The Development Imperative

  I have an entire shelf of books dedicated to the economic development that ISN’T happening around the world. They have titles like: The Elusive Quest for Growth, The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, The End of Poverty, The Mystery Read More…

The Path to Democracy

  As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, the end of the Cold War left many people looking for new ways to understand international affairs. Starting in the early 1990’s, many people began to feel that democracy had won the final chapter in world affairs and it was just a matter of when and how Read More…

Dissecting the Debt Debacle

  In the last few weeks, there has been plenty of debate over the debt deal and America’s economic troubles. Some have blamed everything on government spending, some have called the Tea Party and GOP blackmailers, some have been disappointed in President Obama, and some are still blaming everything on George Bush – the only Read More…

Intervention in Libya

In my last article I spoke of the importance of statecraft and smart power. The situation in Libya is a perfect example of the importance of these concepts. The simple fact is this situation isn’t simple. On one hand, it seems clear that we should do all we can to support an uprising against an Read More…

Implementing Smart Power

At the suggestion of a friend, I recently started reading Mitt Romney’s book No Apology. I was excited to read the book because I thought I’d disagree with it before I even began. (I’ve said before that I think everyone should spend a lot more time listening to or reading those they disagree with.) The Read More…

Lessons Learned

I recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan and am often asked “how is it going over there,” or, “what was it like.” To answer those questions in true military fashion, it seems appropriate to record my “Lessons Learned,” as any good officer would. My first observation is that I didn’t observe much, and am Read More…

Choosing Our Future

  In the years after the Cold War ended, International Relations theorists scrambled to come up with new ways to understand the world. Two distinctly different schools of thought emerged. One, championed in Francis Fukuyama’s book The End of History and the Last Man, postulated that liberal democracy would slowly dominate world politics; that nations Read More…

Fixing the BCS

  I’ve unfortunately been working night shifts quite a bit the last few weeks. The disruption of my circadian rhythm has left me temporarily incapable of carefully articulating educated opinions on complex issues of national policy. So I decided to exercise the prerogative discussed in my about the blog section and talk about football. For Read More…