The origins of the First World War have eerie parallels to the present. Will war again be an inevitable outcome of the changing balance of power and entangling alliances? In this timely book, top international relations experts ask whether nations today can better control their destinies as China rises and challenges the global order and the world lurches toward new conflicts.
Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
None of the leaders who drifted into war in August 1914 would have done so could they have foreseen the world of 1918. In this thought-provoking volume, distinguished observers and participants in international affairs assess the origins of that catastrophe and its important lessons for the future.
Henry A. Kissinger
What can World War I, a devastating conflict that no state wanted to happen, teach us about how to prevent a twenty-first-century war in Asia? In this book, an all-star team of historians and international relations scholars review the origins of World War I and highlight important lessons for the U.S. and China, including watching out for allies and building cross-cutting alliances and regional concerts. Should be required reading in Washington and Beijing.
Susan L. Shirk, Ho Miu Lam Professor of China and Pacific Relations, University of California, San Diego
This is an unusually rich and insightful collection that offers a convincing as well as thought-provoking discussion of why war broke out in 1914 and lessons that might be drawn for the future of U.S-China relations. It suggests that much more will depend on the sagacity of our future leaders than on any recurring patterns of the past.
Zara Steiner, Emeritus Fellow, Murray-Edwards College, University of Cambridge
...the essays that Rosecrance and Steven Miller have assembled in this volume are judicious and nuanced, brimming with insights for theorists, historians and policy-makers alike.
Ali Wyne
Global Asia
One of 2014's more thoughtful books.
Julian Snelder, The Interpreter, Lowy Institute for International Policy, Australia
Examining the causes of World War I, Rosecrance and Miller's star-studded cast of scholars ask all the right questions.
Lawrence Freedman
Foreign Affairs
The 2014 centennial brought multiple comparisons between Europe 1914 and Asia 2014. Some of the best are assembled in Rosecrance and Miller's The Next Great War?: The Roots of World War I and the Risk of US–China Conflict (2015).
Stein Tonnesson
International Area Studies Review
An excellent new academic volume, 'The Next Great War?: The Roots of World War I and the Risk of U.S.-China Conflict,' co-edited by Richard Rosecrance and Steven Miller, highlights that, in addition to deterrence, the United States also needs to work hard at cooperation—at integrating China into the global system.
Fareed Zakaria
The Washington Post
The Next Great War? asks whether we are truly in a 1914 moment today and whether war between China and the United States is inevitable. The answers, thankfully, are no and no.
Stephen John Stedman, The American Interest
The Next Great War? is essential reading both for those who are interested in the relevance of previous power transitions for East Asia today as well as those studying the international relations of the World War I era.... At a time when there has been much superficial punditry concerning the relevance of World War I for the present, this is a very welcome contribution.
Todd Hall
International Studies Review
To mark the centenary of World War I, an impressive array of distinguished scholars and practitioners have produced an edited volume revisiting the origins of this momentous conflict and drawing implications for the early twenty-first-century rise of China.... this volume is highly recommended for those who desire a magisterial overview of the road to World War I combined with thoughtful observations about the future trajectory of U.S.–China relations.
Andrew Scobell
Political Science Quarterly
