly recommended to students of US–China relations, strategic studies, international politics, modern history, and more. Allison provides an easily understandable formula to unwrap the foremost strategic issue that faces the world right now: the likelihood of a war between the United States and China, and the implications of such an event.

• Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?

  photo: Wikipedia Graham Allison is an eminent scholar from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, founding Dean of the Kennedy School and former Head of its Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Allison writes in Destined for War about Thucydides’s Trap, providing an in-depth analysis of the US-China rivalry, particularly in the twenty-first century. The author sheds light on the rise of China as a great power in contrast to the US, accentuating the historical parallels and war scenarios, where many rising powers challenged the position of the mighty ruling one. The book underscores a historical record of 500 years in which major powers of the time went to war while, on some occasions, avoiding confrontation by making painful but necessary adjustments. [...] Americas # Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? – Book Review Allison writes in Destined for War about Thucydides’s Trap, providing an in-depth analysis of the US-China rivalry, particularly in the twenty-first century. Muhtasim Afridi By Muhtasim Afridi By Muhtasim Afridi FacebookXWhatsAppLinkedinReddItTelegram photo: Wikipedia [...] Part two delves into patterns of historical wars between the major powers—offering lessons from history while denoting Thucydides’s Trap. Allison investigates the 500-year history, portraying 16 cases where the emerging power challenged the established one—out of which 12 rivalries resulted in war. He points out that the contemporary scenario between the US and China is not one of its kind but rather a repetition of events—referring to Mark Twain’s aphorism, “History may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

• Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?

  to scale back its ambitions or Washington can accept becoming number two in the Pacific, a trade conflict, cyberattack, or accident at sea could soon escalate into all-out war. In Destined for War, the eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison explains why Thucydides's Trap is the best lens for understanding U.S.-China relations in the twenty-first century. Through uncanny historical parallels and war scenarios, he shows how close we are to the unthinkable. Yet, stressing that war is not inevitable, Allison also reveals how clashing powers have kept the peace in the past -- and what painful steps the United States and China must take to avoid disaster today [...] CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES ARE HEADING TOWARD A WAR NEITHER WANTS. The reason is Thucydides's Trap, a deadly pattern of structural stress that results when a rising power challenges a ruling one. This phenomenon is as old as history itself. About the Peloponnesian War that devastated ancient Greece, the historian Thucydides explained: "It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable." Over the past 500 years, these conditions have occurred sixteen times. War broke out in twelve of them. Today, as an unstoppable China approaches an immovable America and both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump promise to make their countries "great again," the seventeenth case looks grim. Unless China is willing to scale back its ambitions or Washington can accept [...] Harvard Kennedy School Harvard Kennedy School Harvard Kennedy School # Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? ## In This Section Faculty & Research + Publications - Faculty Publications - Publications by Centers & Initiatives - Student Publications ### HKS Authors See citation below for complete author information. View on Publisher Site Graham Allison Photo Graham Allison Douglas Dillon Professor of Government ### Abstract

• Book Review: Graham Allison's 'Destined for War' - Lowy Institute

  ## Interpreter - Menu Links Published daily by the Lowy Institute # Book Review: Graham Allison’s 'Destined for War' Allison methodically dismantles the idea that China will become a 'responsible stakeholder'. China seeks the expulsion of the US from Asia. Book Review: Graham Allison’s 'Destined for War' Graham Allison’s new book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides Trap?, crashes China's rise into the US political mainstream. Unsurprisingly, it took 'a red-blooded, perhaps red-necked American' (Allison's words) to draw attention to an issue that those residing in our part of the world have debated for many years. [...] After explaining the Thucydides Trap – the friction created when a rising power challenges an established power – Allison goes on to present twelve historical examples that resulted in war, and four in which war was avoided. In excellent prose, Allison focuses on the examples he considers to be the most instructive, namely the Peloponnesian War, World War I, and the Cold War. [...] Going by Allison's ledger, the factors favouring war between the US and China are ominous: two powers with narratives of their own 'exceptionalism', China's sense of past humiliation and present restoration, incompatible cultures and political systems, and a series of entangling flashpoints and alliances. On the positive side, Allison argues, is an interdependent trade relationship and stable nuclear deterrence.

• Book Summary: Destined for War by Graham Allison - To Summarise

  Some people may find the title of the book a bit “clickbait-y” because Allison is quick to point out that war between America and China is not inevitable (it’s in the preface, before the book even starts!). He explains that he took the term “inevitable” as Thucydides used it. Allison says Thucydides himself accepted it was hyperbole. It is just more likely than not, especially if people don’t recognise that risk and act to avoid it. The ideas in the book were interesting and Allison’s arguments appeared reasonably compelling. A possible exception is when he talks about economics. [...] web analytics To Summarise 20 hours of insights in 20 minutes To Summarise 20 hours of insights in 20 minutes To Summarise 20 hours of insights in 20 minutes Home » Book Summary: Destined for War by Graham Allison # Book Summary: Destined for War by Graham Allison Book Cover for "Destined for War? Can America and China Escape Thucydides' Trap" This summary of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’ Trap? explains the dynamic that arises when a rising power threatens an existing ruling power. Graham Allison looks back at examples of similar past dynamics starting with Athens and Sparta, and suggests ways in which we can learn from history and hopefully avoid war. Buy Destined for War at: Amazon | Kobo (affiliate links) ## Key Takeaways from Destined for War [...] ## Key Takeaways from Destined for War ## Detailed Summary of Destined for War Allison noted 12 examples where the rising and rulings powers went to war. The four that he focused on in the book were: The four cases where war was averted were: From these four cases, Allison suggests some “clues for peace”. ### Athens and Sparta (WAR) It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable. #### Sparta #### Athens #### The Wars ### America and China #### China ##### Economic Growth in China ##### One Belt, One Road ##### China’s rising power syndrome ##### Foreign relations ##### Chinese Military #### America ##### When the US was a rising power, it was also belligerent #### Similarities and differences between America and China

• Instance Of

  Q47461344