China’s Next Act: From solar panels to synthetic biology, an accessible-yet-authoritative overview of how climate change, the global Covid-19 pandemic, and emerging technologies are changing China’s relationship with the world, and what it means for governments, companies, and organizations across the globe.
Ever since China began its ascendancy to great-power status in the 1980s, observers have focused on its growing economic, military, and diplomatic power. But in recent years, Chinese officials, businesses, and institutions have increased their visibility and influence on every major global issue, from climate change and artificial intelligence to biotechnology and the global Covid-19 pandemic. How have these newer issues changed China’s relationship with the world? And, importantly, how can we prepare for a future increasingly shaped by China?
China’s Next Act re-envisions China’s role in the world, with a focus on sustainability and technology. It argues that these increasingly pressing, shared global challenges are reshaping China’s economy and foreign policy, and consequently, cannot be tackled without China. Yet sustainability and technology present opportunities for intensified economic, geopolitical, and ideological competition—a reality that Beijing recognizes. The US and other countries must do the same if they are to meet ecological and technological challenges in the decades ahead. In some areas, like clean technology development, competition can be good for the planet. But in others, it could be catastrophic—only cooperation can lower the risks of artificial intelligence and other disruptive new technologies.
In this clearly written and accessible overview, China’s Next Act examines how countries like the US must balance cooperation and competition with China in response to shared challenges. With an emphasis on opportunities as well as threats, this book addresses not only key developments in sustainability and technology within China, but also their implications for foreign countries, companies, and other organizations. China’s influence on sustainability and technology is both global and granular—and twenty-first century China itself looks more like a network than a nation-state. Featuring original interviews and an in-depth look at Chinese government policy, China’s Next Act provides a unique—and uniquely balanced—window into these new dimensions of China’s global ascension.
What People Are Saying About China’s Next Act
“As the free world responds to Russian aggression in Ukraine, relations with China have come under intense scrutiny. China’s Next Act has arrived just in time. Moore helps us understand better how we must reshape economic and diplomatic relations to advance peace and prosperity.”
— H.R. McMaster, author of Battlegrounds and Dereliction of Duty
“China’s Next Act convincingly makes the case that there are no global deals on public goods without a carefully calibrated mix of US-China collaboration and competition, despite systemic bilateral tensions. It is an important contribution and should be read widely by all who are concerned with managing increasing risk in uncertain times”
— Craig Allen, President, US-China Business Council
“For those not following science and technology developments on the ground in China, Scott Moore’s China’s Next Act is a wake-up call and a warning. We need to heed his advice.”
— Susan Thornton, former Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
“Scott Moore’s thought-provoking book wrestles with the most consequential issues of our time: global warming, global pandemics, and rapid technological change. He explores how China’s rise has played a pivotal role in all three and makes a strong argument for why enlisting China in addressing them is absolutely vital—but uniquely challenging. This is a book of big ideas, built on a strong foundation of research and personal experience.”
— Kaiser Kuo, host of the Sinica Podcast
Subnational Hydropolitics:
Re-thinking conflict and cooperation over water
The prospect of international conflict over water has long been the subject of academic and popular concern, but subnational political conflict is considerably more common, and almost certainly imposes greater economic and environmental costs. Indeed, subnational hydropolitics are an important feature of several large countries, including the United States, India, and China. Moreover, disputes between water users in shared river basins have often persisted despite repeated attempts by central governments to resolve them through both persuasion and coercion. Yet despite the growing threat of water scarcity around the world, little research exists on sub-national politics of shared water resources. This book attempts to fill the gap by explaining how and why hydropolitics play out within countries, as well as between them.
Subnational Hydropolitics re-examines the issue of water conflict by examining conflicts at the subnational rather than international level. By examining several in-depth case studies of both conflict and cooperation, it argues that increasing sub-national water conflict is driven by two inter-linked forces, identity politics, which gives subnational politicians a reason to compete over shared water resources; and political decentralization, which provides them with the tools to do so. To understand politics at the subnational level, the book blends insights from both the environmental governance and comparative politics literatures. By examining the challenges many countries face in achieving cooperation over shared water resources, this book helps to shed light on different mechanisms and processes for solving cooperation problems at the regional scale lessons relevant to tackling a wide range of transboundary environmental problems, including air pollution, urbanization, and ecosystem protection. But at its core, Subnational Hydropolitics promises a definitive contribution to the growing sub-field of environmental politics, centered on understanding how different countries attempt to solve the problems inherent in governing water resources in shared river basins.
“This is an original and insightful contribution to our understanding of the politics and financing of water. Dr. Moore's research demands to be read by the broadest possible range of development practitioners and scholars.”
— Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and co-author of Australia's National Water Initiative
“Moore proffers four case studies to demonstrate how different forms of governments are addressing intra-basin conflicts…This timely and masterful work illuminates vexing environmental and political challenges and offers pertinent solutions.”
— Dr John Burch Jr, University of Tennessee at Martin