Sarah Paine

Sarah Paine is a University Professor and William S. Sims University Professor of History and Grand Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, where she teaches strategy, geopolitics, maritime strategy, and the military history of China, Russia, Japan, and major twentieth-century wars.

Geography Keeps Russia and China Trapped in Continental Power Politics

Military historian Sarah Paine argues that Russia and China’s strategic behavior is rooted less in ideology than in geography. In this lecture, she contrasts continental powers, which seek security through territory, buffers and mass armies, with maritime powers such as Britain and the United States, which can use the sea as a shield and build wealth through trade, alliances and rules for the commons. Her case is that Russia and China may want the benefits of maritime power, but their borders, neighbors and constrained sea access keep pulling them back toward the older logic of land empire.

Dwarkesh PatelJun 9, 202624 min read