Foreign Policy Live
Foreign Policy Live
Foreign Policy
If Americans Are Lawyers and Chinese Are Engineers, Who Is Going to Win?
44 minutes Posted Aug 25, 2025 at 7:15 pm.
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Show notes

The United States and China are constantly looking for a leg up in their rivalry for geopolitical primacy. But what if the real advantage lies in adopting a bit of the other’s culture? A new book makes the case that while China has become an engineering state obsessed with building, the United States has become a lawyerly society focused on procedures and blocking. Can they learn from each other? Author and scholar Dan Wang sits down with Ravi Agrawal to discuss his new book, Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future.

Dan Wang: Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future

Ravi Agrawal: Why China’s Tech Dominance Is Not Inevitable

Bob Davis: America’s Flailing Industrial Policy Can Take Lessons From China

James Palmer: A Guide to Censorship in China

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