"The EU's struggle to come to terms with US-China great power competition". by Dr Scott Brown, University of Dundee
Published: 5 October 2020
"The EU's struggle to come to terms with US-China great power competition". by Dr Scott Brown, University of Dundee
4pm–5.30pm Wednesday 4 November 2020
Zoom Registration Required at: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJckdOiuqD0rGt2nqgtzmj2oDPibHWpLBJUZ
Abstract
In recent years, as the implications of China’s rise have come into sharper focus – particularly as its economic and political influence across the European continent has grown – perceptions have started to shift among EU policymakers. This has been accentuated by what some have described as the intensification of great power competition between the US and China. Simultaneously, the Trump administration has created considerable tension in the transatlantic relationship itself, while also pursuing a confrontational approach towards China that diverges from that of the EU. Despite the US constituting the EU’s most ‘natural’ partner in the global arena, there is a clear absence of transatlantic cohesion on China policies.
In this talk, I will explore the extent of - and reasons behind - the shift in perceptions of China among EU policymakers, the key challenges in the EU-China relationship at present, and the struggle within the EU to forge a coherent strategy in the face of growing US-China rivalry.
Speaker bio
Scott A.W. Brown is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations within the School of Social Sciences at the University of Dundee. His research focuses on the EU’s external relationships engaging with both International Relations theory and Foreign Policy Analysis. A primary focus of this work is the EU-US-China relationship, and the bilateral relations within this triangle.
His first book, Power, Perception and Foreign Policymaking: US and EU Responses to the Rise of China was published in November 2017 by Routledge. Other recent publications cover EU-China relations, UK-China relations and EU-US relations. He currently teaches IR and political theory at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and convenes the Global Challenges module open to all first-year MA students.
Between 2016 and 2018, he was Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology. Following completion of his PhD at the University of Glasgow, he held a Teaching Fellowship at Glasgow and a fixed-term lectureship at Dundee.
The Scottish Centre for China Research Seminar Programme gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the MacFie Bequest.
First published: 5 October 2020
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