Peter Dombrowski

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• Ph.D.
• Professor at Naval War College

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

Military exercises are largely overlooked by scholars of international security, despite the fact that exercise planning, execution, and analysis represent a huge investment of any military’s energy. Nonetheless, they offer the possibility of a rich research program about what states prioritize and how they adjudge their relationship to other state...

and Keywords The other contributions in this volume take seriously the proposition that having a univer sal grand strategy is essential for a great power. This chapter considers three alternative propositions: (1) that in many cases grand strategy in a classic sense is not achievable given bureaucratic and political impediments, (2) that all great...

The field of grand strategy is exceptionally American-centric theoretically, methodologically and empirically. Indeed, many scholars treat the United States as a unique case, and thus incomparable. This Element addresses the shortcomings of this approach by developing a novel framework for the purpose of systematic comparison, both within and among...

In this book, we outline a novel, comparative, and systematic approach to the study of grand strategy. Our contributors then use it to examine ten countries and the European Union. Our goal, as editors, is ambitious: to initiate a new research program in the field of grand strategy that links international rela- tions theory to area studies. In the...

Deliberations over the COVID-19 pandemic's long-term effects on the global balance of power have spurred a large and rancorous debate, including speculation about a shift in the definition of national security and prescriptions about where it should focus. That argument will no doubt continue. But we argue that one consequence is already evident: t...

This paper explores the likelihood of maritime crisis stability between China and the United States by building on existing research on the Sino-American naval balance and the concepts of offense–defense theory. Whereas a “denialist” school in security studies argues that counterintervention technology makes defense dominant in the region, the US N...

For the first time since World War II the most likely friction points between a rising, potentially revisionist power and a declining, largely status-quo power are located at sea. This special issue accordingly seeks to set an appropriate agenda for security studies research. It presents six interconnected articles exploring different dimensions of...

The study of maritime operations has generally been neglected in a European Security and Defense Policy debate that often focuses on political will, bureaucratic incoherence, and military interoperability. Nonetheless, maritime operations have played an increasingly important role in the last decade and deserve deeper analysis. First, they provide...

The study of grand strategy has historically been confined to a few great powers—preponderantly, the United States, China, and Russia. In contrast, this volume introduces readers to the novel field of “comparative grand strategy.” Its co-editors offer a framework that expands the analysis beyond a traditional rationalist approach to incorporate sig...

This chapter lays out the objectives of the volume, provides a new conceptual and methodological framework, and justifies case selection. It comprises three sections. The first section argues that a comparative approach to the study of grand strategy both highlights the constraints of contemporary single-country research and the opportunities prese...

This chapter lays out the objectives of the volume, provides a new conceptual and methodological framework, and justifies case selection. It comprises three sections. The first section argues that a comparative approach to the study of grand strategy both highlights the constraints of contemporary single-country research and the opportunities prese...

The study of American grand strategy is dominated by historians who describe former grand strategies, and international relations scholars who prescribe what it should be. In contrast to either approach, this chapter has three components: First, it identifies the national cultural influences, the key elements of the mythic “American Creed,” that pr...

The international system now depends on cyberspace, a global ‘substrate' of massive, complex, insecurely designed networks providing systemic advantages to masses of predators and adversaries. States today face an unprecedented spectrum of ‘cybered conflict' between peace and war with growing existential implications. Their piecemeal searches for d...

In The End of Grand Strategy, Simon Reich and Peter Dombrowski challenge the common view of grand strategy as unitary. They eschew prescription of any one specific approach, chosen from a spectrum that stretches from global primacy to restraint and isolationism, in favor of describing what America's military actually does, day to day. They argue th...

The literature on grand strategy is dynamic and voluminous. Yet a vital set of questions remains unsettled. There is little agreement on such basic issues as a common definition of grand strategy, the appropriate methods that should be employed in studying it, which countries qualify as comparative cases, and whether the purpose of research is expl...

Scholars and analysts continue reviewing and analyzing elements of change and continuity in President Trump's US national security policy. Voices within the media and policy community have often questioned whether it is descending into chaos. 1 Behind the focus of the daily news cycle is a more profound question: is President Trump's approach to th...

This chapter analyzes the annual, U.S.-led naval exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) to help understand the strategic importance of multilateral naval exercises. We begin with an overview of the geopolitical context in the Baltic Sea region to help explain the present-day tensions between NATO and Russia and demonstrate why the Baltic is seen as a...

In The End of Grand Strategy, Simon Reich and Peter Dombrowski challenge the common view of grand strategy as unitary. They eschew prescription of any one specific approach, chosen from a spectrum that stretches from global primacy to restraint and isolationism, in favor of describing what America’s military actually does, day to day. They argue th...

This chapter examines the unilateral American strategy of primacy in the Strait of Hormuz that borders Iran. It begins with a vignette about sea-basing. It notes the historic justification for the Navy’s presence (to ensure the flow of oil to the US and uninterrupted commercial shipping) and describes how American behavior has been, and remains, co...

