Alessandra Nisch
Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of ...

President Putin made three foundational assumptions in launching his war against Ukraine that should have been correct but were not. First, Putin assumed the invasion of Ukraine would be a quick and easy fight. Second, he assumed the world would denounce the invasion but tacitly allow it. Third, Putin assumed the war would deter NATO expansion.

Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of Applied Friction

Revolution

#Reviewing How to Prevent Coups d’État

#Reviewing How to Prevent Coups d’État

Erica De Bruin’s How to Prevent Coups d’état: Counterbalancing and Regime Survival was a long-awaited release for a couple of reasons. First, the initial article this book is based on has been cited nearly 100 times in less than three years. Introducing a way to quantify a notoriously difficult to quantify concept changed the discussion in national security and civilian-military relations, and not just among coup scholars. Second, De Bruin is thorough in examining consequences throughout her work.

#Reviewing The Conduct of War, 1789-1961

#Reviewing The Conduct of War, 1789-1961

To get the most out of this book you need to get past the obvious prejudice that Fuller has, undoubtedly colored by his exasperation with the leaders who muddled through World War One and those who sidelined him during World War Two. If you can do this, The Conduct of War is an excellent historical introspection into the character of war and its utility for achieving political advantage.

The Best Club in the History of the World: #Reviewing The World According to Star Wars

The Best Club in the History of the World: #Reviewing The World According to Star Wars

Even if Star Wars objectively is not-so-great as a film series, its enduring themes found in thousands of years of narratives tap into something universal that manages to overcome any creative or other shortcomings. “There’s a deep human desire for common knowledge and common experiences,” he writes. And the hero’s journey is one nearly everyone can relate to. His book also explores human behavior, covering how people succeed, decision-making (freedom to choose, he highlights, is a key Star Wars value), and father-son dynamics. At a high-level, it might be said that Sunstein wrote a book about relationships—how each generation creates ways to connect to the next, how children redeem their parents, and how law develops over time. 

The Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917

The Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917

Aided by brutal defeats and unprecedented loss of life in two wars, the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 were the collective backlash of the masses against the corrupt, incompetent, and uncaring autocracy of the Tsarist Regime which was unable and unwilling to change with the times. Moreover, the revolutions hardly yielded the type of productive and egalitarian change that masses called for. Thus, these revolutions serve as a cautionary tale for both governments and revolutionaries.