Listen free for 30 days
-
A Contest for Supremacy
- China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia
- Narrated by: Michael Scherer
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Politics & Government
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £22.89
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
All Measures Short of War
- The Contest for the Twenty-First Century and the Future of American Power
- By: Thomas J. Wright
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Russia and China are increasingly revisionist in their regions. The Middle East appears to be unraveling. And many Americans question why the United States ought to lead. What will great power competition look like in the decades ahead? What impact will geopolitics have on globalization? And what strategy should the United States pursue to succeed in an increasingly competitive world? In this book, Thomas Wright explains how major powers will compete fiercely even as they try to avoid war with each other.
-
-
Food for thought
- By Bill Atkinson on 21-06-22
-
The Unquiet Frontier
- Rising Rivals, Vulnerable Allies, and the Crisis of American Power
- By: Jakub J. Grygiel, A. Wess Mitchell
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Baltic to the South China Sea, newly assertive authoritarian states sense an opportunity to resurrect old empires or build new ones at America's expense. Hoping that US decline is real, nations such as Russia, Iran, and China are testing Washington's resolve by targeting vulnerable allies at the frontiers of American power. The Unquiet Frontier explains why the United States needs a new grand strategy that uses strong frontier alliance networks to raise the costs of military aggression in the new century.
-
The China Challenge
- Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power
- By: Thomas Christensen
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many see China's rise as a threat to US leadership in Asia and beyond. Thomas J. Christensen argues instead that the real challenge lies in dissuading China from regional aggression while eliciting its global cooperation. Drawing on decades of scholarship and experience as a senior diplomat, Christensen offers a deep perspective on China's military and economic capacity. Assessing China's political outlook and strategic goals, Christensen shows how nationalism and the threat of domestic instability influence the party's decisions about regional and global affairs.
-
-
A scholarly and comprehensive analysis
- By Adrian J. Smith on 19-09-17
-
Tangled Titans
- The United States and China
- By: David Shambaugh - editor
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tangled Titans offers a current and comprehensive assessment of the most important relationship in international affairs - that between the United States and China. How the relationship evolves will have a defining impact on the future of world politics, the Asian region, and the citizens of many nations. In this definitive audiobook, leading experts provide an in-depth exploration of the historical, domestic, bilateral, regional, global, and future contexts of this complex relationship. The contributors argue that the relationship is a unique combination of deep interdependence, limited cooperation, and increasing competition.
-
Crouching Tiger
- What China's Militarism Means for the World
- By: Peter Navarro
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Will there be war with China? This book provides the most complete and accurate assessment of the probability of conflict between the United States and the rising Asian superpower. Equally important, it lays out an in-depth analysis of the possible pathways to peace. Written like a geopolitical detective story, the narrative encourages listener interaction by starting each chapter with an intriguing question that often challenges conventional wisdom.
-
The Russia Trap
- How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear Catastrophe
- By: George Beebe
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every American president since the end of the Cold War has called for better relations with Russia. But each has seen relations get worse by the time he left office. Now, the two countries are facing off in a virtual war being fought without clear goals or boundaries. Why? George Beebe argues that new game-changing technologies, disappearing rules of the game, and distorted perceptions on both sides are combining to lock Washington and Moscow into an escalatory spiral that they do not recognize.
-
All Measures Short of War
- The Contest for the Twenty-First Century and the Future of American Power
- By: Thomas J. Wright
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Russia and China are increasingly revisionist in their regions. The Middle East appears to be unraveling. And many Americans question why the United States ought to lead. What will great power competition look like in the decades ahead? What impact will geopolitics have on globalization? And what strategy should the United States pursue to succeed in an increasingly competitive world? In this book, Thomas Wright explains how major powers will compete fiercely even as they try to avoid war with each other.
