Gallagher Op-Ed on COVID-19 and the Thucydides Trap
Kevin Gallagher, Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Director of the Global Development Policy (GDP) Center, along with colleagues Yu Yongding (director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,) published an opinion piece warning that COVID-19 will only worsen the Sino-American division and that cooperation is the key to progress.
Published through Project Syndicate on April 24, 2020, and entitled, “COVID-19 and the Thucydides Trap” the authors outline three paths forward the U.S. and China should take to avoid what Harvard Professor Graham Allison refers to as the “Thucydides Trap.”
An excerpt:
There are three paths forward: one may be a dead end, another will lead to ruin, and the third could bring about a global recovery. Once China determined that COVID-19 was a serious threat, it made huge sacrifices to contain the virus, thereby creating a window of opportunity for the US and the rest of the world to start preparing. Having flattened the contagion curve within its own borders, China is now demonstrating global solidarity by sending medical professionals and equipment to other countries in need.
Rather than recognizing China’s decisiveness and thanking it for its help, the US has doubled down on disparaging the country.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Starting today, China and the US could begin to rebuild their relationship through bilateral and jointly led global initiatives to stem the COVID-19 pandemic and put the global economy back on a sustainable growth path.
Read the full piece here.
Kevin Gallagher is a professor of global development policy at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, where he directs the Global Development Policy Center. He is author or co-author of six books, including most recently, The China Triangle: Latin America’s China Boom and the Fate of the Washington Consensus. Read more here.