Discuss the consequences of Trump’s “America First” and Xi’s “Chinese Dream” on World Politics.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 define both (America First, 2016: nationalist, unilateralist / Chinese Dream, 2013: national rejuvenation, return of the Middle Kingdom) → US steps back, China steps in → halves of one power transition
Route 2 the order’s architect retreats while its challenger advances → one process, not two → world politics reshaped but not settled
America First in practice (patriotism over globalism, UN 2018 → TPP abandoned → WTO dispute settlement blocked → JCPOA scrapped → allied burden-sharing) → Krauthammer / Wright: return of mercantilism → Chinese Dream in practice (China-centric globalisation: AIIB against Bretton Woods → BRI → A2/AD for regional hegemony) → East and South China Seas: territorial status quo and international law rejected → decline of Pax Americana → Allison: Thucydides Trap → balancing responses: Quad, Indo-Pacific, Cold War 2.0 → Chellaney: G-2 trap, forced choice for third states
China’s counter-claim: it is the status quo power, the US the real revisionist (decades of spreading liberalism and markets) → Ikenberry / Nye: this phase more complex than Cold War 1 — interdependence, not ideology
Route 1 Hass / Rapp-Hooper: no consensus on net impact → order reshaped, not settled
Route 2 the shape of the transition stays open → it turns on how the transition is managed
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
