MICHAELBECKLEY
Essays
The Strange Triumph of a Broken America: Why Power Abroad Comes with Dysfunction at Home.
Foreign Affairs, January/February, 2025.
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New York Times, August 19, 2024.
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Countering Chinese Aggression in the South China Sea.
War on the Rocks, July 23, 2024.
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Foreign Policy, February 4, 2024.
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A Peaceful Solution on Taiwan Is Slipping Away.
New York Times, January 17, 2024.
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Delusions of Detente: Why American and China Will Be Enduring Rivals.
Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023.
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No One Should Want to See a Dictator Get Old
New York Times, August 15, 2023.
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The Conversation, March 2, 2023.
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Accepting a Cold War with China Is the Best Option.
Washington Examiner, December 6, 2022.
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China's Growing Threat to Global Democracy
Journal of Democracy, January 2023.
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The Return of Pax Americana? Putin's War Is Fortifying the Democratic Alliance.
Foreign Affairs, March 14, 2022.
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Enemies of My Enemy: How Fear of China Is Forging a New World Order.
Foreign Affairs, March/April, 2022.
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Washington Is Preparing for the Wrong War with China.
Foreign Affairs, December 16, 2021.
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The Atlantic, November 1, 2021.
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Foreign Affairs, October 1, 2021.
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China Is a Declining Power—and That’s the Problem.
Foreign Policy, September 24, 2021.
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Winner: Best Long Read Article of the Year, Foreign Policy.
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America Is Not Ready for a War with China.
Foreign Affairs, June 10, 2021.
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America Needs to Rediscover Strategic MacGyverism.
National Interest, March 27, 2021.
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Challenges Facing Democracy in the United States.
International Affairs Forum, February 26, 2021.
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Rogue Superpower: Why This Could Be an Illiberal American Century.
Foreign Affairs, November/December 2020.
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Selected as one of the 10 best print articles of 2020 by Foreign Affairs.
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Runner Up: Best Policy Article on U.S. Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy, American in the World Consortium, a partnership among University of Texas and Duke and Johns Hopkins Universities.
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Competition with China Could Be Short and Sharp.
Foreign Affairs, December 17, 2020.
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China Keeps Inching Closer to Taiwan.
Foreign Policy, October 19, 2020.
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How Will China Shape Global Governance?
ChinaFile, May 9, 2020.
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In Future Wars, the U.S. Military Will Have Nowhere to Hide.
Foreign Policy, November 20, 2019.
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The United States Should Fear a Faltering China.
Foreign Affairs, October 28, 2019.
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Selected as one of the 10 best web articles of 2019 by Foreign Affairs.
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Foreign Affairs, September 21, 2018.
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Selected as one of the 10 best web articles of 2018 by Foreign Affairs.
How America Can Build a Durable Military Balance in Asia.
The Interpreter, December 6, 2017.
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War on the Rocks, November 15, 2017.
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Enforcing International Law in the South China Sea.
RSIS Commentary, October 6, 2016.
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The Myth of Entangling Alliances.
War on the Rocks, June 9, 2015.
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Will This Be China’s Century?
Congressional Quarterly Researcher, 2014.
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China and Pakistan: Fair-Weather Friends.
Yale Journal of International Affairs, 2014.
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How Big a Competitive Threat Is China, Really?
Harvard Business Review, February 29, 2012.
Washington Post, February 6, 2012.
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U.S.-China: Measuring Decline and Rise.
The Interpreter, 2012.
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China Is Rising But Not Catching Up.
Christian Science Monitor, December 14, 2011.
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The End of the Beginning: Why Bush and Rumsfeld Don’t Promise an Early Exit from Iraq.
Weekly Standard, April 15, 2005.
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NATO’s Afghan Failure Will Hurt Europe.
Financial Times, September 30, 2004.