Shifrinson Appears on Power Problems Podcast
Joshua Shifrinson, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, discussed great power politics and United States-China relations on the CATO Institute‘s Power Problems podcast. The episode was the third and final in the podcast’s series on the world after coronavirus.
On the podcast, Shifrinson discussed the coronavirus pandemic and how it has brought underlying tensions between the U.S. and China to the surface, each country’s different approaches in tackling the pandemic, as well as the inevitable decline in U.S.-China relations.
Host Emma Ashford, research fellow in Defense and Foreign Policy at the CATO Institute, presented the idea that the Trump administration wants to replay the Cold War and that’s how they are currently viewing U.S.-China relations. Shifrinson agreed with the assertion and argued that, while both the Trump and Biden administrations have been trying to create and implement a Cold War mindset with regards to China, this pursuit is misguided and untethered from strategic reality.
The full podcast can be listened to below.
Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson is an Assistant Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, where his teaching and research interests focus on the intersection of international security and diplomatic history, particularly the rise and fall of great powers and the origins of grand strategy. He is author of Rising Titans, Falling Giants: How Great Powers Exploit Power Shifts (Cornell University Press, 2018) and his work has appeared with International Security, the Journal of Strategic Studies, Foreign Affairs, and other venues. Read more about him here.