Among policymakers and pundits, great power competition has quickly become the dominant theme when discussing relations between the United States, China, and Russia. But what does this really mean? This course will pair historically- and theoretically-informed readings with policy-oriented work to look more closely at the concept. Specifically, the course will tackle three main issues. First, it will explore traditional drivers of great power behavior – including power, prestige, and ideology – to understand whether the factors that shaped great power choices in the past are shaping them in the present. Second, it will examine commonly-used historical analogies – including Anglo-German antagonism at the turn of the 20th century and the Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union – to assess their relevance for contemporary great power rivalry. Finally, it will review the various strategies that great powers have employed – such as military containment and cost-imposition, alliance-making and alliance-breaking, economic pressure, and political warfare – to understand how they are being applied today.