-
-
Food for thought
- By Bill Atkinson on 21-06-22
-
The Unquiet Frontier
- Rising Rivals, Vulnerable Allies, and the Crisis of American Power
- By: Jakub J. Grygiel, A. Wess Mitchell
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Baltic to the South China Sea, newly assertive authoritarian states sense an opportunity to resurrect old empires or build new ones at America's expense. Hoping that US decline is real, nations such as Russia, Iran, and China are testing Washington's resolve by targeting vulnerable allies at the frontiers of American power. The Unquiet Frontier explains why the United States needs a new grand strategy that uses strong frontier alliance networks to raise the costs of military aggression in the new century.
-
The China Challenge
- Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power
- By: Thomas Christensen
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many see China's rise as a threat to US leadership in Asia and beyond. Thomas J. Christensen argues instead that the real challenge lies in dissuading China from regional aggression while eliciting its global cooperation. Drawing on decades of scholarship and experience as a senior diplomat, Christensen offers a deep perspective on China's military and economic capacity. Assessing China's political outlook and strategic goals, Christensen shows how nationalism and the threat of domestic instability influence the party's decisions about regional and global affairs.
-
-
A scholarly and comprehensive analysis
- By Adrian J. Smith on 19-09-17
-
Tangled Titans
- The United States and China
- By: David Shambaugh - editor
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tangled Titans offers a current and comprehensive assessment of the most important relationship in international affairs - that between the United States and China. How the relationship evolves will have a defining impact on the future of world politics, the Asian region, and the citizens of many nations. In this definitive audiobook, leading experts provide an in-depth exploration of the historical, domestic, bilateral, regional, global, and future contexts of this complex relationship. The contributors argue that the relationship is a unique combination of deep interdependence, limited cooperation, and increasing competition.
-
Crouching Tiger
- What China's Militarism Means for the World
- By: Peter Navarro
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Will there be war with China? This book provides the most complete and accurate assessment of the probability of conflict between the United States and the rising Asian superpower. Equally important, it lays out an in-depth analysis of the possible pathways to peace. Written like a geopolitical detective story, the narrative encourages listener interaction by starting each chapter with an intriguing question that often challenges conventional wisdom.
-
The Russia Trap
- How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear Catastrophe
- By: George Beebe
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every American president since the end of the Cold War has called for better relations with Russia. But each has seen relations get worse by the time he left office. Now, the two countries are facing off in a virtual war being fought without clear goals or boundaries. Why? George Beebe argues that new game-changing technologies, disappearing rules of the game, and distorted perceptions on both sides are combining to lock Washington and Moscow into an escalatory spiral that they do not recognize.
-
What Good Is Grand Strategy?
- Power and Purpose in American Statecraft from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Todd Belcher
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Grand strategy" is one of the most widely used and abused concepts in the foreign policy lexicon. In this important book, Hal Brands explains why grand strategy is a concept that is so alluring - and so elusive - to those who make American statecraft. He explores what grand strategy is, why it is so essential, and why it is so hard to get right amid the turbulence of global affairs and the chaos of domestic politics.
-
US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy
- The Evolution of an Incidental Superpower
- By: Derek Reveron, Nikolas Gvosdev, Mackubin Thomas Owens
- Narrated by: Douglas R. Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy, the authors analyze the strategic underpinnings of hegemony, assess the national security establishment that sustains dominance, consider the impact on civil-military relations, and explore the intertwining relationships between foreign policy, defense strategy, and commercial activities.
-
The Obama Doctrine
- American Grand Strategy Today
- By: Colin Dueck
- Narrated by: Christopher Kipiniak
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Obama Doctrine, Colin Dueck analyzes and explains what the Obama Doctrine in foreign policy actually is and maps out the competing visions on offer from the Republican Party. Dueck, a leading scholar of US foreign policy, contends it is now becoming clear that Obama's policy of international retrenchment is in large part a function of his emphasis on achieving domestic policy goals. There have been some successes in the approach, but there have also been costs.
