Book Reviews

The nature of a nation's rise is to surpass the strongest nation in the world, and the strongest nation in the world can only be its barrier and not supporter."Yan Xuetong (24)T he book Upstart: How China Became a Great Power by Oriana Skylar Mastro, is an academic investigation about how China developed from a minor regional player in the mid-1990s into a global power, challenging the United States with every major instrument of power without instigating a major conflict thus far.Using a unique model interpreting rising power success, Mastro developed the Upstart Strategy following conversations with organizational and business leaders.The model is grounded in business competition theories about how small businesses rise and innovative startups succeed.Her three Es-emulation, exploitation, and entrepreneurship-provide a useful perspective regarding China's effectiveness and efficiency in gaining parity with the United States in merely three decades.This model is useful for considering China's decision-making process and provides predictive modeling for political and military leaders to anticipate China's future directions (34).The book is broken into three sections focusing on the emulation, exploitation, and entrepreneurship, approaches used by China in political, military, and economic spheres.Within each section, Mastro analyzes where and why China used or considered a particular element of the Upstart Strategy.She supports the analyses with existing data, newly created data sets in previously unexplored areas, and Chinese leaders' and strategists' documents, speeches, and conversations.Emulation is a common and historical tool in international politics where convergent, mimetic, or normative behaviors see the rising power engaging in known successful activities.While effective, it is incomplete and often costly.That is not to say China does not emulate the United States, on the contrary, there are specific areas where China sees the benefit of the US approach and follows it.Some emulation areas include international