The Hard Thing About Strategy
Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things (HarperBusiness, 2014). In his magisterial history of strategy, Lawrence Freedman argues that the most interesting strategists of the past 50 years have...
View ArticleThe Long Shadow of the Gulf War
Twenty-five years ago this month, the conclusion of the First Gulf War inaugurated the post-Cold War global order. Militarily, U.S. forces dramatically outperformed pre-war expectations....
View ArticleBeyond Iron and Blood: The Complex History of Realpolitik
John Bew, Realpolitik: A History (Oxford University Press, 2015). “It is never a waste of time to study the history of words.” — Lucien Lefebvre “No modern nation has ever constructed a...
View ArticleManning the Frontier: Allies and the Unraveling of the World Order
The Unquiet Frontier: Rising Rivals, Vulnerable Allies, and the Crisis of American Power, by Jakub J. Grygiel and A. Wess Mitchell (Princeton University Press, 2016) Speaking at the Munich Security...
View ArticleThe Weight of the Punch: British Ambition and Power
In the winter of 2015, as Britain released its latest statement of its national orientation, there was every sign that the wishes that had underpinned its statecraft were being blown away. The Middle...
View ArticleLessons in Statecraft Still to Be Learned 5 Years After the Libya Intervention
Five years after the United States, France, and Britain intervened to protect civilians in Libya, the country is in chaos. When Gaddafi’s regime collapsed, the state was picked apart and destroyed....
View ArticleTime for Washington to Amp up the Power to Coerce
For the United States, the mounting costs and risks of waging war are increasing the importance of its ability to thwart hostile states without attacking them — what we call the “power to coerce.”...
View ArticleGetting the Law Right on Carpet Bombing and Civilian Casualties
Officials, politicos and the media can debate what they believe the term “carpet bombing” means, but the American public and the leaders shouldn’t let that distract them from the fact that a more...
View ArticleRead My Mind: Why It’s Hard to See Things from the Enemy’s Point of View
Earlier this year, we marked the 25th anniversary of the Gulf War and the beginning of 25 years of continuous U.S. military operations in the Middle East. Many forget the beginning of this involvement:...
View ArticleUnder my Umbrella: The No-Fly Zone Fallacy
Be wary when the military says no to a policy, but candidates for president say yes. It invariably means the policy was either half-baked, politically expedient, or hatched by some millennial-age...
View ArticleWargaming in the Classroom: An Odyssey
Several years ago, as a new professor at the Marine Corps War College, I spent a huge amount of time putting together the best presentation on Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War ever presented at any...
View ArticleNever Alone: Let’s Retire the Word “Isolationism”
Warning that withdrawal from the European Union could threaten the peace of Europe, Prime Minister David Cameron claimed “Isolationism has never served this country well.” This echoes an old theme that...
View ArticleGo Big or Go Home: Applying the Full Force of the U.S. National Security...
Eye in the Sky, a new movie starring Academy Award winner Helen Mirren, seeks to shed more light on the relatively new ethical dilemmas of drone warfare, notions of proportionality and sovereignty....
View ArticleThe Price of Perpetual War
The United States has entered an era of perpetual war. The U.S. military has been at war for 15 straight years with no end in sight, and President Obama will soon have the dubious distinction of being...
View ArticleAu Revoir QDR
Whatever version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) emerges from the House-Senate conference process later this year, it seems likely that the 20-year old Quadrennial Defense Review...
View ArticleCivilian Lives and the Fate of Campaigns
Do civilian lives matter in war? Critics argue that any restrictions on the use of force beyond the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) are self-defeating and result in more American military deaths. Some...
View ArticleThe Long Game: How Will Obama’s Foreign Policies Be Judged By History?
Is Barack Obama’s foreign policy “failing at nearly every turn,” as Speaker Paul Ryan and many other Republicans contend? Or has the president actually crafted a wiser, more effective approach to...
View ArticleHe Who Lets Slip the Dogs of War
Michael C. Horowitz, Allan C. Stam and Cali M. Ellis, Why Leaders Fight (Cambridge University Press, 2015). This is a book that should have been unnecessary. Its main argument is that leaders,...
View ArticleLessons from the Winter War: Frozen Grit and Finland’s Fabian Defense
Whether on the soccer pitch or the field of battle, humans have a natural tendency to root for the underdog. Our sacred texts, medieval ballads, and regimental histories are filled with gut-wrenching...
View ArticleTo Study Modern War, There Is No Substitute for Going
West Point is going to war. There was a time when West Pointers regularly marched the globe, outside American combat, to learn from world military affairs as reconnaissance for our own future fights....
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