-
Mission Failure
- America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era
- By: Michael Mandelbaum
- Narrated by: Bill Thatcher
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Mission Failure, Michael Mandelbaum, one of America's leading foreign policy thinkers, provides an original, provocative, and definitive account of the ambitious but deeply flawed post-Cold War efforts to promote American values and American institutions throughout the world.
-
A Superpower Transformed
- The Remaking of American Foreign Relations in the 1970s
- By: Daniel J. Sargent
- Narrated by: Kalen Allmandinger
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the 1970s, American foreign policy faced a predicament of clashing imperatives - US decision makers, already struggling to maintain stability and devise strategic frameworks to guide the exercise of American power during the Cold War, found themselves hampered by the emergence of dilemmas that would come to a head in the post-Cold War era. Their choices proved to be of enormous consequence for the development of American foreign policy in the final decades of the twentieth century and beyond.
-
Don't Wait for the Next War
- A Strategy for American Growth and Global Leadership
- By: Wesley K. Clark
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Don't Wait forthe Next War, Wesley K. Clark, a retired four-star general of the US Armyand former Democratic candidate for president, presents a compelling argumentfor continued American global leadership and the basis on which it cansucceed: a new American strategy. America needs both new power and deeperperspective.
-
Making the Unipolar Moment
- U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Cory Schaeffer
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1970s, the United States often seemed to be a superpower in decline. Battered by crises and setbacks around the globe, its post–World War II international leadership appeared to be draining steadily away. Yet just over a decade later, by the early 1990s, America's global primacy had been reasserted in dramatic fashion. The Cold War had ended with Washington and its allies triumphant; democracy and free markets were spreading like never before.
-
The America-China Divide
- The Race to Control the World
- By: Daniel Wagner
- Narrated by: Raymond S Gray
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
China and the US are in a pitched battle to control the way the world functions - from the global trade and investment regime and choice of reserve currency to its top products and which country is the most influential. Governments, businesses, and individuals are being forced to make a choice: lean in the direction of the eagle and pursue a free, democratic, and market-oriented economic and political system, or lean in the direction of the panda, toward that of an authoritarian form of government and state-dominated economic system.
-
-
The times we live in....
- By Paul Murphy on 24-05-20
-
American Power and Liberal Order
- A Conservative Internationalist Grand Strategy
- By: Paul D. Miller
- Narrated by: Maxwell Zener
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan convinced many policymakers and scholars that the United States should pull back in international affairs and that restraint should guide grand strategy. Paul D. Miller offers a tough-minded critique of this trending body of thought, arguing that US security in fact depends on active, sustained support of the international liberal order.
-
North Korea and the World
- Human Rights, Arms Control, and Strategies for Negotiation (Asia in the New Millennium)
- By: Walter C. Clemens Jr.
- Narrated by: Andy Rose
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With nearly 25 million citizens, a secretive totalitarian dictatorship, and active nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs, North Korea presents some of the world's most difficult foreign policy challenges. In North Korea and the World, Clemens poses the question, "Can, should, and must we negotiate with a regime we regard as evil?" Weighing the needs of all the stakeholders, he concludes that the answer is yes. After assessing nine other policy options, he makes the case for engagement and negotiation with the regime.
-
2020
- World of War
- By: Paul Cornish, Kingsley Donaldson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What will the world look like in 2020? Paul Cornish and Kingsley Donaldson guide us through a maze of global uncertainty in this fascinating look at the future. With the world already struggling to contain conflicts on several continents, with security and defence expenditure under huge pressure, it's time to think the unthinkable and explore what might happen
-
-
Disappointing
- By Martin on 20-07-17
-
Iran Rising
- The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic
- By: Amin Saikal
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Iranians overthrew their monarchy, rejecting a pro-Western shah in favor of an Islamic regime, many observers predicted that revolutionary turmoil would paralyze the country for decades to come. Yet 40 years after the 1978-79 revolution, Iran has emerged as a critical player in the Middle East and the wider world, as demonstrated in part by the 2015 international nuclear agreement. In Iran Rising, renowned Iran specialist Amin Saikal describes how the country has managed to survive despite ongoing domestic struggles, Western sanctions, and other serious challenges.
