Historian Stephen Kotkin: On China’s sphere of influence and rise in a U.S. dominated world (3/3)

This video presents clips from a lecture by Stephen Kotkin, one of America’s preeminent historians and authors on geopolitics and authoritarian regimes. He is a professor emeritus at Princeton University, where he taught history and international affairs for 33 years, and is currently a Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Kotkin has written several award-winning history books and textbooks, and his biography on Joseph Stalin was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. His lecture to the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, Austria touched on a wide range of topics, including Russia (for which he is best known, as a Stalin biographer). In this video, I’ve edited and clipped out the parts of Kotkin’s presentation addressing China. Topics include the historical context and implications of China’s growing sphere of influence and rise in a U.S. dominated world, the risks of miscalculation and "sleepwalking into war," Xi Jinping and the narrowness of decision-making on an opaque authoritarian regime, the biggest threat to the American-led rules-based international system, Donald Trump, and more. Although this presentation was given in April, 2017, Professor Kotkin’s insights are still as relevant today as they were back then. To buy Stephen Kotkin's books (and Kindle e-book or audio versions), click the below links. As a participant in Amazon Associate program, I may earn a small commission for qualifying purchases made through these links : STEPHEN KOTKIN BOOKS: “Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928” by Stephen Kotkin (Pulitzer Prize finalist for biography): https://amzn.to/4duyjbQ “Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941” by Stephen Kotkin (“Monumental.” —The New York Times Book Review): https://amzn.to/4dHp5sV “Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000” by Stephen Kotkin. ("The clearest picture we have to date of the post-Soviet landscape.” --The New Yorker): https://amzn.to/3Wz58gI “Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment” by Stephen Kotkin: https://amzn.to/3SHP8rC "Documenting Communism: The Hoover Project to Microfilm and Publish the Soviet Archives” by Stephen Kotkin: https://amzn.to/3WJFk1w Also referenced and/or recommended by Stephen Kotkin: "Invisible China" by Scott Rozelle (“Stunningly researched.” —The Economist, Best Books of the Year, UK): https://amzn.to/3SLbTLw “How The Farmers Changed China: Power Of The People” by Kate Xiao Zhou: https://amzn.to/4cgN8xG “Calamity and Reform in China: State, Rural Society, and Institutional Change Since the Great Leap Famine” by Dali L. Yang: https://amzn.to/46IROv5