Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel occurred over a year ago, but it will be a long time before we can list all the consequences. What we know already is devastating. Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages back to Gaza. Israel’s response was a ferocious war in Gaza, a combined air and ground…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Commentary III-3 on Marc Trachtenberg, “Is There Life after NATO?”
H-Diplo | Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum Commentary III-3 Forum on Marc Trachtenberg, “Is There Life after NATO?” 16 January 2025 | PDF: https://issforum.org/to/CIII-3 | Website: rjissf.org | Twitter: @HDiplo Editor: Diane Labrosse | Commissioning Editor: Diane Labrosse | Production Editor: Christopher Ball Contents Introduction by Jack Snyder, Columbia University. 2 “Is There Life after NATO?” by Marc Trachtenberg, UCLA. 5…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 113: Friend on Freedman, Command
It is hard to know where to start in reviewing a book like Command: The Politics of Military Operations from Korea to Ukraine, Sir Lawrence Freedman’s most recent capacious history of a military phenomenon. In previous work, Freedman has tackled strategy and nuclear deterrence—pretty much all of both.[1] Here, he sets out to examine “the…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 112: Ouyang on Prasch, The World is Our Stage
Political observers and the public alike now take as given that American presidents are active participants and policymakers on the global stage. Indeed, as Allison Prasch states, “US presidents have used their rhetorical appeals to exert power, extend influence, persuade audiences to adopt a specific view of the world, and rally the citizenry around a…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 16-21 on Whitlark, All Options on the Table
Rachel Whitlark’s All Options on the Table: Leaders, Preventive War, and Nuclear Proliferation brings together two critical areas of international relations research: nuclear politics and the role of individual leaders. After the Cold War ended, many historians and political scientists turned their attention away from nuclear weapons—and even, for a few years, from international security more…
Learning the Scholar’s Craft: “Stumbling Into Scholarship from Peace Advocacy”
I am still in the process of embracing the idea that I am a scholar. That is why I was surprised at first when I received the kind invitation to share this essay for H-Diplo’s essay series on “Learning the Scholars’ Craft.” From my perspective, when others recount their lives and careers, they often seem…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 16-20 on Cox, Agonies of Empire
Agonies of Empire is the product of years of thinking about the United States. Michael Cox reflects on the recent past—the decades of what we still refer to as the “post–Cold War”—to understand the difficulties and limits of US global power.
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 16-19 on Demarais, Backfire
It is hard to browse the news without seeing reports on yet another wielding of economic sanctions. The United States currently has various forms of sanctions against over 30 countries as well as over 15,000 “specially designated” companies and individuals. The European Union has its own list, not as long as the US but longer…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Roundtable 16-18 on Mundy, The Sisterhood
As many women scholars can and do attest, the path to academia can be full of discrimination, both open and institutional. I am part of that cohort, as one of the few female historians, in Canada or the United States, doing the history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Even today, this field continues to…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Essay 602: Dijn on Learning the Scholar’s Craft
I grew up in Western Europe in the 1990s, during a time proclaimed to be the “end of history.”[1] One of my early memories is of seeing the Berlin Wall come down on TV. I was twelve. When I went to university in 1995, the economy was booming, and liberal democracy went unquestioned. Indeed, so…