This Week at ISN

16 - 20 Apr 2012 This week we examine the relevance of grand strategies and strategic cultures in a rapidly changing world. We give an overview of both concepts followed by specific case studies of the grand strategies of the United States, Iran and other regional powers.

Grand Strategies and Strategic Cultures

Bringing Back Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy
16 Apr 2012 / ISN Podcast

Using the American example, Peter Faber explains what strategic culture is, how it relates to grand strategy, and what role the two concepts play in the 21st century. More American Grand Strategy: Renewal or Decline?
17 Apr 2012 / ISN Special Feature

Stratfor's George Friedman explains contemporary US grand strategy. More Iran: Regional Power with a Global Strategy
18 Apr 2012 / ISN Podcast

Iran's grand strategy can either be understood as protecting the current elite or as restoring the country's historical status, explains Anoush Ehteshami, a Middle East expert and professor at Durham University. More Narratives of Humiliation: Chinese and Japanese Strategic Culture
19 April 2012 / ISN Special Feature

Whereas Japan has used a historical narrative of humiliation to become a pacifist state, China sees it as an opportunity to consolidate its global power status. However, Tom French argues that these dynamics might be about to change. More India and Pakistan: Incompatible Grand Strategies
20 Apr 2012 / ISN Podcast

India and Pakistan are preoccupied with domestic affairs, but their grand strategies often collide, explains Anatol Lieven, a professor of strategy at King's College London and author of Pakistan: "A Hard Country". More A New Bipolarity, or Just Different Cultures?
16 Apr 2012 / ISN Blog

Volker Perthes discusses the idea of a new bipolarity between the Atlantic and Asia and argues that rather than constructing a new bipolarity, we could perhaps try to identify a number of different international-affairs cultures. More

Other Topics
Pride and Prejudice in Heglig
19 Apr 2012 / ISN Special Feature

The South Sudanese People's Liberation Army has moved into an oil town on the South Sudan/Sudan border.

While nationalist sentiment runs high, the newly separated states can ill afford renewed conflict, writes Erwin van Veen and Ann Fitz-Gerald. More Japan's Response to New US Defense Strategy: "Welcome, but"
19 Apr 2012 / ISN Blog

Yoichi Kato explains why Japan avoids discussions about the anti-access, area denial (A2/AD) capabilities of China, which constitute an important focus of the new US defense strategy. More Time for an Alliance Caucus
17 Apr 2012 / ISN Blog

Regional security threats demand that the US and its allies work with each other in a networked manner. This is not to suggest "NATO for Asia," but it is time for an informal Alliance Caucus, writes Nicole Forrester. More Connecting South Asia: The Stilwell Road & Sub-Regional Networks
20 Apr 2012 / ISN Blog

The Stilwell Road that was operational only during the period of World War II, serving as a military supply line, was 'reopened'. Ruhee Neog explores the variety of reasons why the momentum for its operationalization has been gathering speed. More What Should the World Bank Do?
16 Apr 2012 / ISN Blog

Jos Antonio Ocampo, nominee for President of the World Bank, presents the development principles and priorities that would have guided his actions if he had been elected. More Contested Histories of the Ashkenazi Jews
19 Apr 2012 / ISN Special Feature

Shalva Weil discusses how scholarship arguing that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from a semi-nomadic Turkic people has provoked anti-Semitic responses in some quarters. More The Odd Couple
18 Apr 2012 / ISN Blog

Iran and Qatar has sustained an unlikely relationship of mutual tolerance for best part of 30 years. But in today's international climate Qatar have opted to side more and more with their GCC neighbors, while Iran attempts to cope with increased pressures, explains Alex Vatanka. More

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