Scholar
The Purposes of Arms Control
In this paper, I review three major purposes for arms control negotiations — disarmament, stability, and advantage. In the first part of the paper, I compare the three purposes against the causes of war literature to show that each provides a defensible…
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…
Restraining an Ally: Israel, the United States, and Iran’s Nuclear Program, 2011–2012
In asymmetric alliances, a superior state provides security to a weaker ally, who in exchange surrenders its autonomy to its stronger protector. But what happens when the weaker state’s vital interests clash with its stronger ally’s preferences? In 2011…
Japan’s Security Policy in the “Abe Era”: Radical Transformation or Evolutionary Shift?
Widely considered Japan’s most powerful prime minister in decades, Shinzo Abe has responded to a changing security environment in the Asia-Pacific — including an increasingly powerful and assertive China and growing North Korean nuclear threat — by…
Artificial Intelligence, International Competition, and the Balance of Power
World leaders, CEOs, and academics have suggested that a revolution in artificial intelligence is upon us. Are they right, and what will advances in artificial intelligence mean for international competition and the balance of power? This article evaluates how…
Unbeatable: Social Resources, Military Adaptation, and the Afghan Taliban
Following the 9/11 attacks, the Afghan Taliban were obliterated in a lightning war prosecuted by the United States. Their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ceased to exist as a physical entity, and the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, fled to Pakistan.…
Ronald Reagan and the Cold War: What Mattered Most
Scholars, like contemporary observers, continue to argue heatedly over the quality of President Ronald Reagan’s strategy, diplomacy, and leadership. This paper focuses on a fascinating paradox of his presidency: By seeking to talk to Soviet leaders and end…
North Korea Defied the Theoretical Odds: What Can We Learn from its Successful Nuclearization?
How well do the existing theories about nuclear proliferation predict North Korea's successful nuclearization?
Assessing Soviet Economic Performance During the Cold War: A Failure of Intelligence?
For years, scholars have argued that economists and the CIA failed to see that the Soviet Union's economy was headed toward collapse. But are they right?
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.