This chapter examines the historic US policy of isolationism in the Western Hemisphere. It begins with a vignette about the U.S. Coast Guard cutter seized a submersible vessel (a rudimentary submarine) dubbed “Bigfoot” off the southwest coast of Costa Rica. The chapter then focuses on the use of the Navy and Coast Guard around the American littoral...

This chapter begins with a vignette regarding the 2004 Asian tsunami to illustrate the increasing demands placed on the US Navy and associated seas services – beyond warfighting to ‘Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW). Then it examines the contrasting definitions of grand strategy – and how the definitions have no relationship to the illustr...

This chapter examines the shift from a traditional strategy of isolationism to an embryonic variant of a strategy of retrenchment (called “restraint”) in the Arctic region. The Arctic is an area where environmental and economic (natural resources) concerns dominate the US agenda. Security considerations such as contested sovereignty – and the quest...

This chapter begins with a personal vignette from one of the authors (Reich) regarding scenario planning and its relationship to strategizing. In this chapter, we outline the major strands of contemporary US grand strategy, and identify the conditions under which each one is employed by policymakers and, ultimately, the U.S. Navy. It then examines...

This chapter examines an area of policy neglected in the IR literature- that of the form and role of multilateral military exercises, in this case in the Indo-Pacific. The chapter begins with a vignette about the world’s largest - the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise - in which the Chinese both participate while simultaneously spying on it, wit...

This chapter examines the US strategy of formal sponsorship in the multilateral anti-piracy campaign off the Somalian coast and in the Gulf of the Aden. It begins with a famous vignette – the rescue of Captain Phillips from pirates depicted in the movie of the same name. The objective of the chapter is to describe and explain why successive America...

This introductory chapter lays out the central puzzle of the book: why do so many academics and policymakers advocate a specific form of grand strategy when the evidence drawn from military operations suggest that it is impossible to pursue a ‘one-size fits all’ strategy? We use a personal example, drawing on the experience of one of the authors (D...

This chapter is divided into three components: 1. A review of the (lack of) utility of the concept of grand strategy in view of the prior chapters 2. A discussion of the theoretical and policy implications of our alternative formulation which we characterize as “calibrated strategies” in an evolving strategic environment (see chapter 2) where there...

This chapter examines an informal variant of a sponsorship strategy. It focuses on the case of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a global campaign designed to combat the smuggling of nuclear, biological and chemical materials and related component parts. The chapter begins with an vignette involving the interception of a North Korean ves...

Policy makers and pundits debate the utility and desirability of various forms of grand strategy. They advocate one specific approach, chosen from a spectrum that stretches from global primacy to restraint and isolationism. These strategies generally share three features: first, a nostalgia for the Cold War, when America’s grand strategy was clear...

The pace of events in the first six months of the Trump presidency proved dazzling. One day, 6 April 2017, illustrates the point. During any recent presidential administration, either the decision of the US Senate to change its historic rules about the selection of a Supreme Court justice or the visit of China’s Premier, Xi Jinping, would have domi...

This article will discuss potential cybered conflicts in the context of contemporary U.S. defense policy, the recent forty-year period of military transformation, and the intensifying Sino-American peacetime competition. The self-conscious focus on technological innovation represented by the DII is consistent with how the United States has pursued...

Sponsorship strategies bolster and subsidise allies who share America's interests and are motivated to implement them.

The international system now depends on cyberspace, a global 'substrate' of massive, complex, insecurely designed networks providing systemic advantages to masses of predators and adversaries. States today face an unprecedented spectrum of 'cybered conflict' between peace and war with growing existential implications. Their piecemeal searches for d...

No frontier lasts forever, and no global commons extends endlessly. Today we are witnessing the fence building process of the cyberspace. The days of limited cyber spying through software backdoors or betrayals by trusted insiders, vandalism, or even theft had evolved into the ability to deliver devastating blows from afar. Thus, states are establi...

This essay will assess Iron Dome’s potential impact on U.S. and international efforts to deploy multitiered national, regional and global missile-defense systems. We will look at the antimissile system’s history and construct a preliminary baseline evaluation of its performance last fall. Finally, we will consider the strategic implications of Iron...

The last six years have witnessed a virtually unending debate over U.S. policy toward Iraq, one that is likely to continue well into the new administration and perhaps the next, notwithstanding recent improvements on the ground. Too often, however, the debate has been narrowly framed in terms of the situation in Iraq and what steps the United State...

This article improves Clayton Christensen's widely cited theory of innovation and applies it to explain recent developments in the U.S. defense industry. We clarify Christensen's categorization of innovations, and expand the theory's scope to products with multiple quality attributes and markets that have a 'demand pull' for innovation. We then dem...

Whether it’s guns and ammunition or multidimensional anti-terrorism systems, the defense industry is dynamic, complex, and ubiquitous. It is also mysterious, powerful, and controversial, involving thousands of players worldwide—from suppliers and producers to government and military procurers to shadowy figures that trade in the black market. This...

