Thomas J. Christensen

Professor or Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University

Thomas J. Christensen is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. His research and teaching focus on China’s foreign relations and the international relations of East Asia. Before arriving at Princeton in 2003, Professor Christensen taught at Cornell University and MIT. He received his B.A. from Haverford College, M.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.

Professor Christensen is on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He is co-editor of the International History and Politics series at Princeton University Press. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He consults often for the U.S. government and in 2002 was presented with a Distinguished Public Service Award by the United States Department of State.

Professor Christensen has published a book, Useful Adversaries: Grand Strategy, Domestic Mobilization, and Sino-American Conflict, 1947-1958, and many articles and book chapters, including “Chinese Realpolitik,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 1996, "Theater Missile Defense and Taiwan's Security," Orbis, Winter 2000; "China: Getting the Questions Right," with Richard K. Betts, The National Interest, Winter 2000/01; "Posing Problems without Catching Up," International Security, Spring 2001; and "Deterring a Taiwan Conflict: The Contemporary Security Dilemma," Washington Quarterly, Autumn 2002. He is currently working on projects relating to alliances in East Asia, the growth of Chinese power, and U.S. strategy toward East Asia.

:: close::