The Institute of World Politics is pleased to welcome a new adjunct faculty member, Dr. Michael Pillsbury. Starting this fall, Dr. Pillsbury will be teaching Chinese Grand Strategy: Foreign and Military Policy (IWP 630), a course that aims to provide students with an understanding of contemporary Chinese grand strategy.
The course examines traditional Chinese strategic culture and statecraft and the new Chinese grand strategy that has emerged in the post-Mao, post-Soviet era under Xi Jinping. China’s strategy towards other nations, future strategic options, and possible U.S. responses are also discussed in the course.
“Dr. Pillsbury is one of the unambiguously foremost authorities on China in the nation today,” said IWP Founder and President John Lenczowski. “His recent book, The Hundred-Year Marathon, is arguably the most important book in print today on the principal national security threat facing the United States. Although he has lectured at IWP several times in the past, it is a great thing to welcome him to our faculty.”
As Assistant Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning during the Reagan administration, Dr. Pillsbury was responsible for the implementation of the covert aid program known as the Reagan Doctrine. His publications, while employed as an analyst at the RAND Corporation previous to his work in the administration, played a significant role in crafting U.S. policy towards China during both the Carter and Reagan administrations. Under President George H.W. Bush, Dr. Pillsbury served as Special Assistant for Asian Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
As a staff member of four U.S. Senate Committees, Dr. Pillsbury helped to draft legislation that created the U.S. Institute of Peace in 1984. He also assisted in drafting legislation to create the National Endowment for Democracy and institute the annual DOD report on Chinese military power.
Dr. Pillsbury received his B.A. from Stanford University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University, completing his doctoral dissertation as a Fellow for the National Science Foundation in Taiwan. He has authored three books on China, including the bestseller The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower. Dr. Pillsbury also serves as the Director of the Center on Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute, a member of the Freedom House Board of Directors, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and as a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.