2025 CIW ANNUAL LECTURE

In the nearly 75 years that the People’s Republic of China has been in existence, the field of contemporary China studies in the United States has developed and evolved through six distinguishable ‘generations’ of scholarship. The evolving social science scholarly analyses of contemporary China have paralleled the changes in the PRC itself over time, but they have also reflected paradigmatic changes in scholarly disciplines in the United States. Other stimuli which have also impacted the field include domestic politics in America and shifts in US-China relations. This CIW Annual Lecture traces the evolution of the field and it concludes that while the field is generally very healthy, diverse, and enjoys great breadth and depth of knowledge, it faces significant new challenges for source material and research in Xi Jinping’s China.

Drinks reception at 5:30 pm for 6:00 pm start.

About the Speaker
Professor David Shambaugh is an internationally recognized authority and award-winning author on contemporary China and the international relations of Asia. In addition to the above current positions, he was also formerly a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at The Brookings Institution and Acting Director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He also served in the U.S. Department of State and National Security Council during the Carter administration, on the Board of Directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the Advisory Council of the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), the East-West Center Fellowship Board. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and other public policy and scholarly organizations. Before joining the George Washington University faculty, Professor Shambaugh was Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Reader in Chinese Politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) from 1988-1996, where he also served as Editor of The China Quarterly.

Professor Shambaugh has been selected for numerous awards and grants, including as a Distinguished Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Senior Fulbright Scholar (at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Distinguished Research Professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, as well as other visiting appointments in Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and Russia. He has received research grants from the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Hinrich Foundation, German Marshall Fund, British Academy, and U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

An active public intellectual and frequent commentator in the international media, he serves on numerous editorial boards, and has been a consultant to governments, research institutions, foundations, universities, corporations, banks, and investment funds.

As an author, Professor Shambaugh has published 35 books (13 single-authored, 22 edited), including most recently Breaking the Engagement: How China Won & Lost America (2025). Previous volumes include China’s Leaders: From Mao to Now (second edition 2023), International Relations of Asia (third edition 2022), Where Great Powers Meet: America & China in Southeast Asia (2021), China & the World (2020), China’s Future (2016), and The China Reader: Rising Power (2016), China Goes Global: The Partial Power (2014), Tangled Titans: The United States and China (2012), and China’s Communist Party: Atrophy & Adaptation (2008).

Professor Shambaugh earned a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, an M.A. in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Contact the host of The Evolution of Contemporary China Studies in the United States: Coming Full Circle?