Nation states have a history and very few date before the 19th century.
Civilisations go back thousands of years.
And in the case of China, of course, 5000 years or so, the government likes to claim.
Welcome to LSE IQ, the podcast where we ask social scientists and other experts to answer one intelligent question.
I'm Sue Windy Bank from the IQ team,
where we work with academics to bring you their latest research and ideas and talk to people affected by the issues we explore.
Why do some countries, such as China and Russia,
stand outside of the liberal international order and oppose values that the West takes for granted,
values such as liberty and democracy?
For the late Professor Christopher Coca, who we've just heard,
the answer lay in the rise of a new political entity, the civilisational state.
In an episode of LSE IQ, which explored China's position in the world in the coming century,
Professor Coca talked about this, the potential for war between the United States and China,
and what that might look like.
Christopher Coca was professor of international relations at LSE for almost four decades and co-director of LSE ideas,
LSE's foreign policy think tank.
He was a scholar of war and warfare.
This episode of LSE IQ is a lightly edited version of our 2019 interview,
recorded before the COVID pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It is dedicated to his memory.