Welcome to KAOS THEORY — a podcast collaboration between Grant Williams and me that focuses on the intersection of Macroeconomics and Geopolitics in an increasingly disorderly world.

8/2/24: Episode 7 — Oriana Skylar Mastro

Oriana Skylar Mastro is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University where her research focuses on Chinese military and security policy, and Asia-Pacific security issues. She is also an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Having served 15 years in the US Air Force Reserves, Oriana’s military background and specific expertise on Indo-Pacific security issues have landed her various advisory roles at numerous Washington, DC thinktanks as well as at US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), the Department of Defense Command responsible for coordinating all of the US Armed Forces in the Indo-Pacific region.

I met Oriana last May at the RAND Institute, where she was a panelist at a private US/China “Great Power Competition” Summit I chaired (summary link below). I believe her incisive and no-nonsense insights into China’s geopolitical strengths and weakness need to be heard, and the release of Oriana’s new book, Upstart: How China Became A Great Power, gave us the perfect opportunity to invite her to KAOS THEORY.

Oriana leads us through China’s “Upstart Strategy,” which is comprised of a dynamic mix of Emulation, Exploitation, and Entrepreneurship. Although we covered wide-ranging topics of geopolitical significance, our conversation here just scratches the surface, and I encourage everyone to read her book, which has been touted as a “must-read” by the likes of General H.R. McMaster as well as Admiral Phil Davidson.

Oriana can be found on these platforms:

Twitter/X: @osmastro

Website: https://www.orianaskylarmastro.com/

Additional Resources

Here is a detailed summary of the US/China Event I chaired last May, which featured Oriana as a panelist:

If you liked what you heard today, please also check out the other episodes of KAOS THEORY in this Directory, which I will keep updated:

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