Volume 138 - Number 1 - Spring 2023
Why We Don’t Fight: A Review Article Lionel Beehner reviews Christopher Blattman’s Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace . He applauds the author for breaking down the various schools of thought in the international relations discipline explaining war onset but argues the author’s analysis neglects important qualitative factors, as well as recent technological innovations, to explain “why we fight.”
Volume 137 - Number 4 - Winter 2022-23
U.S. Public Knowledge about the Holocaust Then and Now Susan Welch and Emily Kiver analyze political and sociological ramifications of the Holocaust and its change over time. They challenge the view that knowledge of the Holocaust within the American public is declining, finding that knowledge has remained relatively steady, and that the Holocaust continues to feature prominently within the American public’s consciousness.
Volume 137 - Number 4 - Winter 2022-23
Hungary’s Slide toward Autocracy: Domestic and External Impediments to Locking In Democratic Reforms Ognen Vangelov trace the remarkable trajectory of post-Communist Hungary over the past three decades, when the onetime “poster country” for successful liberalization in the erstwhile Soviet bloc managed to turn into the leading champion of illiberalism in the entire European Union (EU). They argue that a combination of internal and exogenous factors vitiated the earlier promise of EU “conditionality” to bring about Hungary’s transition to a stable liberal democracy. They are grateful for suggestions made by anonymous reviewers of earlier drafts of this article, as well as by Professor Zsuzsa Csergö, of Queen’s University.
Volume 137 - Number 3 - Fall 2022
Americans Still Held Hostage: A Generational Analysis of American Public Opinion about the Iran Nuclear Deal Mazaher Koruzhde and Valeriia Popova examine the effect of the Iran hostage crisis on American public opinion on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. They argue that Americans who were “old enough” to share a collective memory of the crisis form a “crisis generation” and are significantly less likely to approve of the deal, regardless of their party and ideological orientations.
Volume 137 - Number 3 - Fall 2022
Assessing Futures Intelligence: Looking Back on Global Trends 2025 James J. Wirtz and ROGER Z. GEORGE offer an assessment of the forecasts contained in Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World , an unclassified report produced by the National Intelligence Council. They identify several analytical biases that shaped this effort at futures intelligence and one critical factor that is not adequately considered in U.S. futures estimates in general and Global Trends 2025 in particular.
Volume 137 - Number 4 - Winter 2022-23
Barbara Walter’s Script for Civil War in America: A Review Essay Jack Snyder reviews Barbara Walter’s How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them . Walter argues that modern civil wars take the form of guerrilla warfare and organized terrorism. They are started mainly by declining ethnic groups in polarized partial democracies. Her contention that the contemporary United States is heading in this direction has a surface plausibility, but requires strong qualifications.
Volume 136 - Number 4 - Winter 2021-22
Give Peace a Chance: A Review Essay Richard H. Immerman ’S review essay of John Mueller’s The Stupidity of War assesses the arguments as insightful, compelling, and in the current international environment, essential reading. Yet he concludes that a final judgment on Mueller’s claims about America’s farcical U.S. behavior throughout the Cold War and after requires answers to questions Mueller leaves unaddressed.
Volume 136 - Number 4 - Winter 2021-22
The Geopolitical Consequences of COVID-19: Assessing Hawkish Mass Opinion in China Joshua Byun , D.G. Kim , and Sichen Li examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Chinese public’s foreign policy attitudes. Drawing on original surveys fielded in China during the first six months of the global pandemic, they find that ordinary Chinese citizens are optimistic about China’s future global position, and that this optimism corresponds with the widespread perception that the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating China’s rise relative to the United States.
Volume 136 - Number 4 - Winter 2021-22
The Psychological Roots of Public Opinion toward a Militant Group: The Case of Pakistani Lashkar-e-Tayyaba Karl Kaltenthaler and C. Christine Fair explore the sources of public sympathy in Pakistan for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. They argue that the most common and widely distributed factor influencing individual sympathy with a militant group is the expectation that the militant group will bestow a sense of personal significance on that individual.
Volume 136 - Number 3 - Fall 2021
How to Stop Jihadist Foreign Fighters Daniel Byman argues that the threat volunteers for al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other jihadist groups pose is potentially grave, but that effective policy can profoundly reduce the danger. He argues that governments can disrupt the recruitment and travel of foreign fighters, hinder their time in war zones, and improve policing and intelligence gathering when they return.
