Interview: Graham Allison Sees ‘Mutual Deterrence’ Stabilizing China-U.S. Relations

During the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026, Graham Allison, founding dean of Harvard Kennedy School and the scholar best known for coining the term the “Thucydides Trap,” said that “the international security order that we’ve enjoyed for our entire lives is at greater risk of being overturned today than at any point previously.”

Allison urged the audience to remember three numbers: 80, 80, and 9. “If you can identify the question to which each of these is the answer, you’ll have the big picture about the international security order today,” he said at the Caixin Davos CEO Luncheon on Jan. 21.