Europe
Liberal Internationalism Forgotten: Myth & Memory in the Legacy of George H. W. Bush
This article challenges the dominant portrayal of George H. W. Bush as the exemplar of a realist president. The image of Bush as a cautious realist was less a reflection of his record than the product of partisan and scholarly mythmaking. In the 1990s,…
Trapped by the Tradition: Reading Thucydides on Strategy and Policy
Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War has gained new prominence as the United States engages in great-power competition with China, as that emerging geopolitical competition is often explained through parallels with the ancient rivalry between Athens…
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Battle for Belarus
Recorded on location at the Aspen Security Forum, this discussion centers on the geopolitical status and democratic movement of Belarus. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya details her transformation from a political outsider into the leader of the country's democratic…
Beyond the Hype: The Reality of Precision-Strike Weapons in Ukraine
Cameron Tracy joins to discuss his TNSR article on “technological surprise” and “normalization through use” in the Russo-Ukrainian war. He explains how forecasting about warfare often overweights extreme scenarios and is reinforced by professional and…
Technological Surprise and Normalization Through Use: The Tactical and Discursive Effects of New Precision-Strike Weapons in the Russo-Ukrainian War
Expectations of the performance of military technologies are marked by hopes that one’s own systems perform well while those of adversaries perform poorly, and fears of the inverse. These expectations shape states’ preparation for war and their conduct in…
The Art and Science of Grand Strategy
Marina Henke argues that grand strategy is more than just a list of goals—it is the art and science of allocating resources to achieve core objectives under conditions of uncertainty. We explore why so many governments struggle to prioritize, the dangers of…
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 Paradox of Europe’s Defense Moment
The war in Ukraine has been a wakeup call for European countries, alerting them to the reality that defense matters. But do some recent promising steps in the right direction actually signal a revival of the European Union’s drive for strategic autonomy and…
The Post-INF European Missile Balance: Thinking About NATO’s Deterrence Strategy
The demise of the INF Treaty in 2019 raises questions about the future of deterrence in Europe. For more than a decade, Russia has sought to leverage the potential of precision-strike technologies to strengthen its missile arsenal, having developed systems…
Raison d’Etat: Richelieu’s Grand Strategy During the Thirty Years’ War
Renowned for his fierce intellect, mastery of the dark arts of propaganda, and unshakeable belief in the centralizing virtues of the French monarchy, Cardinal Richelieu’s actions as chief minister under Louis XIII from 1624 to 1642 have been heatedly debated…
The Good Friday Agreement: Ending War and Ending Conflict in Northern Ireland
The 1998 Agreement that ended Northern Ireland's bloody civil war has often been attributed to many of the remarkable individuals involved in the peace process. But how much of a difference did they really make? James Steinberg explores this question by…
Military Exercises as Geopolitical Messaging in the NATO-Russia Dynamic: Reassurance, Deterrence, and (In)stability
Military exercises are often viewed as geopolitical tools used to boost stability and enhance deterrence. However, they can sometimes have the exact opposite effect: increasing instability and contributing to dangerous levels of escalation. Nowhere is this…