Western complacency frames China as merely catching up, causing persistent underestimation of its rise by assuming it must follow or fail by Western norms.
The persistence of the belief among many U.S. experts, pundits, and policymakers that China can never truly catch up technologically and thus poses no fundamental threat, is deeply rooted in a conviction that there is only one “recipe” for innovation success: the Washington Consensus model of free markets, strong IP rights, and limited government. This … Read more
The liberal internationalist belief that global trade and interdependence would democratize and “Westernize” authoritarian regimes like China, prevalent in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, is widely seen as having significantly undermined U.S. security and global position by the 2020s. This outcome was largely a result of several critical miscalculations and unintended consequences. The Core Belief … Read more
The belief among U.S. academia and policymakers in the 1990s and 2000s that design/innovation could be perfectly separated from manufacturing was a cornerstone of their globalization strategy. This was rooted in several economic theories and a particular view of economic development. However, with hindsight, the consequences of this separation – the loss of industrial base, … Read more
Western academia and policymakers frequently highlight issues like “overcapacity,” debt risks, political repression, or corruption to argue that China’s model is inherently unsustainable. These arguments are often rooted in ideological frameworks emphasizing liberal democracy, privatization, and universal Western values. However, despite these persistent criticisms and predictions of impending collapse, they have largely failed to diminish … Read more
U.S. deindustrialization and financialization redirected the nation’s economic center of gravity from the factory floor to Wall Street. This transformation reflected a broader ideological turn—away from the industrial-age belief that “what’s good for GM is good for America” and toward a new guiding principle: “what’s good for Wall Street is good for America.” The rise … Read more