: Both nations suffer from "extreme superiority complexes," viewing themselves as exceptional and peerless. Book Summary: Destined for War by Graham Allison
In his influential 2017 book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? , Harvard scholar Graham Allison warns that the United States and China are on a collision course. While he stresses that , he argues that historical structural forces make it much more likely than most leaders acknowledge. The Core Concept: Thucydides’s Trap Destined for War: Can America and China Escape ...
: China’s rapid economic ascent is unparalleled—surpassing the U.S. in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)—while the U.S. maintains a "DNA to be Number One". : Both nations suffer from "extreme superiority complexes,"
The "trap" refers to the dangerous structural stress that occurs when a (China) threatens to displace a ruling power (the United States). While he stresses that , he argues that
: Allison’s team identified 16 cases over the last 500 years where a rising power challenged a ruling one; 12 of these resulted in war .