The Thucydides Trap

The Chinese are very nervous about the full liberalization of their currency. They think they can be jerked around by international markets and they believe those are, quote, wild. So I think the fundamental idea Thucydides wrote about brilliantly is that a rising power threatened to displace a ruling power should know its place. And so you get what I describe in my book as a syndrome. The rules were made before I was bigger and stronger. So they need to be adjusted to take account of my weight and my interest. You see this actually everywhere. If you take the established firms in any industry and a disruptive, technologically disruptive upstart,.You can see this in the news business.