Podcast / American Prestige / May 28, 2024

Origins of American Empire in the Asia-Pacific Region

On this episode of American Prestige, Stuart Rollo discusses the US’s imperial evolution alongside China’s parallel trajectory.

Terminus: Westward Expansion, China, and the End of American Empire.

(Johns Hopkins University Press)

We all know about the United States’ deep commercial ties with China in this day and age, but has this been the case since America’s inception? On this episode of American Prestige, we’re joined by Stuart Rollo, postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney, for a discussion of his book Terminus: Westward Expansion, China, and the End of American Empire. The group examines the United States’ imperial evolution alongside China’s parallel trajectory, considering the (sometimes oblique) role of China in major US conflicts, domestic Chinese milestones’ effect on the US-China relationship, the watershed change in their economic dynamic in the 1970s, and how America is trying to manage its current imperial decline.

Note: Stuart was unfortunately ill with Covid when recording this episode, but said that the show must go on!

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Derek Davison

Derek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.

Daniel Bessner

Daniel Bessner is an historian of US foreign relations, and cohost of American Prestige, a podcast on international affairs.

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