-
-
Not bad
- By Alex on 06-02-19
Summary
Despite its impressive size and population, economic vitality, and drive to upgrade its military, China remains a vulnerable nation surrounded by powerful rivals and potential foes. Understanding China's foreign policy means fully appreciating these geostrategic challenges, which persist even as the country gains increasing influence over its neighbors. Andrew J. Nathan and Andrew Scobell analyze China's security concerns on four fronts: at home, with its immediate neighbors, in surrounding regional systems, and in the world beyond Asia. By illuminating the issues driving Chinese policy, they offer a new perspective on the country's rise and a strategy for balancing Chinese and American interests in Asia.
Though rooted in the present, Nathan and Scobell's study makes ample use of the past, reaching back into history to illuminate the people and institutions shaping Chinese strategy today. They also examine Chinese views of the United States; explain why China is so concerned about Japan; and uncover China's interests in such problematic countries as North Korea, Iran, and the Sudan. The authors probe recent troubles in Tibet and Xinjiang and explore their links to forces beyond China's borders. They consider the tactics deployed by mainland China and Taiwan, as Taiwan seeks to maintain autonomy in the face of Chinese advances toward unification. They evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of China's three main power resources - economic power, military power, and soft power.
The authors conclude with recommendations for the United States as it seeks to manage China's rise. Chinese policymakers understand that their nation's prosperity, stability, and security depend on cooperation with the United States. If handled wisely, the authors believe, relations between the two countries can produce mutually beneficial outcomes for both Asia and the world.
More from the same
What listeners say about A Contest for Supremacy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adrian J. Smith
- 21-06-19
Excellent study of Asia Pacific Security Dynamics
A Contest for Supremacy is a book that could be equally appealing to either researchers on the history of bilateral Sino-American relations, and those interested in contemporary security issues. For the latter category it would be recommended to skip the first five chapters and concentrate on the last six. However, the book in itself is thoughtful and comprehensive, and merits being read in its entirety.
Friedberg takes an approach that seems to be both a combination of Real Politik and an ideological Neo-Liberalist Democracy centric approach.
Friedberg discusses in depth the security concerns of China's neighborhood, and comes to the entirely rational conclusion that the future shape and intentions of China is impossible to predict, and therefore balancing and containment should remain the focus of US policy.
Although Friedberg abstains from predicting any kind of Democratic transformation of China, he nonetheless takes the position that a Democratic China could be less predictable or accomodating of US interests than a One Party China.
Nonetheless, Friedberg still takes the rather ideological position that the US should establish an Asian Democratic Club, similar to Robert Kagan's proposed League of Democracies, as a counterweight to the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, which Friedberg dubs an autocratic club.
Though this book predates the change of leadership in 2012 and is still in the Hu Jintao era, nonetheless the fundamental security dynamics remain unchanged.
Friedberg's approach is an interesting mix of ideology and political realism, which may not be to everyone's agreement, but nonetheless he provides a very good security centric exploration of Sino-American relations, recommended for international relations or security specialists alike.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Chaohui
- 20-08-13
Recites superficial observations.
What did you like best about A Contest for Supremacy? What did you like least?
It is readable, but the author attempted no insight, off no new prescription, and large built a narrative by cherry picked quotes. In the end he exhorted the US to do what is has done, which he admits to be a born of shorted sighted narrowly self interested born of compromise, but do it better.
Do you think A Contest for Supremacy needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Carlos B.
- 28-04-17
Chinese music!
Great book. It does hit most of the major points. However, I was a bit surprised it didn't talk more about how China ended up acquiring its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, from Ukraine.
Also a funny detail that needs to be corrected. In Chapter 11 at 14:48 minutes in the narrator says "Since the end of the gulf war, PLA planners have been paying close attention to the ways in which the United States has used its precision guided musicians". I'm pretty sure he meant to say munitions hahaha.