Jessica Chen Weiss (Cornell University)

Security Studies Program Wednesday Seminar

With the future of the U.S.-led international order in question, how will China use its growing power and influence to reshape world politics? Weiss argues that domestic political imperatives have structured Chinese interests and foreign policy behavior, reflecting a defensive effort to ensure the Chinese Communist Party’s continued rule. Drawing on her recent article in Foreign Affairs and a book-length project on China’s rise, autocracy, and the shape of international order, Weiss develops a theoretical framework to explain China’s international contributions and the domestic drivers of those efforts, with illustrations from a range of issue areas, including cyber sovereignty and digital authoritarianism, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and climate change.