U.S. Grand Strategy - Hertog Foundation

At the end of World War II, the United States and its victorious allies established a rules-based international system that has led to decades of peace, prosperity, and freedom for the American people and much of the rest of the world. Washington deepened and expanded this system after the end of the Cold War. In recent years, however, this system has come under unprecedented attack from revisionist autocratic great powers, Russia and China; rogue states like Iran; and transnational challenges, including international terrorism.

How can we understand the past, present, and future of the U.S.-led international system? Do the United States and its allies have the right strategies and policies to deal with the myriad of international challenges they face today? How can Washington preserve its traditional international leadership role while adapting to the realities of a new era? These are the questions this course will discuss.

Image: Photo by Arlo James Barnes, Wikipedia Commons.

Matthew Kroenig on the return of great-power competition

This course was part of our residential Political Studies Program. Fellows participate in morning seminars and meet prominent men and women in public life over afternoon and evening sessions.

Faculty

Matthew Kroenig

Matthew Kroenig is a Professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. A 2019 study in Perspectives on Politics ranked him as one of the top 25 most-cited political scientists of his generation. He has served in several positions in the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community in the Bush and Obama administrations.

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Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session

Session I: The U.S.-Led Order

Readings:

Robert Kagan, The World America Made (2013)

Matthew Kroenig and Ash Jain, Present at the Re-Creation, Atlantic Council, (2019), pp.1–29
“Interim National Security Strategic Guidance”, White House, March 2021
“Fact Sheet: 2022 National Defense Strategy, U.S. Department of Defense”, March 28, 2022

Discussion Questions:

What are the key features of the U.S.-led international system?
What have been the results for the American people and the world?
Would an alternative system have produced better results?

Session II: China & the Indo-Pacific

Readings

H.R. McMaster, Battlegrounds, Chs.3–4
Matthew Kroenig, The Return of Great Power Rivalry, Ch.12 (entire book optional)

Discussion Questions:

Is the U.S. government correct in characterizing China as the greatest threat to U.S. national security?
Do the United States and its allies have a clear strategy to compete with China?
How could U.S. and allied strategy be strengthened?

Session III: Russia & Europe

Readings:

H. R. McMaster, Battlegrounds, Chs. 1–2
Matthew Kroenig, The Return of Great Power Rivalry, Ch. 11
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, “Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development”, February 4, 2022

Discussion Questions:

Did the Russian invasion of Ukraine usher in a new phase of great-power politics?
How should the West revise the European security architecture?
Can Washington deal with Russia and China at the same time, and if so, how?

Session IV: Iran & the Middle East

Readings:

H.R. McMaster, Battlegrounds, Chs. 7–10
Matthew Kroenig, “Time to Attack Iran,” Foreign Affairs (January/February 2012)

Discussion Questions:

Why does Washington oppose a nuclear-armed Iran?
Was the Iran deal successful in stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions?
How can the U.S. and its allies and partners improve strategy and policy toward the
Middle East?

Session V: Nuclear Strategy

Readings:

Matthew Kroenig, “The Special Role of U.S. Nuclear Weapons,” Issue Brief, Atlantic Council, September 2021
Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., “The New Nuclear Age,” Foreign Affairs (May/June 2022)

Discussion Questions:

How has great-power competition changed the deterrence environment for nuclear
weapons?
How should the U.S. meet the challenge of “strategic tripolarity,” where it faces two near-peer nuclear powers?
Is limited nuclear war more likely? How can the U.S. deter such a war, and what options does it need to fight one?

Alumni Spotlight

Jakob Urda

Jakob Urda is an alum of the War Studies Program, and has since returned for subsequent Hertog programs as a young professional. After a course with Dan Blumenthal, he and Dan worked together to research and write an essay on China’s economic and military power. Jakob is now an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell.

The “Nixon and China” class I took under Dan Blumenthal is a great example of Hertog’s value. Instead of laying out a single viewpoint about a difficult issue, the class used a primary-source focus which forced students to develop their own opinions. Reading documents such as Kissinger’s transcripts and Nixon’s op-eds makes clear the enormous complexity of the decisions involved. For a generation of young people interested in participating in similarly momentous challenges, this is an invaluable experience.

Jakob Urda

Current Position:

Litigation Associate, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Past:

Data Manager, Chicago Project on Security and Threats
Education:

University of Chicago | Georgetown Law Center

HOW DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT WAR STUDIES?

One of my professors at the University of Chicago, Robert Pape, recommended I apply to the War Studies program. The University of Chicago Scholarship Office said that based on my interests in great power politics and political thought that the War Studies program would be a strong fit.

Subsequently, I participated in the Hertog Seminar on “Nixon in China” and the Security and Strategy Seminar Series on China. I have also attended War Studies Advanced Courses such as “Civil Military Relations” and “Russian Hybrid Warfare.” I could not have asked for a better experience in these programs. They pushed me to develop the rigor of my ideas and built my personal network of like-minded young professionals.

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR CAREER PATH.

I studied political science at the University of Chicago with a special focus on the foreign policy strategy of the late Hapsburg monarchy. One of my most formative experiences was being sent to the NATO Center of Excellence Defense Against Terrorism as an instructor for a weeklong program to bring social science research into the discussion with security practitioners. It convinced me that I want to continue to operate at the nexus of research and security.

Hertog programs have been instrumental in my professional development. The War Studies and China programs sharpened my ambitions and gave me analytical tools to succeed in my work and school environments.

WHAT STICKS OUT IN YOUR MEMORY ABOUT YOUR EDUCATION EXPERIENCE WITH WAR STUDIES?

The War Studies Program took me beyond being a foreign policy hobbyist. The War Studies Program conducts a holistic discussion of the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war. From close readings of theory of war to simulated debates over post-war doctrinal evolution, students leave with a deeper understanding of the concepts at work.

What most stood out to me was the War Studies instructors’ uncompromising approach to intellectual honesty. Every idea would be subject to intense scrutiny and every theory would be applied to unusual and difficult test cases. We discussed what Clausewitz would say about the Gulf War air campaign or the Russian Deep Battle doctrine. In subsequent experiences in school and work, I have had to work with similar frameworks and I always go back to the approaches taught in the War Studies Program.

OVERALL, WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION OF HERTOG PROGRAMS?

The Hertog programs have helped more than anything else to keep me sharp and critical. It is all too easy to slip into comfortable opinions and routines, but the Hertog classes consistently force me to engage with new and diverging viewpoints and push me out of my comfort zone. The ability to engage with such an intelligent student body on such important issues is unparalleled.

DO YOU THINK HERTOG PROGRAMS ARE BENEFICIAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE INTERESTED IN SECURITY STUDIES?

Absolutely. My impression is that while many people are nominally interested in foreign policy and security studies issues, they are limited by resources which only scrape the surface. Hertog programs are unique in their ability to drive students deeper into these important topics.

The “Nixon and China” class I took under Dan Blumenthal is a great example of Hertog’s value. Instead of laying out a single viewpoint about a difficult issue, the class used a primary-source focus which forced students to develop their own opinions. Reading documents such as Kissinger’s transcripts and Nixon’s op-eds makes clear the enormous complexity of the decisions involved. For a generation of young people interested in participating in similarly momentous challenges, this is an invaluable experience.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS?

I want blend my security studies and technology policy backgrounds to work on America’s technology competition with China. One lesson that Hertog teaches you is that competition has many faces and changes form throughout history. Today, it seems that technology competition will be a key foreign policy issue which spans political, economic, and military domains. I would like to work for a US government body such as CFIUS, BIS, or OSTP to help America design a technology strategy which protects our core national interests.