Odd Arne Westad

Arne Westad is a scholar of modern international and global history, with a specialization in the history of eastern Asia since the 18th century. He has published 18 books, most of which deal with 20th-century Asian and global history. 

In the first part of his career, Westad was mainly preoccupied with the history of the Cold War, China-Russia relations, and the history of the Chinese civil war and the Chinese Communist Party. He published two monographs: “Cold War and Revolution,” which deals with U.S. and Soviet intervention in the Chinese Civil War in 1944-1946, and “Decisive Encounters”, which is a general history of the Chinese civil war and the Communist victory in the period from 1946-1950. He also edited several books on Sino-Soviet and Cold War history topics.  

Since the mid-2000s, Westad has been concerned with more general aspects of post-colonial and global history, as well as the modern history of China. The three key works from this period are “The Global Cold War,” which argues for ways of understanding the Soviet-American conflict in light of late- and post-colonial change in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean; “Restless Empire,” which discusses broad trends in China’s international history since 1750; and “The Cold War: A World History,” which summarizes the origins, conduct, and results of the conflict on a global scale. 

Today, Westad has several areas of research.  He is interested in the histories of modern empires and the global effects of imperialism.  He is also preoccupied with the transformation of contemporary China from the 1980s up to today.  Some of his work is concerned with historical parallels to the present.  His most recent book (with Chen Jian) is “The Great Transformation: China’s Road from Revolution to Reform” (2024).  His new book, “The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History,” will be published in early 2026.