Grant Rhode
Senior Lecturer
Grant Rhode teaches at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and is an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. He has been Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Naval War College and Visiting Scholar at the National Taiwan University. He has done field research in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India.
Dr. Rhode’s current research focuses on China’s role in contemporary and historical Eurasian maritime affairs. On the contemporary front, his forthcoming book with Pardee School co-editors is Investigating the Belt and Road: The World According to China and China According to the World (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2026). Since 2019, he has directed Boston University’s program Assessing China’s Belt and Road Initiative. On the historical front, his recent book is Great Power Clashes Along the Maritime Silk Road: Lessons from History to Shape Current Strategy (Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2023). Other publications include “Shi Lang’s Amphibious Conquest of Taiwan in 1683” (2024), “Tasting Gall: Chiang Kai-Shek and China’s War with Japan” (2022), “China’s Emergence as a Power in the Mediterranean: Port Diplomacy and Active Engagement” (2021), China, Global History, and the Sea” (2020), “Mongol Invasions of Northeast Asia: Korea and Japan” (2020), and “By Land and By Sea: China’s Belt and Road in Europe” (2019).
In addition to his academic career, Dr. Rhode had a career in business entrepreneurship in which he was founder and CEO of three firms in the construction industry. As a public lecturer, he currently serves as Viking Resident Historian aboard Viking Ocean Cruise ships in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Coral, and China Seas.
Recent teaching includes the following courses:
Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University
Diplomacy and Statecraft
The Sea in International Relations
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific Region
U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island
Strategy and Policy
Eurasian Maritime History for Global Strategists
Taiwan: Transformation and Geopolitics
East Asian Island Disputes