In surveying the literature on global financial relations, this essay suggests that (1) states have not “surrendered” or “retreated” but reinterpreted their roles relative to global finance, (2) interstate cooperation is pervasive but fragile, and (3) capital mobility has not yet altered the structures of the international system. Although states h...

After u September 2001, the George W. Bush administration declared that the United States had adopted a 'pre-emptive' military doctrine to address new threats posed by terrorists and 'rogue states' armed with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. However, the so-called 'Bush Doctrine' met substantial international opposition when it was proposed...

Since the demise of the Soviet Union the newly independent states (NIS) have attempted the wholesale reform of their economic, political, and social institutions. With varying levels of success they have sought to create new institutions or reorganize old institutions, often so as to mirror similar institutions in western Europe and North America....

This anthology of articles from the quarterly, the "Naval College Review," is divided into three sections. The first section introduces the changing security environment facing the United States and, by extension, the U.S. Navy. The articles examine both the external position of the nation and the emerging internal political and institutional conte...

The “Bush Doctrine” asserting the right to preemptively attack states that support or harbor terrorists and pursue weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has bitterly divided world opinion. Many seemingly long-settled questions of international politics, especially involving the unilateral use of force, have been reopened. Although we are concerned abou...

Can nation states cope with numerous public policy challenges-ranging from regional financial crises to the failures of large financial services firms-posed by today's globalized financial and monetary landscape? As Benjamin Cohen has argued "governments must consciously adapt to a dramatic transformation of their status, from monopolists to...

A contemporary theme in international relations holds that the loyalty of individuals toward states is in decline as individuals shift their identities toward supranational or subnational entities. Surprisingly there have been few attempts to track such shifts empirically. We use data from cross-national public opinion surveys to examine whether lo...

Since the demise of the Soviet Union the newly independent states (NIS) have attempted the wholesale reform of their economic, political, and social institutions. With varying levels of success they have sought to create new institutions or reorganize old institutions, often so as to mirror similar institutions in western Europe and North America....

One consequence of the rapid transformation of global society at millennium's end has been to alter dramatically the relationship between territorial states and markets. Increasingly, the interstate system of exclusive territorial control that governed political life for over three centuries is giving way to a deterritorialized present in which the...

The purpose of this essay is to suggest the importance of individualisation for thinking about global transformation. According to Zurn, individualisation is 'the widening and deepening of the principle of individual self-determination accompanied by a dissolution of traditional alignments and the tendency to evaluate things on the basis of individ...

U.S. officials often rely on American corporations to achieve public policy objectives within the international economy. For example, commercial banks played an integral role in U.S. debt crisis management efforts. The reliance on American businesses to achieve policy ends challenges theoretical assumptions about relations between private firms and...

The electronic version of this book has been prepared by scanning TIFF 600 dpi bitonal images of the pages of the text. Original source: Policy responses to the globalization of American banking / Peter Dombrowski.; Dombrowski, Peter.; vii, 247 p. ; 23 cm.; Pittsburgh :; This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR)....

In this article we examine German foreign aid for central and eastern Europe in order to determine which foreign policy course Germany is likely to pursue. We outline the dominant debates over German foreign policy, review German aid programmes to eastern Europe, define the patterns evident within these policies and then analyse their key character...

Since 1989 American policy-makers have continually affirmed US support for the transition of the former Soviet republics from authoritarian, command economies to democratic, market economies. The United States will continue to aid the transition to protect its own political, economic and security interests. Professor Rex Wade's article offers reaso...

The Bush administration has made military transformation a central defense and national security objective It came into office declaring its commitment to profound, potentially radical military change. Even while engaged in the global war on terror, preparing to go to war against and then fighting one rogue state, and deterring another, the U.S. mi...

No frontier lasts forever, and no freely occupied global commons extends endlessly where human societies are involved. Sooner or later, good fences are erected to make good neighbors, and so it must be with cyberspace. Today we are seeing the beginnings of the border-making process across the world's nations. From the Chinese intent to create their...

Numerous authors have noted the importance of globalization for national security affairs, yet globalization remains a highly contested concept. Political scientists, economists, and historians have all sought to pin down the nature of globalization with little success. Many argue that whatever the historical antecedents of globalization, the curre...

Do not cite or quote without permission of the authors. The views expressed here are those of the aut hors alone; they do not necessarily represent those of the Naval War College, the United States Navy, the Department of Defense or any other U.S.government agency or department. This paper draws upon work the authors have done with Eugene Gholz in...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Maryland at College Park, 1990. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 230-243).

The last six years have witnessed a virtually unending debate over U.S. policy toward Iraq, a debate that is likely to continue well into the new administration and perhaps the next, notwithstanding recent improvements on the ground. Too often, however, the debate has been narrowly framed in terms of the situation in Iraq and what steps the United...