Christopher J Fettweis
Biographic Data
| ID | 1598286 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christopher J Fettweis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christopher J |
| FAMILY NAME | Fettweis |
| SIGNATURE | FETTWEIS C J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tulane University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 29 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Grand Strategy and the Spiral Model
Prisoners of Their Premises
Journal Article Prisoners of Their Premises: How Unexamined Assumptions Lead to War and Other Policy Debacles by George C. Edwards Get access George C. Edwards. Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 2022. 152 pp. Paper, $24.99. Christopher Fettweis Christopher Fettweis Tulane University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, qqad087, https://doi.org/10.1093/psquar/qqad087 Publishe…
The Beliefs of the Blob
After Trump
Is Donald Trump America’s First Constructivist President
Trump’s accidental presidency is an ideal test of the strength and robustness of the international-relations canon
Response to Keren Yarhi-Milo’s review of Psychology of a Superpower
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Restraining Rome
His eponymous wall notwithstanding, Hadrian was a prudent realist who put reason ahead of fear and interest ahead of glory
Trump, China and International Order
Although Trump and China will test the international order, books by Paul K. MacDonald & Joseph M. Parent and Aaron M. Zack suggest systemic stability
Confounding Powers
How do novel political actors emerge, and what accounts for their persistence? International society usually punishes those who refuse to play by its rules, but on occasion, certain forces emerge that not only thrive but alter those rules. The effects of such extrasystemic actors, those who refuse to conform to norms of international behavior, are the subject of William J. Brennan’s Confounding Powers. Brennan seeks to understand the impact and l…
Unipolarity, Hegemony, and the New Peace
Despite a few persistent, high-profile conflicts in the Middle East, the world is experiencing an era of unprecedented peace and stability. Many scholars have offered explanations for this “New Peace,” to borrow Steven Pinker's phrase, but few have devoted much time to the possibility that US hegemony has brought stability to the system. This paper examines the theoretical, empirical, and psychological foundations of the hegemonic-stability expla…
Misreading the Enemy
Pathological exaggeration of the enemy is more common than complacency, and has inspired overreaction, blunder and national ruin. Additional informationNotes on contributorsChristopher J. Fettweis is Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University, and the author of The Pathologies of Power: Fear, Honor, Glory and Hubris in U.S. Foreign Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and Making Foreign Policy Decisions (Transactions, 2015…
On Heartlands and Chessboards
The Coming Stability? The Decline of Warfare in Africa and Implications for International Security
Anarchy was coming to Africa, Robert Kaplan warned in 1994, and a surge in conflict initially seemed to confirm that prediction. With less fanfare, however, after the year 2000, conflict in Africa declined, probably to the lowest levels ever. Recent fighting in Libya, Mali, South Sudan and elsewhere has prompted a new wave of ‘Africa falling apart’ concerns. This article reviews the history and data of conflict in Africa, from pre-colonial times …
Threatlessness and US Grand Strategy
The American ability to think clearly about strategy did not survive the Cold War. As a result, the US worries more, and spends more, than is necessary to achieve its goals
The Pathologies of Power
The foreign policy of the United States is guided by deeply held beliefs, few of which are recognized much less subjected to rational analysis, Christopher J. Fettweis writes, in this, his third book. He identifies the foundations of those beliefs - fear, honor, glory and hubris - and explains how they have inspired poor strategic decisions in Washington. He then proceeds to discuss their origins. The author analyzes recent foreign policy mistake…
The Al Qaeda Factor
Free Riding or Restraint? Examining European Grand Strategy
The major U.S. allies seem to be content to let the United States shoulder the burden associated with assuring the security of the West and promoting freedom and democracy around the world, passively free riding on the security provided by the U.S. taxpayer. A different explanation is available, if rarely discussed: Perhaps the Europeans great powers are not merely passive consumers of free U.S. security guarantees; perhaps instead the decisions …
Dangerous Times?
