It is the most irresistible “what if?” in modern history. What would President John F. Kennedy have done in Vietnam had he not been assassinated in November 1963? To war or not to war—for many historians, that is the question. The reason historians are still drawn to it is not just because of Kennedy’s enduring…
Category: Roundtables
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 15-41 on Helleiner, The Contested World Economy
When I was approached by H-Diplo’s Thomas Maddux about whether Eric Helleiner’s latest book, The Contested World Economy: The Deep and Global Roots of International Political Economy warranted a roundtable, he wondered if this book was more than a textbook: was it just meant to be a kind of synthetic teaching tool? As I assured…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 15-40 on Sarkar, Plougshares and Swords
India’s nuclear program has been a source of fascination for historians and political scientists for decades. Perhaps more than any other case, there are deep disagreements over what motivated India’s nuclear pursuits. For some, India’s nuclear program was driven in large part by domestic political concerns.[1] Others emphasize Indian leaders’ beliefs about national identity or…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 15-39 on Connelly, The Declassification Engine
Matthew Connelly’s The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals about America’s Top Secrets explores what it means for Americans to live in a society whose governing institutions are incentivized to keep secrets. The book stems from Connelly’s tenure as lead investigator at Columbia University’s History Lab, in which a team of historians and data scientists spent…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 15-38 on Lerner, From the Ashes of History
I am honored to provide this brief introduction to the roundtable discussion on Adam Lerner’s award-winning book.[1] As Lerner notes in his response, I endorsed it with a highly favourable blurb. I wrote: Through meticulous, powerful, and gripping case studies and a careful but also forceful set of theoretical assertions, Lerner’s ambitious book brilliantly demonstrates…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 15-37 on Spear, The Business of Armaments
Arms production and defense companies are back in the public spotlight. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and rising geopolitical tensions have boosted governments’ demand for arms and prompted concerns for supply-chain and production capacity.[1] A recent analysis by The Financial Times found that, despite “swelling” backlogs, “the order books of the world’s biggest defence companies…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 15-36 on Higuchi, Political Fallout
Toshihiro Higuchi’s Political Fallout: Nuclear Weapons Testing and the Making of a Global Environmental Crisis has already been the subject of an H-Environment Roundtable Review (Vol. 11, no. 5, 2021). It is a testament to the interdisciplinary character of Higuchi’s book that it is now the subject of an H-Diplo Roundtable Review. The Partial Test…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 15-35 on Gibbons, The Hegemon’s Tool Kit
The nuclear nonproliferation regime (NPR) is widely seen as the most powerful international organization in the world. Composed of many international agencies, think tanks, government departments, and academic institutes, and funded by major donor groups and the governments of many of the world’s most powerful countries (above all, the US), its influence and sheer institutional…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable on Murray, The Struggle for Recognition in International Relations
Rising great powers want others to recognize their greatness. They don’t always get what they want. Leading states sometimes welcome their arrival in a very elite club, satisfying their desire for status on the world stage. At other times, however, the status quo powers are unwilling to offer recognition. Much rests on such decisions, as…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 15-33 on Jackson, A Lost Peace
On 7 October 2023, militants led by Harakat al-muqawama al-Islamiyya (Hamas) broke through the blockade that Israel and Egypt had imposed on the Gaza strip since 2007. They killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and seized more than two hundred hostages. In response, Israel bombarded and invaded Gaza, displacing more than a million Palestinian…