On November 4, 2024, Dr. Ivan Willis Rasmussen, Associate Professor of Practice in Political Science and Head of Undergraduate Study in Social Sciences at New York University-Shanghai, was invited to visit the School of International Studies to give a lecture on “Foreign Policy and China-US relations in the 2024 American Election”, which is the 8th “Advanced Lecture on World Politics” series. The lecture was hosted by Zhou Wenxing, Associate Professor of School of International Studies, Nanjing University. Over 20 students attended the lecture.
Prof. Ivan Willis Rasmussen graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs of Princeton University in 2006, and received Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) and Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in 2016 and 2009 respectively. He has assumed teaching and research positions at the Hamilton College, Harvard University, Boston College, the RAND Corporation, Renmin University of China and other colleges and think tanks. He has extensive teaching and research experience and unique thinking on international relations, China-US relations and Chinese diplomacy.
During the lecture, Prof. Rasmussen analyzed the 2024 U.S. presidential election and reviewed the domestic and foreign policy position of the U.S. presidential candidates, Kamala D. Harris and Donald J. Trump, as well as the general trend of the U.S. electoral situation. He compared the data related to the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections to reveal the potential pattern of foreign policy influencing the electorate of the U.S. presidential election. In his view, foreign policy preference generally does not affect the results of U.S. election unless the issue can be successfully reframed to focus on domestic issues by candidates. Based on this primary pattern, he believed that all foreign policy issues, including the China issue, are hardly capable of steering the U.S. presidential election, whereas domestic issues such as inflation, illegal immigration and abortion rights are more common concerns for presidential candidates and voters, and may become the focus of election results.
Although the China issue has not become an important one in the latest U.S. presidential election,, China-US relations have been deteriorating in recent years. Prof. Rasmussen pointed out that the deeper reason for the increasing tension between China and United States is not rooted in the structural effect or great power competition but lies in the entrenched Cold War mentality in the U.S. perception of China. Accordingly, to verify whether the so-called “New Cold War” really exists between China and the U.S., he examined the U.S. scholarship on the so-called “New Cold War”. According to his research, China and United States are not in a “New Cold War”, but those who hold such an assertion have fallen into the cognitive trap of the “New Cold War”, and he warns that the misperception of United States may lead it to a self-fulfilling prophecy of “New Cold War”.
During the Q&A session, Prof. Rasmussen answered the questions from students. As the head of undergraduate study of Social Sciences at the New York University-Shanghai, he shared his unique experience of undergraduate talent cultivation, and made suggestions for students about job recruitment and post-graduate education.
Associate Professor Zhou Wenxing expressed his sincere gratitude to Prof. Rasmussen for his visit to the School of International Studies to conduct academic exchanges and offer academic lecture. Prof. Zhou made comment on the content of the lecture, praising that the lecture served the purposes of talent cultivation and encouraging students to find out their interests, accumulate academic knowledge, plan ahead, and integrate knowledge and action, so that they can continuously improve competitiveness in the job market and for further study in the future.
The lecture ended with warm applause.
(Text/Ge Sichen; Zhou Wenxing; Trans./Wei Yawen, Li Lingqun)
