

McGuinn Hall Room 338
Telephone: 617-552-3259
Email: robert.ross.1@bc.edu
Sino-American Relations; Chinese Politics
Robert S. Ross is Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Associate, John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1984. He has taught at Columbia University and at the University of Washington and in 1989 was a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. In 1994-1995 he was Fulbright Professor at the Chinese Foreign Affairs College, in 2003 he was a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Strategic Studies, Tsinghua University (Beijing), and in 2014 was Visiting Scholar, School of International Relations, Peking University. In 2009 he was Visiting Scholar, Institute for Strategy, Royal Danish Defence College. From 2009-2014 he has been Adjunct Professor, Institute for Defence Studies, Norwegian Defence University College.泭 In 2023, he was Visiting Professor at Fudan University泭(Shanghai) and Peking University.
Professor Ross's research focuses on Chinese security policy and defense policy, East Asian security, and U.S.-China relations. His recent publications include泭Chinese Security Policy: Structure, Power, and Politics,泭Chinas Ascent: Power, Security, and the Future of International Politics, 硃紳餃泭New Directions in the Study of Chinese Foreign Policy. His other major works include泭Normalization of U.S.-China Relations: An International History;泭Great Wall and Empty Fortress: Chinas Search for Security,泭Negotiating Cooperation: U.S.-China Relations, 1969-1989, 硃紳餃泭The Indochina Tangle: China's Vietnam Policy, 1975-1979. Professor Ross is the author of numerous articles in泭World Politics,泭The China Quarterly,泭International Security,泭Security Studies,泭European Journal of International Affairs,泭Orbis,泭Naval War College Review,泭Foreign Affairs,泭Foreign Policy,泭The National Interest, 硃紳餃泭Asian Survey. His books and articles have been translated in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and various European countries.
Professor Ross has been the recipient of research fellowships from the University of Washington and Columbia University. He has received research and collaborative project grants from the Social Science Research Council, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Smith-Richardson Foundation, the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), The Asia Foundation, and The United States Institute of Peace.
Professor Ross has testified before various Senate and House committees and the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, he advises U.S. government agencies, and he serves on the Academic Advisory Group, U.S.-China Working Group, United States Congress. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Committee for U.S.-China Relations. Professor Ross is also a member of the executive committee of the John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, Senior Advisor of the Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Senior Advisor to the Institute for American Studies, Shanghai. He is a founding member and former board member of the United States Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (USCSCAP) and former co-chair of the Committee's task force on Confidence Strategic Building Measures. He has served on the editorial board of泭Security Studies,泭Journal of Contemporary China,泭Journal of Cold War Studies,泭Issues and Studies,泭Asia Policy,泭Journal of Chinese Political Science, the泭Security Studies泭book series of Shanghai Peoples Press, and the泭Grand Strategy泭book series of Peking University Press.
Europes Contribution to the Asian Balance of Power: Player or Observer?, in Sebastian Biba, ed.,泭Europe in an Era of US-China Strategic Rivalry: Challenges and Opportunities from an Outside-in Perspective泭(Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2024).
Chinese Coercion, Wedge Strategies, and the U.S.-Philippine Alliance,泭Journal of Contemporary China, 2024.
Reluctant Retrenchment: Americas Response to the Rise of China,泭Naval War College Review, vol. 76, no. 4 (Autumn 2023).
The Sources and Prospects of U.S.-China Competition,泭Melbourne Asia Review,泭no. 9 (March 2022).
China Looks at the Korean Peninsula: The 'Two Transitions,泭Survival, vol. 63, no. 6 (October 2021).
US-China Foreign Relations: Power Transition and its Implications for Europe and Asia,泭co-edited with ystein Tunsj繪 and Wang Dong (London: Routledge, 2021).
Learning From Foreign Colleagues: Research In China, in Peter Krause and Ora Szekely, eds.泭The Unorthodox Guide to Fieldwork泭(New York: Columbia University Press, 2020).
Beyond Theoretical Determinism: Exploring The Complexity of Power Transitions (review essay),泭Journal of East Asian Studies, vol. 20, no. 2 (2020).
Its Not a Cold War: Competition and Cooperation in U.S.-China Relations,泭China International Strategy Review, vol. 2, no. 1 (2020).
Published in Chinese in泭Zhongguo Guoji Zhanlue Pinglun泭(China international strategy review), no. 6, 2020.
The Changing East Asian Balance of Power and the Regional Security Order, in Robert S. Ross, ystein Tunsj繪, and Wang Dong, eds.,泭US-China Foreign Relations: Power Transition and its Implications for Europe and Asia泭(New York: Routledge, 2020).
Sino-Russian Relations: The False Promise of Russian Balancing,泭International Politics, vol. 57, no. 5 (2020).
Sino-Vietnamese Relations in the Era of Rising China: Power vs. Resistance and the Sources of Instability,泭Journal of Contemporary China, vol. 30, no. 130 (2021).泭
"On the Fungibility of Economic Power: Chinas economic rise and the East Asian security order", European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 25(1) 302327, (2018).
泭Nationalism, Geopolitics and Naval Expansionism: From the Nineteenth Century to the Rise of China,泭Naval War College Review, vol. 71, no. 4 (autumn 2018).泭泭
Strategic Adjustment and the Rise of China: Power and Politics in East Asia.泭Cornell University Press, 2017.
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