A Sunday Times and FT Book of the Year

When a rising power threatens to displace a ruling one, the most likely outcome is war.

In this razor-sharp analysis, Harvard scholar Graham Allison examines the phenomenon known as Thucydides's Trap, which is currently playing out between the world's two biggest superpowers: the US and China.

Through uncanny historical parallels, Destined for War shows how close we are to the unthinkable. Yet, stressing that war is not inevitable, Allison also reveals how clashing powers have kept the peace in the past - and what painful steps international leaders can and must take to avoid disaster.

The classical conundrum of Thucydides's Trap is identified by Harvard scholar Graham Allison as the force propelling the US and China to war, with the situation between the US and China held up against preceding instances of Thucydides's Trap to show how likely war is, and also what either party can do to avoid it.

'Hugely influential.'