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MAY 21, 2026 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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With the recent summit between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping, HKS Professor Graham Allison's ideas about rivalry between the United States and China are in the news. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/ AFP via Getty Images) | | |
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International Relations & Security |
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Avoiding the trap of U.S.-Chinese rivalry |
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Ahead of President Donald Trump’s summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, Xi asked whether the United States and China could “overcome the ‘Thucydides Trap’ and establish a new paradigm for relations between great powers.” This concept—the “Thucydides Trap”—was coined by HKS Professor Graham Allison. It refers to the ancient Greek historian, Thucydides, who in his late 5th century BCE History of the Peloponnesian War suggested war was inevitable because a rising Athens seriously threatened to displace a ruling power, Sparta. Allison has long studied conflict between established and emerging powers, and applied the concept to the relationship between China and the United States in his 2017 book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’ Trap? Read more or watch a video about this influential foreign policy idea.
Learn more about International Relations & Security at HKS » | | |
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Development & Economic Growth |
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International development after USAID |
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HKS Professor Samantha Power, former head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), led a conversation about the future of economic development and the end of USAID with leading experts (including three Nobel Prize winners) at the flagship annual meeting of Harvard’s Center for International Development. “People don’t talk about USAID very much anymore,” she said. “That’s a gift, actually, to the people with the wrecking balls. And it’s unfair not only to the 15,000 people who worked at USAID when a year and a couple months ago a bunch of tech bros, on a whim, decided to destroy six and a half decades of work and impact.” The panelists talked about development beyond USAID, investing in innovation, and the role of economists and other experts.
Learn more about Development & Economic Growth at HKS » | | |
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International Relations and Security |
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NATO and the future of European security |
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Amid transatlantic tensions, European countries are grappling with their ability to defend themselves. Professor Federico Fabbrini, a spring fellow at HKS’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a professor at Dublin City University, hosted a discussion on security and the future of NATO. “A few years back people might have started laughing if we had a conversation about a European army,” he said. “Now there is greater realization that this might make sense as a policy option going forward.” HKS Professor Nicholas Burns, a participant on the panel, said, “President Trump was right to force a change in how we pay for our collective defense because a lot of European countries have been free riders. Where I think he is making a historic mistake is to suggest that, somehow, we don’t need NATO. … It is the most successful security alliance in modern times anywhere in the world.”
Learn more about International Relations and Security at HKS » | | |
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What we're DOing |
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HKS’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs launched the Program on Diplomacy and Statecraft, a new initiative founded by HKS Professor Nicholas Burns, who recently returned to Harvard Kennedy School after serving as the U.S. ambassador to China. The program is dedicated to advancing the practice and study of diplomacy and negotiation. | | | | | |
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Explore the latest news, research, and featured stories from Harvard Kennedy School, including public policy insights, faculty work, and community impact. | | |
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