Jeffrey Legro
Compton Visiting Professor in World Politics in the White Burkett Miller Center of Public AffairsThere's More to Chinese Foreign Policy Than Meets the EyeWhat does China want? Jeffrey W. Legro tackled this important question in a recent article in Perspectives on Politics, a journal of the American Political Science Association. "The 'rising China' problem is not just about power, but purpose," noted Mr. Legro, the Compton Professor of World Politics at the Miller Center of Public Affairs and chairman of the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics. China's purpose remains a mystery to observers in the United States, who generally fall into two schools of thought. The first school asserts that as Chinese power grows, it will inevitably seek to challenge the existing global order—one that would erode U.S. interests and power and requires a robust response. The second school argues that conflict can be avoided by engaging China and supporting its continued interdependence and political and economic liberalization. Mr. Legro believes that both perspectives downplay the ways in which Chinese leaders use foreign policy doctrines to legitimate their rule. To understand that, U.S. policy makers must understand "national ideas about how to achieve foreign policy goals" that are circulating inside China, he said. In addition to his teaching and research, Mr. Legro serves at the Miller Center as a co-chair of the Governing America in a Global Era program and has been a consultant to foundations, think tanks, publishers, and government agencies. He authored Rethinking the World: Great Power Strategies and International Order (2005) and, most recently, co-edited To Lead the World: U.S. Strategy After the Bush Doctrine. As a Fulbright professor at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing during the 2002–03 academic year, Mr. Legro taught international relations theory and American foreign policy to Chinese students training to be diplomats. Compton Visiting Professorship in World Politics in the White Burkett Miller Center of Public AffairsThe Compton Visiting Professorship in World Politics was established in 1984 through funding from the nonprofit Compton Foundation, which supports projects promoting world peace and a healthy ecology. The Compton Visiting Professorship is usually assigned for a one-year term to scholars engaged in research on emerging issues of world politics. ChairholdersRobert A. Strong 1991–92 Web Links"What China Will Want: The Future Intentions of a Rising Power" |