ChinaTalk

Kotkin on China

Listen Later

Stephen Kotkin is a legendary historian, currently at Hoover, previously at Princeton. Best known for his Stalin biographies, his other works include Uncivil Society, Magnetic Mountain, and Armageddon Averted.

Our discussion on China is far-ranging yet in-depth — we manage to pack in:

  • The two dominant subjects taught at the CCP’s Central Party School;
  • Kotkin’s assessment of the main threat to Communism — what “Communism with a human face” means, and why Gorbachev’s reforms ultimately destroyed Communism in the USSR;
  • Why the CCP fears color revolutions more than, say, NATO expansion — and why Xi snapped on Hong Kong in 2020;
  • The twin components of Marxism-Leninism: anti-capitalism + anti-imperialism;
  • And an understanding of Lenin’s “commanding heights,” and what China’s commanding heights are today;
  • The case for optimism about US-China relations, despite — or because of — the recent ratcheting up of tensions;
  • Why Kotkin believes a US-China Cold War is both good and necessary;
  • How the US can get on the diplomatic “front foot”;
  • Making sense of Reagan’s foreign policy — how he was both a “movement conservative” and a “dealmaking conservative.”


    • Outro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4GLAKEjU4w.

    Check out the newsletter and other ChinaTalk content at https://www.chinatalk.media/.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store
    ChinaTalkBy Jordan Schneider
    • 4.6
    • 4.6
    • 4.6
    • 4.6
    • 4.6

    4.6

    21 ratings

    More shows like ChinaTalk

    View all
    Odd Lots by Bloomberg

    Odd Lots

    1,932 Listeners

    EconTalk by Russ Roberts

    EconTalk

    4,264 Listeners

    Foreign Policy Live by Foreign Policy

    Foreign Policy Live

    602 Listeners

    War on the Rocks by Ryan Evans

    War on the Rocks

    1,069 Listeners

    Sinica Podcast by Kaiser Kuo

    Sinica Podcast

    610 Listeners

    ChinaPower by CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies

    ChinaPower

    213 Listeners

    The President’s Inbox by Council on Foreign Relations

    The President’s Inbox

    716 Listeners

    ChinaTalk by Jordan Schneider

    ChinaTalk

    287 Listeners

    Net Assessment by War on the Rocks

    Net Assessment

    423 Listeners

    Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

    Dwarkesh Podcast

    517 Listeners

    Pekingology by Center for Strategic and International Studies

    Pekingology

    142 Listeners

    Ones and Tooze by Foreign Policy

    Ones and Tooze

    339 Listeners

    The Foreign Affairs Interview by Foreign Affairs Magazine

    The Foreign Affairs Interview

    450 Listeners

    Face-Off: The U.S. vs China by Airwave Media

    Face-Off: The U.S. vs China

    166 Listeners

    The Economics Show by Financial Times

    The Economics Show

    149 Listeners