Rethinking American Grand Strategy
Co-Organizers
- Christopher McKnight Nichols - Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies and Professor of History, The Ohio State University
- Andrew Preston - W.L. Lyons Brown Jr. Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished Professor of Diplomacy and Statecraft, University of Virginia
Conference Overview
What has been, is, and should be U.S. grand strategy? Is there any such thing? If so, how might it be done more effectively to confront the myriad challenges that the U.S. and the world face today?
This conference brings together exceptional scholars and thinkers, eminent figures and rising stars to rethink the past and present of American grand strategy. In a series of innovative talks and original presentations the panelists seek to construct a rich account of how grand strategy has expanded and continues to operate in the U.S. role in the world in the twenty-first century.
The conference and resulting book will broaden the field of Grand Strategy beyond traditional assessments of the ends and means of (military) power, by including cutting-edge work on, non-state actors, raw materials, economics, race, gender, and other innovative ways of examining the history of American grand strategy. In emphasizing new subjects and new approaches, the larger objective is to provide a better understanding of the most pressing international issues not just of the past and present, but for the future as well. War, peace, and diplomatic strategy will be central, but conference participants also will engage with topics and on topics and areas not often historicized and understood in grand strategic terms, such as artificial intelligence, materials (e.g. rare earths), and climate change, as well as strategically critical regions (from Canada to Central Europe, from Southeast Asia to the Arctic) and geographies (e.g., space, the seas).
Together we will be developing new approaches to American Grand Strategy across an array of present concerns. Recommendations from each issue area will be informed by a rich account of past approaches to Grand Strategy, how they were realized in practice (or not), and how they played out. Participants will consider how the lessons of history can foster a more productive, holistic approach to domestic and international security.
Keen observers of U.S. foreign policy are divided in many ways, yet they are united in their longing for a clearer view of U.S. strategic priorities, plans, and a process by which to at least seek to attain them. From across the political spectrum thinkers, politicians, journalists, and citizens alike want the United States to have a grand plan to meet the major challenges of the 21st century – nuclear proliferation, AI and cybersecurity, climate change, human rights, inequality, and more.
As the study of Grand Strategy expands beyond traditional assessments of the ends and means of (military) power, lead co-organizer Christopher McKnight Nichols proposes to consolidate the state of the field and propel it in new directions; in close collaboration with Andrew Preston, the two aim to build on their recent work through this conference and in a resulting new book.
Free and open to the public. Registration requested.
This event is supported by a grant from the Stanton Foundation.
This is an America250 event. Learn more about America250 at Ohio State
Poster art by Kyle McCray.
Registration
There are separate registration forms for Day 1, May 29 and Day 2, May 30. Please complete both registrations if you plan to attend the whole conference.
May 29 Registration
May 30 Registration
The scholars below have been confirmed as Presenters or Panelists for the Rethinking Grand Strategy conference.
- Daniel Sargent – Associate Professor of History and Public Policy, UC Berkeley.
- Rush Doshi – Assistant Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; C.V Starr Senior Fellow for Asia Relations Council on Foreign Relations; Deputy Senior Director for China and Taiwan, National Security Council (2021-2024)
- Frank Gavin – Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and Director, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
- James Steinberg – Dean, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Among other relevant past positions, Deputy Secretary of State (2009-2011), Deputy National Security Advisor (1996-2000)
- Michael Brenes – Associate Director, Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, Yale University
- Kara Cunzeman – Author and Founder, Unconstrained Futures
- Rebecca Herman – Associate Professor of History, UC Berkeley
- Rana Mitter – S.T. Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School
- Susan Colbourn, Associate Research Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and Associate Director of the Program in American Grand Strategy, Duke University
- Simon Miles, Associate Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, and Assistant Professor of History and Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Duke University
- Asa McKercher, Steven K. Hudson Research Chair in Canada-US Relations, and Associate Professor in Public Policy and Governance, St. Francis Xavier University
- Sergey Radchenko – Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
- Elisabeth Leake – Lee E. Dirks Professor in Diplomatic History, Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Anatol Klass, Assistant Professor, U.S. Naval War College
- Keisha Blain – Professor of Africana Studies and History, Brown University
- Niki Hemmer – Associate Professor of History, Director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the American Presidency, Vanderbilt University
- Lydia Walker – Assistant Professor and Myers Chair in Global Military History, The Ohio State University
- Neta Crawford – Professor, University of St Andrews
- Risa Brooks, Allis Chalmers Professor of Political Science, Marquette University
- Megan Black – Associate Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Michael De Groot – Assistant Professor of International Studies, Indiana University Bloomington
- Christopher Dietrich – Associate Professor of History, Fordham University
- Jayita Sarkar – Professor of Global History of Inequalities, Glasgow University
- Josephine Wolff – Associate Professor of Cybersecurity Policy, Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Sam Lebovic – Professor of History, George Mason University
- Jonathan Hunt – Associate Scholar, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
- Eleanor Runde – Former Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Joseph Steib – Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina