The Threats of Illiberalism, Populism, and Polarization
Entrepreneurship, Education, and Finance in Asia
Oriana Skylar Mastro reviews Rush Doshi’s book The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021).
Balancing Human Rights and Nuclear Security
Emerging and disruptive technologies spell an uncertain future for second-strike retaliatory forces. New sensors and big data analysis may render mobile missiles and submarines vulnerable to detection. I call this development the “standstill conundrum”: States will no longer be able to assure a nuclear response should they be hit by a nuclear first strike. If the nuclear weapons states can manage this vulnerability, however, they might be able to escape its worst effects. “Managing” could mean shoring up nuclear deterrence; it could mean focusing more on defenses; or it could mean negotiating to ensure continued viability of second-strike deterrent forces.
Part of an essay series on Learning the Scholar’s Craft: Reflections of Historians and International Relations Scholars
September 2021 issue of the Democracy and Autocracy newsletter, dedicated to the theme "The International Aftermath of the Arab Spring."
With the rapid rise of China and the relative decline of the United States, the topic of power transition conflicts is back in popular and scholarly attention.
Re-examining assumptions of capability and intent
Evidence from the European Refugee Crisis
Report of the Task Force on US Strategy to Support Democracy and Counter Authoritarianism
Journal of Democracy from Volume 32, Number 2, April 2021 | Johns Hopkins University Press
Statement before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on “Deterring PRC Aggression Toward Taiwan”
Volume 5, Issue 2
Authors: Steven Pifer, Min Byung Chae, Natasha Lock, Iris H-Y Chiu, Andreas Kokkinis, Andrea Miglionico, Saraphin Dhanani, and Samuel P. LeRoy.
The policy memo is particularly suited for introducing basic methodological concepts to upper-division undergraduate students of political science, argues Oriana Skylar Mastro.
The United States and its likeminded partners, particularly India — if four constraints are more realistically accounted for — and other members of the Quad, can more effectively mitigate the risks of Chinese military expansion by building “strategic leverage” along these four lines of effort in the Indian Ocean region.
During the past eight months of the global COVID pandemic, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been active in promoting China’s claims in the South China Sea. This essay evaluates PLA statements, military exercises and operations, and deployment of relevant platforms and weapons in the South China Sea during this period. I leverage Chinese-language sources in addition to my own operational knowledge from over a decade of military experience to provide greater context for these activities.
