Wars and Pandemics

Richard Ned Lebow is Professor Emeritus of International Political Theory in the War Studies Department of King's College London, Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, and James O. Freedman Presidential Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth College. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of The Atheneum. Feng Zhang is Senior Research Fellow at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. A political scientist and interdisciplinary scholar, he specializes in China's foreign policy, Asian international relations, and international relations theory. He has held teaching positions at Tsinghua University, Murdoch University, Australian National University, and Yale University.

Combining insights from political science, psychology, and history, this book advances our understanding of how decision-makers learn and mis-learn from history. Students of international relations and public health will find Lebow and Zhang's comparative analysis of how the U.S and China used the Munich, Korean War, and pre-Covid analogies illuminating, and I dare say, convincing. More than any other work, they help us understand the seductiveness and dangers of analogical reasoning. A significant and original contribution to the international relations literature.

• 1: Introduction 2: History, Analogy, and Learning 3: The Munich Lesson 4: The Korea Lesson 5: Western Responses to COVID-19 6: Chinese Responses to COVID-19 7: Conclusion