Grand Strategy
What Is Grand Strategy? Sweeping a Conceptual Minefield
Amidst acute geopolitical flux, the study of grand strategy is necessary for scholars and strategists alike. As a framework for scholarship, it trains attention on the highest-order questions of international relations: why, how, and for what purposes states…
Choosing Primacy: U.S. Strategy and Global Order at the Dawn of the Post-Cold War Era
Newly declassified U.S. government records shed some light onto U.S. strategic thinking about the post-Cold War era and the infamous Defense Planning Guidance.
The Meaning of Strategy, Part II: The Objectives
By the end of the 19th century, the study of strategy had become routine for practitioners, but of little interest for theorists. By the end of the 20th century, it had become a matter of endless fascination for theorists, but a puzzle for practitioners.
The Meaning of Strategy, Part I: The Origins
The word "strategy," which is now commonplace, only first came into use to understand military affairs at the beginning of the 19th century in Europe. Since then, its meaning has changed in important ways.
Too Much History: American Policy and East Asia in the Shadow of the Past
East Asian countries have a tendency to recall their historical grievances with rival nations, thus increasing the risk of eventual conflict. American policy toward East Asia, on the other hand, tends to have too short of a memory.
Why Did America Cross the Pacific? Reconstructing the U.S. Decision to Take the Philippines, 1898-99
A closer examination of what led President William McKinley to take the Philippines reveals a series of deliberate and thoughtful choices that have often been overlooked or ignored.