Volume 10, Issue 3
Fall 2025
Nuclear Deterrence Reconsidered: The Emerging Threat of Limited Nuclear Warfare
Thomas Rijntalder
This article analyzes the concept of limited nuclear war (LNW) and argues that the likelihood of states adopting an LNW strategy is increasing, driven by shifting global power dynamics and technological advancements. Under certain conditions, the use of nuclear weapons could achieve political objectives without escalating into full-scale nuclear war, something that Cold War dynamics largely precluded.
ReadStrategy and the Last Manager: The Case for Dissenting War Studies
Jules J.S. Gaspard, M.L.R. Smith
Applying James Burnham’s theory of the ‘managerial revolution’ to the evolution of war studies, this article argues that the field has been captured and reshaped by a managerial class more concerned with institutional consensus than with the political essence of war. Tracing war studies from its aristocratic and capitalist roots through the Cold War and post-Cold War eras, it contends that managerial dominance has replaced strategic insight with technocratic jargon and policy-adjacent busywork. The essay calls for a ‘dissenting war studies’ that resists insider capture, restores political clarity, and re-centres the study of war on its true purpose.
ReadLasers and the Limits of Strategic Change
Jules J.S. Gaspard
Lasers may dazzle and impress us, but they will not win wars. This essay shows how faith in “game-changing” technology represents the Red Queen’s race—running faster, only to stay in place—and why true strategic change remains a political, not technical, act.
ReadColin Gray, the RMA, and the Rise of Drone Warfare
James J. Wirtz
Colin Gray called for caution when assessing new technologies and weapons, especially emergent systems that seemed poised to transform the character of war. Today drone warfare appears as the latest revolution in warfare. Would Gray embrace that judgment? Should we?
ReadSecurity Force Assistance without Strategy: A Clausewitzian Reassessment
Jahara Matisek, William Reno
In this article, Matisek and Reno reframe Security Force Assistance as an instrument of statecraft, making it a strategic act, not a technical task. Drawing on Clausewitz and recent cases like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, we argue for a politically aware, context-driven approach to security assistance and advising—one that aligns military aid with strategic ends amid great-power competition.
ReadInchon’s Real Story: A Misalignment of Policy, War Aims, and War Plans
Jay Pasquarette
The Inchon landing, long hailed as a strategic masterstroke, in fact reveals a misalignment between U.S. political objectives, strategic planning, and the overall prosecution of the Korean War. This article argues that Inchon’s success obscured the absence of clear policy aims, enabling mission creep and undermining civilian control. By examining the political context surrounding the operation, war aims, and aftermath of the landing, the article highlights lessons about the risks of allowing operational victories to override strategic coherence.
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