Category

Issue Four

World War Drugs: Strengthening International Counternarcotics Cooperation

Although the illicit drug trade has existed for centuries, its expansion over the past few years is a concerning threat to U.S. national security. In 2022, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported an all-time high of almost 110,000 drug-related deaths in the United States. Though this number decreased in 2023, the narcotics supply...

The Warfighters: Understanding the Personalities of the Armed Forces

In foreign policy discussions around America’s grand strategy, considerable emphasis has been placed on the need to balance various instruments of national power – diplomatic, informational, military, and economic – to deter adversaries such as Russia and China effectively. Books and articles are oversaturated with discussions around grand strategy as scholars debate how the United...

Stemming the Tide: A New Strategy against Iran

On October 7, 2023, Hamas massacred approximately 1,200 people, abducted hundreds of civilians, and launched thousands of rockets in the deadliest terrorist attack ever committed on Israeli soil. Following the attack, Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging strikes in the north of Israel; the Houthis in Yemen launched cruise missiles toward Israel, U.S. naval assets, and...

More than Fissile Friends: Securing Nuclear Partnerships through U.S. Leadership

Many say “you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” Yet nuclear fission mediates an unlikely union between climate action and economic development. With its ability to generate substantial energy with minimal fuel and low greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear energy is the foremost solution when it comes to fulfilling climate commitments across various geographical...

Why Eurasia Matters to the United States

Amidst the rise of great power competition, the Russo-Ukrainian War, and increasing tensions between Taiwan and China, the United States faces a crisis of confidence. The grand strategy it has pursued since the end of the Second World War has become disputed among national security practitioners and academics. Whether the United States should stay engaged...

Building Nuclear Deterrence for the Twenty-First Century

Between 1997 and 2006, the Y-12 National Security Site in Tennessee, responsible for the manufacturing and redevelopment of complex nuclear warhead components, suffered 21 fires and explosions, several roof leaks, and a ceiling collapse. [1] The circumstances across Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) sites have not improved much since then; in fiscal year...

A Letter from the Editors

The Ancient Greeks thought of chaos as a gaping chasm. For many observers of international affairs, such imagery accurately captures the anxiety of traversing the present abyss, unaware of what new dangers lie in wait. Yet somewhere in this darkness stands “a city upon a hill” on which the “eyes of all people” are transfixed:...

Sun Tzu for a New Age?

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is one of the most renowned achievements in the Chinese strategic tradition. At first glance, the tactics described in the book are not useful to a modern strategist; the book was a field manual in the Warring States period of Chinese antiquity, written for an era of combat when...

Agents of the Dragon: Chinese Espionage in the West

Off the coast of the southern Chinese island of Hainan stands a 350-foot-tall statue of the Bodhisattva Guanyin. Facing the sea, Guanyin gazes serenely out upon the contested waters of the South China Sea. In her hand she holds a string of pearls, traditional iconography for the deity symbolizing mercy. The Guanyin of Nanshan is...

The Rise of BRICS: A Challenge to American Hegemony

Genesis, growth, breakdown, and disintegration: such is the life cycle of a civilization proposed by Arnold Toynbee in his sweeping Study of History (1934) as the British Empire was gradually coming to terms with its waning geopolitical predominance. The idea has deeply impressed itself upon Western and non-Western minds alike. “In life and in the...
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