• Ross, Robert S. (1995). Negotiating cooperation : the United States and China, 1969-1989.
• Great Wall and Empty Fortress: China's Search for Security (with Andrew J. Nathan); 1998
• Chinese Security Policy: Structure, Power, and Politics: 2009
• — (Autumn 2018). "Nationalism, geopolitics, and naval expansionism : from the Nineteenth Century to the rise of China". Naval War College Review. 71 (4): 11–44.

As editor:

• China, the United States, and the Soviet Union: Tripolarity and Policy Making in the Cold War; 1993
• East Asia in Transition: Toward a New Regional Order; 1997
• After the Cold War: Domestic Factors and U.S.-China Relations; 1998
• Engaging China: The Management of an Emerging Power (with Alastair Iain Johnston); 1999
• Re-examining the Cold War: U.S.-China Diplomacy, 1954-1973 (with Changbin Jiang); 2001
• New Directions in the Study of China's Foreign Policy (with Alastair Iain Johnston); 2006
• China in the Era of Xi Jinping: Domestic and Foreign Policy Challenges (with Jo Inge Bekkevold); 2016.
• Strategic Adjustment and the Rise of China: Power and Politics in East Asia (with Øystein Tunsjø); 2017.

• Boston College bio
• M.I.T. bio