The bilateral relationship between our era's two leading powers, the United States and China, deeply affects both the dynamics and the nature of contemporary International Politics – combining such fundamental dimensions as the strategic game between a status quo and a rising power; global economic patterns; and the interplay of identities between a western state and a non-western one.

This course offers multiple tools to dissect this bilateral dynamic, placing it within the foreign policy orientation of each side and exploring the dynamic's roots, characteristics, underlying factors and consequences. The first part of the course locates the relationship within essential historical and theoretical contexts. The second part focuses on the current escalation between Beijing and Washington and its impact on both East Asia and the Middle East.