In order to avoid the Thucydides Trap, we must accept that the world today is radically different from the one twenty years ago. While Western countries continue to suffer from the pandemic, China has already surpassed America as the recipient of most Foreign Direct Investment. Additionally, more than 128 countries are economically more dependent on the PRC than they are on the United States. Traditional American allies in Europe and Asia can no longer choose sides without endangering their economies. And China appears to be only at the beginning of its rise — its GDP is forecast to dwarf those of the United States and Europe put togetherby 2050.

For Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Dr. Mathew Burrows, Director of the Atlantic Council’s Foresight, Strategy and Risks Initiative, and Atlantic Council Resident Fellow Julian Mueller-Kaler argue that it is high time to understand that by any measure, from demographics to economics, the world is no longer Western centric and that US strategy must be forward looking, not rest on past laurels.

Related Experts: Mathew Burrows and Julian Mueller-Kaler