Access decisions play a crucial role in war, with belligerent states employing various methods to gain access into neutral states. Yet, the decision-making process of potential host nations has largely been unexplored for modern, large-scale conflicts. This…
In his introduction to Volume 7, Issue 3, the chair of our editorial board, Frank Gavin, considers the limitations that academic disciplines tend to impose on writing, the value in making such writing more accessible, and the need to consider big questions…
A growing number of scholars and policymakers are showing interest in a grand strategy that calls on the United States to retrench from key global regions while devolving the burden of checking the expansion of hegemonic aspirants to local allies. I highlight…
While most economic sanctions are explicitly announced, Chinese economic sanctions tend to be vague — not explicitly announced. China rarely threatens sanctions — instead, it directly executes them. What explains these vague and executed Chinese sanctions?…
Learning lessons from past and current wars is a complicated endeavor, given observers’ personal and institutional preferences and other challenges. Nonetheless, Frank Hoffman and George P. Garrett argue that carefully drawn lessons based on access to more…
China’s defense spending is opaque, and China spends more on defense than its official 2024 defense budget of 1.67 trillion yuan ($232 billion) indicates. Some analysts claim China’s defense spending is equivalent to $700 billion, approaching the level of…
Since 2020, Africa has seen more political unrest, violent extremism, and democratic reversals than any other region in the world. A wave of coups has washed across the Sahel and West Africa, leaving authoritarians in power in numerous countries. In addition,…
Roundtables are where we get to hear from multiple experts on either a subject matter or a recently published book. These collections of essays allow for detailed debates and discussions from a variety of viewpoints so that we can deeply explore a given topic or book.
Conducting a post-mortem review after a war is an important but fraught exercise. In “The Inheritance: America’s Military After Two Decades of War,” Mara Karlin draws on her experience as a policymaker and academic to assess the legacy of the post-9/11 wars for the military and society and identify lessons for the future. In this roundtable review, our contributors consider Karlin’s analysis and draw on their own expertise to examine the legacy of 20 years of war.
At this time of growing concerns about tensions in East Asia and great-power competition, TNSR brought together four experts to review “The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia” by Sheila Miyoshi Jager. Jaehan Park, Paul Behringer, Sangpil Jin, and Seo-Hyun Park consider some of the important historical lessons in the book and how those might apply to global politics today.
Debates in Washington over how to respond to wars involving Israel have a long history. In this review, our contributors consider what lessons to learn from Galen Jackson’s book “A Lost Peace: Great Power Politics and the Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1967–1979.”