What is it about?
This article points to several factors that may facilitate peaceful change despite increasing US-China competition: Nuclear deterrence, defensive military technologies, and the increasing agency of non-great powers create greater space for nonviolent systemic transition. While the old international institutional order is in crisis, states are now pursuing strategies such as soft balancing, economic statecraft, and informal multilateralism to manage great power competition and shape rules, norms, and practices, fostering the possibility of peaceful institutional transitions in global governance.
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Why is it important?
In a world of increasing great power conflict, it is easy to lose faith in the future and forget the many factors and processes pointing towards peaceful change. However, while there is surely cause for some concern, we point to what we believe is not only an optimistic but also a realistic future of peaceful change.
Perspectives
As a researcher and as a citizen in a small state, I find it important to understand the current international crisis and how to navigate it.
Dr. Anders Wivel
University of Copenhagen
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Understanding change in times of crises: US–China competition and the prospects for peaceful change, The Chinese Journal of International Politics, January 2026, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1093/cjip/poaf022.
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