Threat and Anxiety in US Foreign Policy
Four decades ago, Karl Deutsch devised what he called ‘Parkinson's Law for national security’: A nation's feeling of insecurity expands directly with its power. This certainly seems to apply to the United States, which is simultaneously the strongest country in the history of the world and the most insecure of today's great powers. The threats it has recently identified in the international system, from Iraq to Hugo Chávez to terrorism, are minor…
After the Taliban
Journal Article After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan by Amb. James F. Dobbins Get access After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistanby Amb. James F. Dobbins. Washington, DC, Potomac Books, 2008. 179 pp. $24.95. Christopher J. Fettweis Christopher J. Fettweis Tulane University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 124, Issue 2, Summer 2009, Pages 358–359, htt…
Dangerous Revisionism
Freedom Fighters and Zealots
Journal Article Freedom Fighters and Zealots: Al Qaeda in Historical Perspective Get access Christopher J. Fettweis Christopher J. Fettweis CHRISTOPHER J. FETTWEIS is assistant professor of political science at Tulane University. He is the author of Losing Hurts Twice as Bad, about post-Iraq international relations, and of the forthcoming Dangerous Times? The International Politics of Great Power Peace. Search for other works by this author on: O…
On the Consequences of Failure in Iraq
Credibility and the War on Terror
Journal Article Credibility and the War on Terror Get access Christopher J. Fettweis Christopher J. Fettweis CHRISTOPHER J. FETTWEIS is assistant professor of national security affairs in the National Security Decision Making Department at the U.S. Naval War College. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 122, Issue 4, Winter 2007, Pages 607–633, https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-…
A Revolution in International Relation Theory
Author's Note:War has been the primary focus of the scholarly study of international relations (IR) from its very beginning. E.H. Carr and his colleagues at Aberystwyth created the first IR department in 1919 in the wake of the Great War at least partially in the hope of preventing the next one. Their lack of success did not keep war and peace from becoming the primary issues of study for most students of international politics ever since. Confli…
A Revolution in International Relation Theory
Author's Note:War has been the primary focus of the scholarly study of international relations (IR) from its very beginning. E.H. Carr and his colleagues at Aberystwyth created the first IR department in 1919 in the wake of the Great War at least partially in the hope of preventing the next one. Their lack of success did not keep war and peace from becoming the primary issues of study for most students of international politics ever since. Confli…
Unipolarity, Hegemony, and the New Peace
Despite a few persistent, high-profile conflicts in the Middle East, the world is experiencing an era of unprecedented peace and stability. Many scholars have offered explanations for this “New Peace,” to borrow Steven Pinker's phrase, but few have devoted much time to the possibility that US hegemony has brought stability to the system. This paper examines the theoretical, empirical, and psychological foundations of the hegemonic-stability expla…
On Heartlands and Chessboards
The Coming Stability? The Decline of Warfare in Africa and Implications for International Security
Anarchy was coming to Africa, Robert Kaplan warned in 1994, and a surge in conflict initially seemed to confirm that prediction. With less fanfare, however, after the year 2000, conflict in Africa declined, probably to the lowest levels ever. Recent fighting in Libya, Mali, South Sudan and elsewhere has prompted a new wave of ‘Africa falling apart’ concerns. This article reviews the history and data of conflict in Africa, from pre-colonial times …
Dangerous Revisionism
Evaluating IR's Crystal Balls
The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history
The Beliefs of the Blob
Misreading the Enemy
Pathological exaggeration of the enemy is more common than complacency, and has inspired overreaction, blunder and national ruin. Additional informationNotes on contributorsChristopher J. Fettweis is Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University, and the author of The Pathologies of Power: Fear, Honor, Glory and Hubris in U.S. Foreign Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and Making Foreign Policy Decisions (Transactions, 2015…
Threat and Anxiety in US Foreign Policy
Four decades ago, Karl Deutsch devised what he called ‘Parkinson's Law for national security’: A nation's feeling of insecurity expands directly with its power. This certainly seems to apply to the United States, which is simultaneously the strongest country in the history of the world and the most insecure of today's great powers. The threats it has recently identified in the international system, from Iraq to Hugo Chávez to terrorism, are minor…
Freedom Fighters and Zealots
Journal Article Freedom Fighters and Zealots: Al Qaeda in Historical Perspective Get access Christopher J. Fettweis Christopher J. Fettweis CHRISTOPHER J. FETTWEIS is assistant professor of political science at Tulane University. He is the author of Losing Hurts Twice as Bad, about post-Iraq international relations, and of the forthcoming Dangerous Times? The International Politics of Great Power Peace. Search for other works by this author on: O…
Credibility and the War on Terror
Journal Article Credibility and the War on Terror Get access Christopher J. Fettweis Christopher J. Fettweis CHRISTOPHER J. FETTWEIS is assistant professor of national security affairs in the National Security Decision Making Department at the U.S. Naval War College. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 122, Issue 4, Winter 2007, Pages 607–633, https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-…
Revisiting Mackinder and Angell
Norman Angell and Sir Halford Mackinder were contemporaries with similar backgrounds in early 20th century England, but their theories of international relations could hardly have been more different. The world wars seemed to confirm the importance of what Mackinder had to say and discredit Angell, but today the outlook is quite different. Now that major, great power war is all but obsolete, Angell’s ideas about the futility of war seem to have b…
War as catalyst
Sir Halford Mackinder, Geopolitics, and Policymaking in the 21st Century
A victorious Roman general, when he entered the city, amid all the head-turning splendor of a `Triumph,' had behind him on the chariot a slave who whispered into his ear that he was mortal. When our statesmen are in conversation with the defeated enemy, some airy cherub should whisper to them from time to time this saying: Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; Who rules the World-Island c…
Revisiting Mackinder and Angell
Norman Angell and Sir Halford Mackinder were contemporaries with similar backgrounds in early 20th century England, but their theories of international relations could hardly have been more different. The world wars seemed to confirm the importance of what Mackinder had to say and discredit Angell, but today the outlook is quite different. Now that major, great power war is all but obsolete, Angell’s ideas about the futility of war seem to have b…
War as catalyst
Evaluating IR's Crystal Balls
The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history
A Revolution in International Relation Theory
Author's Note:War has been the primary focus of the scholarly study of international relations (IR) from its very beginning. E.H. Carr and his colleagues at Aberystwyth created the first IR department in 1919 in the wake of the Great War at least partially in the hope of preventing the next one. Their lack of success did not keep war and peace from becoming the primary issues of study for most students of international politics ever since. Confli…
On the Consequences of Failure in Iraq
Credibility and the War on Terror
Journal Article Credibility and the War on Terror Get access Christopher J. Fettweis Christopher J. Fettweis CHRISTOPHER J. FETTWEIS is assistant professor of national security affairs in the National Security Decision Making Department at the U.S. Naval War College. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 122, Issue 4, Winter 2007, Pages 607–633, https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-…
After the Taliban
Journal Article After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan by Amb. James F. Dobbins Get access After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistanby Amb. James F. Dobbins. Washington, DC, Potomac Books, 2008. 179 pp. $24.95. Christopher J. Fettweis Christopher J. Fettweis Tulane University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 124, Issue 2, Summer 2009, Pages 358–359, htt…
Dangerous Revisionism
Freedom Fighters and Zealots
Journal Article Freedom Fighters and Zealots: Al Qaeda in Historical Perspective Get access Christopher J. Fettweis Christopher J. Fettweis CHRISTOPHER J. FETTWEIS is assistant professor of political science at Tulane University. He is the author of Losing Hurts Twice as Bad, about post-Iraq international relations, and of the forthcoming Dangerous Times? The International Politics of Great Power Peace. Search for other works by this author on: O…
Dangerous Times?
