History
Saving Socialism: What North Korea Learned from the Collapse of the Soviet Union
The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s sent shockwaves through the remaining communist world, confronting states like China and North Korea with an existential challenge. While scholars have extensively examined how Beijing interpreted and…
Understanding Schelling’s Nuclear Paradigms with Francis J. Gavin
Francis J. Gavin explains why Thomas Schelling remains foundational to nuclear strategy despite being an economist, and argues that “strategic stability” is often invoked without clear definition. He highlights tensions between mutual vulnerability and US…
A New World Order? Careful What You Wish For
This paper examines the persistent attractions of the idea of a world order, and whether one may be said to exist today. It argues that we are now in a world adrift or, at best, between orders. It suggests that this may mark a return to the historical norm and…
The Democratization of Violence in the Greater Middle East
Dr. Carter Malkasian joins us to explore how the "democratization of violence"—driven by the availability of assault rifles and explosives—empowered non-state actors and challenged state authority throughout the Cold War. The conversation also addresses…
Wars of the Greater Middle East, 1945–92
This article examines the history of war and society during the Cold War in the Middle East and parts of South Asia—two regions linked by geography, history, and culture. Few other regions have been so touched by war, or so fixed the attention of world…
Negotiating Primacy: Strategic Stability, Superpower Arms Control, and the End of the Cold War
The United States successfully used the concept of strategic stability to tip the nuclear balance against the Soviet Union during the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) of the 1980s and early 1990s. Both superpowers sought to employ strategic stability to…
Expanding the Margins for Success: Corbett’s Maritime Strategy Theories and the United States Since 1945
Though Julian S. Corbett wrote for Britain at the turn of the twentieth century, his maritime strategic concepts can apply more broadly to spotlight key challenges the United States has faced since the Second World War. Corbett’s theoretical concepts can…
The Main Drivers of Soviet Foreign Policy Towards India, 1955–1991
India is a case study for how the Soviet Union tried to use the Third World and decolonization to advance its geostrategic position in the Cold War world. From Nikita Khrushchev’s celebrated visit to India in 1955 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in…
Davy Crockett and the Boy Scouts: The Korean War and Mismanaging Protracted Conflict
The specter of protracted large-scale ground combat has grown more real in the wake of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. As the United States and its partners debate the best way to prepare for such a conflict, it would be wise to review the experience of the…
Access Denied? Non-Aligned State Decisions to Grant Access During War
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…
Stuck Onshore: Why the United States Failed to Retrench from Europe during the Early Cold War
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…
Confronting Another Axis? History, Humility, and Wishful Thinking
Drawing on his extensive experience as a historian and diplomat, Philip Zelikow warns that the United States faces an exceptionally volatile time in global politics and that the period of maximum danger might be in the next one to three years. He highlights…