The Thucydides Trap

MY friend, Euston Quah, asked me to attend an important webinar. Winsemius Chair of Nanyang Technological University and fellow of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Euston is a master of understatement, and his words therefore underscored the necessity of my attendance.

The guest speaker was Prof. Graham Allison of Harvard University, author of the book Destined for War and who coined the phrase "The Thucydides Trap," which refers to the inevitability of war. Thucydides, known as the "father of scientific history," wrote about the Peloponnesian War, an almost 30-year conflict between Sparta and Athens, which left the two cities in utter ruin.