Relations between China and the United States took a clear and possibly irreversible turn for the worse in 2019. This transformation has been shaped by the constraints of the international system as well as national attributes distinctive to the US and China. Chief among the international constraints are the structural condition of anarchy in which all states find themselves and the distribution of power that defines the system’s polarity. The national attributes most relevant to understanding the evolution of US-China relations are the countries’ geographic locations, their technological capabilities, and their domestic politics. A brief review of these causes operating at the international and national levels suggests that the shift from limited competition to rivalry was very likely, perhaps overdetermined, even if its timing was unpredictable. These causes also indicate why it will be difficult to return to the pragmatic sort of managed and limited competition that characterized the era of engagement. Visit our website (rccs.rutgers.edu) for more info.
