This session provides an introduction to the subject of grand strategy, exploring what grand strategy is and why states might want one. Several ideal types of grand strategy are surveyed, emphasizing the potential costs and benefits of utilizing each one.

This class introduces students to debates over the purpose of grand strategy. It will examine: prescriptive approaches to US grand strategy; approaches that seek to identify a state’s long-term behaviour or strategic traditions; and approaches that focus on historic grand strategic decisions or inflection points. Using the examples of the United States and the Roman Empire, the class will use grand strategy as a lens for better understanding historical case studies and contemporary policy challenges.

This session will introduce participants to the concept of grand strategy and how grand strategy is defined in the political science literature. The session will also introduce participants to the ideal-type grand strategies that dominate the contemporary policy arena: liberal internationalism, restraint, offshore balancing, conservative primacy, and deep engagement. Participants will then have the opportunity to engage in a debate about which grand strategy they think best suits the contemporary US national interest.

What is the "liberal international order," and is a rising China seeking to establish a rival order of its own? How do states maintain or disrupt orders in world politics? Students will consider these key questions in this discussion-based seminar.

The purpose of this session is to study the ‘liberal international order’ (the open and rules-based post-Cold War international system underpinned by American hegemony), and the challenges it presently faces, to determine whether it should be defended, or whether it is outmoded and the United States should not be striving to maintain it. To make this decision, you will simulate a trial in which four witnesses will provide statements to the defense and prosecution that will help The Judge and Jury decide if the liberal international order (LIO) should be abandoned (and locked away in the John Quincy dungeons!) or defended by the United States. Drawing upon the readings you have been assigned, you will be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the LIO to develop your defense or critique, and ultimately pass the final judgement.

This seminar introduces students to different ways of thinking about international order and connects each one to debates over grand strategy. We will pay special attention to current policy issues and what the United States should do.

Wedge strategies are an important form of external balancing. This module will introduce the concept and types of wedge strategies, explain how states choose those strategies, and explore the relevance of wedge strategies to alliance politics and U.S. grand strategy.

In this session, we cover the costs, risks, and benefits of military alliances and coalitions - mainly from the point of view of great powers, focusing on the US. We also cover the relationship between alliances and grand strategy and how they influence the prospects for war and the stability of the international system.

From the Peloponnesian Wars to the present day, alliance considerations have guided the formulation of grand strategy for powers great and small. Though it is often tempting to assess the history of grand strategy using narrowly-defined national categories of analysis (i.e., American grand strategy, British grand strategy, Chinese grand strategy), grand strategies are never formed in isolation; teasing out the entangled, messy multilateralism inherent in the history of grand strategy requires an international perspective—something this session aims to cultivate.

This seminar will discuss the "Taiwan Question" in the US-China relationship today. After a brief lecture on the history of Taiwan's status in the bilateral relationship since 1949, students will discuss how different ideal-type U.S. grand strategies would approach the Taiwan issue today.

Especially with the rise of China, the Asia-Pacific continues to be a region of vital interest to American grand strategy. Of the many U.S. interests and challenges in the region, this session will focus on North Korea, an important flashpoint between the United States and China.

This session engages the debate on the future of US-China relations. It addresses topics such as: (1) the issues that the US and China are contesting over, (2) whether China's intentions can be deciphered, and (3) how the US should respond to China's rise.

The teaching shall start with an understanding of how democratic states and non-democratic states forge their grand strategies based on regime type and political systems of governance. This would be unpacked to establish linkages with grand strategic thinking on matters related to foreign and national security policy formulation and how these are delivered to suit the state’s overall grand strategy at every given point in time.

This class will focus on democracy and the military instrument of national power. Students will learn about 1) the role of Congress in foreign policy, oversight, and accountability, 2) the extent (and limits) of democratic oversight and accountability for presidents considering or using force abroad, and 3) the role of the military in decision-making about the use of force. In the second half of the class, students will debate a normative question on democracy and going to war.

Much has been made of the potentially transformative effects of emerging technologies on international relations--with consequences for both strategic stability and U.S. foreign policy. In this session, we will engage with contemporary policy debates concerning the impact of emerging technologies on strategic stability using a historical lens. We will then dive deeply into specific examples of emerging technologies of concern (nuclear modernization; cyber weapons; "AI"; and hypersonic missiles). We conclude with a wargame exercise based on August Cole and PW Singer's Ghost Fleet.

In this session, we will explore why states and violent groups work together and under what conditions do states support violent actors. The session seeks to answer these questions by looking at two prominent violent actors – Hezbollah and Afghanistan’s Mujahideen.

What are foreign influence operations? Why do they matter? In this session, we’ll investigate why states wage influence operations against democracies, and how they use social media as a tool to do so.

This module will explore the wellsprings of power in the 21st century, how the sources of state power have changed over time, and the effect of the balance of power on grand strategic choices. The first goal of this module is to introduce students to the key questions regarding what makes states powerful and how to measure state power. The second goal of the course is to make students understand why these questions are important for assessing the balance of power and developing grand strategy in the 21st century.

In this session we will explore how international political economy influences the formulation, execution, and evaluation of grand strategy. To this end, we will consider debates surrounding the economic benefits of military primacy and discuss the economic dimensions of leading grand strategy alternatives today.

Reconciling national security and economic solvency is a deeply political process in which strategists face inescapable tradeoffs. Every grand strategy confronts the reality that resources are scarce, opportunity costs are inevitable, and priorities often conflict. In this session, we will explore the relationship between defense budgets, mobilization, and present and future threats.