The Scholar's Stage
The Eight Tribes of Trump and China
LAST OCTOBER I published a short breakdown of four geopolitical ‘schools’ that might shape China...
31st Mar 2025
LAST OCTOBER I published a short breakdown of four geopolitical ‘schools’ that might shape China strategy under Trump. That piece was a pre-election preview of a much larger report I was writing for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. I published the preview as security: Trump...
The Scholar's Stage
The Euro-American Split (I): Dread Possibility
THERE ARE DECADES WHEN possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The terrain has been surveyed,...
21st Feb 2025
THERE ARE DECADES WHEN possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The terrain has been surveyed, boundaries have been laid, and rules have been established. In such an age there is still room for high drama: The decisive round of a boxing match draws the eye despite the...
The Scholar's Stage
Science Proceeds One Question at a Time
MIDWAY through his 900 page history of biology, zoologist Ernst Mayr considers the problem posed by...
1st Jan 2025
MIDWAY through his 900 page history of biology, zoologist Ernst Mayr considers the problem posed by Alfred Wallace. Wallace was a contemporary of Charles Darwin who independently developed a theory of speciation by means of natural selection. By the time Wallace came on the scene...
The Scholar's Stage
Republican Debates on China: A Political Compass
MANY HAVE TRIED to pin Trump to Heritage’s “Project 2025.” The Trump campaign has not only refused...
31st Oct 2024
MANY HAVE TRIED to pin Trump to Heritage’s “Project 2025.” The Trump campaign has not only refused to endorse Project 2025—they have refused to endorse any detailed policy plan whatsoever. Trump prefers to keep his options open.
One unanticipated benefit of this approach is that...
The Scholar's Stage
Washington DC is Not a Popularity Contest
IN 2009 PAUL GRAHAM WROTE A THOUGHTFUL ESSAY titled “Cities and Ambition.” There he proposes that a...
27th Sep 2024
IN 2009 PAUL GRAHAM WROTE A THOUGHTFUL ESSAY titled “Cities and Ambition.” There he proposes that a great city is defined by the sort of ambitions it kindles—or perhaps more accurately, the sort of ambitious it gathers. As Graham puts it:
The Scholar's Stage
Five Fundamentals of Chinese Grand Strategy
Last month Civic Future invited me to join a panel at their annual policy forum. The topic: what the...
17th Aug 2024
Last month Civic Future invited me to join a panel at their annual policy forum. The topic: what the United Kingdom should do about China. As I am neither a British citizen nor an expert in British affairs, I thought it impolitic to lecture my hosts on how they should be...
The Scholar's Stage
Patronage vs. Constituent Parties (Or Why Republican Party Leaders Matter More Than Democratic Ones)
The Republican and Democratic parties are not the same: power flows differently within them. The two...
20th Jul 2024
The Republican and Democratic parties are not the same: power flows differently within them. The two big political news items of this week—the happenings of the Republican National Convention and the desperate attempts of many Democrats to replace their candidate before their own...
The Scholar's Stage
More on Xi Jinping’s Industrial Drive + London Meet Up
A few items of interest to my readers:
First, at the end of last month I appeared on the German...
27th Jun 2024
A few items of interest to my readers:
First, at the end of last month I appeared on the German Marshall Fund's China Global podcast to discuss the CPC's current techno-industrial drive. You can listen to the full thing on Simplecast, Apple Podcast, or in the embed below:
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