Threat and Anxiety in US Foreign Policy
Four decades ago, Karl Deutsch devised what he called ‘Parkinson's Law for national security’: A nation's feeling of insecurity expands directly with its power. This certainly seems to apply to the United States, which is simultaneously the strongest country in the history of the world and the most insecure of today's great powers. The threats it has recently identified in the international system, from Iraq to Hugo Chávez to terrorism, are minor…
Free Riding or Restraint? Examining European Grand Strategy
The major U.S. allies seem to be content to let the United States shoulder the burden associated with assuring the security of the West and promoting freedom and democracy around the world, passively free riding on the security provided by the U.S. taxpayer. A different explanation is available, if rarely discussed: Perhaps the Europeans great powers are not merely passive consumers of free U.S. security guarantees; perhaps instead the decisions …
The Al Qaeda Factor
The Pathologies of Power
The foreign policy of the United States is guided by deeply held beliefs, few of which are recognized much less subjected to rational analysis, Christopher J. Fettweis writes, in this, his third book. He identifies the foundations of those beliefs - fear, honor, glory and hubris - and explains how they have inspired poor strategic decisions in Washington. He then proceeds to discuss their origins. The author analyzes recent foreign policy mistake…
The Coming Stability? The Decline of Warfare in Africa and Implications for International Security
Anarchy was coming to Africa, Robert Kaplan warned in 1994, and a surge in conflict initially seemed to confirm that prediction. With less fanfare, however, after the year 2000, conflict in Africa declined, probably to the lowest levels ever. Recent fighting in Libya, Mali, South Sudan and elsewhere has prompted a new wave of ‘Africa falling apart’ concerns. This article reviews the history and data of conflict in Africa, from pre-colonial times …
Threatlessness and US Grand Strategy
The American ability to think clearly about strategy did not survive the Cold War. As a result, the US worries more, and spends more, than is necessary to achieve its goals
Misreading the Enemy
Pathological exaggeration of the enemy is more common than complacency, and has inspired overreaction, blunder and national ruin. Additional informationNotes on contributorsChristopher J. Fettweis is Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University, and the author of The Pathologies of Power: Fear, Honor, Glory and Hubris in U.S. Foreign Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and Making Foreign Policy Decisions (Transactions, 2015…
On Heartlands and Chessboards
Confounding Powers
How do novel political actors emerge, and what accounts for their persistence? International society usually punishes those who refuse to play by its rules, but on occasion, certain forces emerge that not only thrive but alter those rules. The effects of such extrasystemic actors, those who refuse to conform to norms of international behavior, are the subject of William J. Brennan’s Confounding Powers. Brennan seeks to understand the impact and l…
Unipolarity, Hegemony, and the New Peace
Despite a few persistent, high-profile conflicts in the Middle East, the world is experiencing an era of unprecedented peace and stability. Many scholars have offered explanations for this “New Peace,” to borrow Steven Pinker's phrase, but few have devoted much time to the possibility that US hegemony has brought stability to the system. This paper examines the theoretical, empirical, and psychological foundations of the hegemonic-stability expla…
Restraining Rome
His eponymous wall notwithstanding, Hadrian was a prudent realist who put reason ahead of fear and interest ahead of glory
Trump, China and International Order
Although Trump and China will test the international order, books by Paul K. MacDonald & Joseph M. Parent and Aaron M. Zack suggest systemic stability
Response to Keren Yarhi-Milo’s review of Psychology of a Superpower
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Is Donald Trump America’s First Constructivist President
Trump’s accidental presidency is an ideal test of the strength and robustness of the international-relations canon
Political science (29 works) · Law (26 works) · Law (21 works) · Politics (21 works) · Sociology (18 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (15 works) · Political economy (14 works) · History (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Economics (7 works)