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.
With the support of the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy, Dr. Fritz Bartel cohosted a conference at Yale University marking the 30th anniversary of the end of the Cold War. Along with Professor Nuno Monteiro of Yale’s Department of Political Science, Bartel welcomed twenty leading historians and political scientists to New Haven to discuss the latest scholarly research on the end of the Cold War and the legacies of the Cold War’s end for American grand strategy and contemporary international politics. The conference agenda can be found at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5tj1CeqhUqudFRoeFJCV2hmeDBFUXZzSzYyVEkwVkhjV1pB/view?usp=sharing.
Dr. Castillo’s article, “Don’t Leave Grand Strategy to the Generals,” was the lead article in The National Interest on October 31, 2019. The article can be read online at https://nationalinterest.org/feature/don%E2%80%99t-leave-grand-strategy-generals-92511.
Robert Ralston, the 2019-20 CGS Predoctoral Fellow, presented one of the chapters of his dissertation which addresses the ambiguity surrounding a great power’s decline in his talk “The Causes and Consequences of Declinism in Great Powers” on October 23, 2019. A full summary of the talk can be read at https://bush.tamu.edu/grand-strategy/news/Spoolstra_Robert Ralston Summary.pdf.
The Albritton Center for Grand Strategy and the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs hosted the “Russia Policy under the Next U.S. President” conference to discuss policy concerns the next administration must address regarding Russia and their place in the world. The conference began with a riveting keynote speech by Dr. Evelyn Farkas, a Senior Fellow with the German Marshall Fund, followed by three panels debating the topics on whether Russia is driven by ideology, the future of the U.S.-Russia security relationship, and Russia’s political economy. The conference culminated in an insightful exchange of ideas and differing viewpoints that could prove beneficial to both current policymakers and the next administration. A full summary of the conference can be read online at https://bush.tamu.edu/grand-strategy/news/Casey-Spoolstra_Russia Policy Under the Next US President_Summary.pdf.
The Albritton Center for Grand Strategy, in conjunction with the Texas A&M Department of Political Science, welcomed Dr. Mark Bell, an assistant professor from the University of Minnesota, on Sept. 24, 3019. Bell’s lecture, “The Path Dependence of Nuclear Thinking: Grand Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, and the Absence of Evaluation,” discussed a research project he is currently working on. Professor Bell explains the relationship between nuclear weapons and a country’s grand strategy and turns the conventional wisdom upside down.” A full summary of the talk can be read online at https://bush.tamu.edu/grand-strategy/news/Spoolstra_Mark Bell Lecture Summary.pdf.
: On September 19th, journalist and New York Times best-selling author Alex Kershaw gave a poignant talk on his latest bestselling book, The First Wave: The D- Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II. Many people study D-Day for its tactical, operational, and strategic effects; however, Kershaw tells the stories of nine of the most influential leaders on that beachhead and just beyond. A full summary of the talk can be read online at https://bush.tamu.edu/grand-strategy/news/Spoolstra_Kershaw summary.pdf.
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 Strategic Studies Quarterly, can be read here.
