Albritton Center for Grand Strategy (CGS) serves as an intellectual hub for the critical examination of American grand strategy. Specifically, the Center supports research that takes a fresh look at America’s grand strategic choices; fosters dialogue between scholars and practitioners; and helps prepare a new generation of public servants who will be grand strategic innovators.
The Albritton Center for Grand Strategy welcomed Dr. Michael Desch back to Aggieland to discuss his new book titled Cult of the Irrelevant: The Waning Influence of Social Science on National Security. Prof. Desch, Professor of Political Science and the Director of International Security at the University of Notre Dame, discussed how his book explores the historical relationship between the “Ivy Tower” and government in addressing national security issues and what happened to cause the relationship to decline. Dr. Matthew Fuhrmann, Professor in the Department of Political Science here at Texas A&M University, offered his comments and rebuttal to Prof. Desch’s claims. A full summary of the lecture can be read online at https://bush.tamu.edu/grand-strategy/events/Desch_Summary_Spoolstra.pdf. and a paper detailing the policy implications of Dr. Desch’s talk is available at https://bush.tamu.edu/grand-strategy/events/Desch_Policy Implications Paper.pdf.
American Umpire, a film based on the book by Elizabeth Cobbs published in 2013, will air on Sept. 28 and 29, 2019. Check local PBS stations for broadcast times. For more information about the film, please visit http://www.americanumpire.com/#home.
) John Schuessler, CGS Academic Director and Bush School professor of International Affairs, co-authored “The Shadow of Exit from NATO” with former Bush School colleague Joshua Shifrinson, professor of International Relations at Boston University. The article, published in the Fall 2019 issue of Security Studies Quarterly, can be read here.
Dr. Gregory Gause, Head of the Bush School’s Department of International Affairs and CGS Faculty Affiliate, published “’Hegemony’ Compared: Great Britain and the United States in the Middle East” in Security Studies. The article can be read here.
Andrew L. Ross, with Tai Ming Cheung and Thomas G. Mahnken, is the author of “Assessing the State of Understanding of Defense Innovation,” a SITC (Study of Innovation and Technology in China) Research Brief, published by the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. This piece was also included in Tai Ming Cheung, ed., Leaders, Laggards, and Followers: The Global Competition for Defense Innovation, published by the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. The brief can be read here.
Jasen Castillo, Academic Director of the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy, published an article, “Passing the Torch: Criteria for Implementing a Grand Strategy of Offshore Balancing,” in the New Voices in Grand Strategy symposium produced by the Center for a New American Security. The article can be read here.
CGS hosted a two-day symposium commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. The symposium kicked off on April 10th with a keynote address from Gen. Darren McDew, former commander of U.S. Transportation Command, delivered at the opening banquet. Attendees included Berlin Airlift pilot Col. Gail Halvorsen, known as the “Candy Bomber.” Symposium events the following day included three scholarly panels on the events of the Airlift, Germany in the early Cold War, and the legacies and lessons of the Airlift, respectively. The symposium concluded with a reception featuring an “Aggies in the Airlift” exhibit curated by the TAMU Libraries and the the Deputy Consul General from Houston German Consulate presenting Col. Halvorsen a gift in recognition of his service and heroic actions during the Airlift.
