Recent Publications

Forging an American Grand Strategy: Securing a Path Through a Complex Future. Selected Presentations from a Symposium at the National Defense University
October 22, 2013 — Author: Dr Sheila R Ronis View the Executive SummaryOn November 8-9, 2011, the National Defense University (NDU) held a conference entitled "Forging an American Grand Strategy: Securing a Path Through a Complex Future." The discussion that began at that conference needs to be further developed and continued. More importantly, we, as a nation, need... MORE

Conflict Management and Peacebuilding: Pillars of a New American Grand Strategy
October 16, 2013 — Authors: Dr Robert H Dorff, Dr Volker C Franke View the Executive SummaryThe authors examine the utility of the U.S. Government’s whole-of-government (WoG) approach for responding to the challenging security demands of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. They specifically discuss the strategic objectives of interagency cooperation particularly in... MORE

Strategic Landpower Task Force Research Report
October 3, 2013 — Dr. Steven MetzAcknowledgement. The author would like to thank Frank Hoffman of the National Defense University for major contributions to this report. Introduction. The 21st-century security environment compels the United States to develop more effective and efficient ways to promote its national interests. This includes refining... MORE

Sharing Power? Prospects for a U.S. Concert-Balance Strategy
April 26, 2013 — Author: Dr Patrick Porter View the Executive SummaryThe subject of U.S. grand strategy has been getting increasing attention from the policy and academic communities. However, too often the debate suffers from being too reductionist, limiting America’s choices to worldwide hegemony or narrow isolation. There is a wide spectrum of choices before... MORE

The Promise and Pitfalls of Grand Strategy
August 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Hal Brands What is “grand strategy,” and why is it seemingly so important and so difficult? This monograph explores the concept of grand strategy as it has developed over the past several decades. It explains why the concept is so ubiquitous in discussions of present-day foreign policy, examines why American officials often find the... MORE

Cover for The Promise and Pitfalls of Grand Strategy

Op-Ed: A National Strategic Narrative and Grand Strategy for the 21st Century
July 1, 2011 — Dr. Jack A. LeCuyer Former U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Gordon L. Sullivan, when commenting on his program for the Louisiana Maneuvers, which were designed to help define Force XXI and the Army’s role in modern warfare in the information age after Operation DESERT STORM, once remarked “that if you don’t know where you are going, any road will... MORE

Dilemmas of Brazilian Grand Strategy
August 1, 2010 — Author: Dr Hal Brands This monograph analyzes Brazilian grand strategy under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. During Lula’s nearly 8 years in office, he has pursued a multi-tiered grand strategy aimed at hastening the transition from unipolarity to a multipolar order in which international rules, norms, and institutions are more favorable to... MORE

American Grand Strategy after War
May 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Dallas D Owens, Mr Ionut C Popescu Academic grand strategists are very much aware of the importance of, the need for, and situational determinants of grand strategy after a change in the strategic environment, typified by a hot or cold war. The difficulty of predicting the time, importance, or response to the next “significant” period... MORE

U.S. Counterterrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa: Understanding Costs, Cultures, and Conflicts
September 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Donovan C Chau Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has never been the centerpiece of U.S. foreign and defense policy. Yet the current struggle between the United States and its allies against terrorist groups and individuals motivated by Islamic extremism thrusts SSA forward as a front in the global conflict. The author asks, centrally, what is the... MORE

American Grand Strategy for Latin America in the Age of Resentment
September 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Gabriel Marcella A healthy Latin America is of critical value to the United States as a global power. It is besieged by a powerful force of resentment engendered by a combination of weak states, social exclusion, criminal violence, and corruption. In the context of attack by radical populism against democratic values, the United States... MORE

Political Warfare in Sub-Saharan Africa: U.S. Capabilities and Chinese Operations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa
March 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Donovan C Chau Domestic and international terrorism aside, the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), are vying for influence over African governments and people. Not unlike the Cold War, the primary means of exerting influence in Africa is through the use of nonviolent instruments of grand strategy. The author considers... MORE

The New Totalitarians: Social Identities and Radical islamist Political Grand Strategy
January 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Douglas J Macdonald The author argues that the social identity theory behind the “clash of civilizations” thesis is useful for analyzing the tasks before us in the “Long War” on Terrorism. The “clash of civilizations” is not actually occurring, he argues, but is rather the end goal of radical Islamist political grand strategy.Radical... MORE