Book review: The Logic of Political Survival, by Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith, Randolph M. Siverson, and James D. Morrow, 2003 (550 pages).

Vladimir Putin in a joint news conference with the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö "This belief in the desire to hold power leads us to theorize about the interdependence between institutions of governance and questions related to political survival, a topic that has received limited attention in the literature on political institutions" - Bruce Bueno de... Continue Reading →

July 19, 2020 0

Book review: Peace and War: Armed Conflicts and International Order, 1648-1989, by Kalevi J. Holsti, 1992.

The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 15 May 1648 by Gerard ter Borch "The real difficulty is that through history the use of force in statecraft has had different meanings, and if this is so, the sources, causes, or correlates of war in one period cannot be easily transferred to another." - Kalevi J.... Continue Reading →

July 5, 2020 0

Book review: Counterinsurgency, by David Kilcullen, 2010.

Coalition partners and security force members aim towards the location of concealed opponents during a drill on navigating difficult terrain during military training in Erbil, Iraq, Jan. 23, 2018. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Anthony Zendejas IV) “Insurgents tend to ride and manipulate a social wave of grievances, often legitimate ones, and they... Continue Reading →

June 24, 2020 0

Book review: Democracies at War, by Dan Reiter and Allan C. Stam III, 2002.

Is is true that democracies do not come to the rescue of other democracies? Are democracies more likely to win wars? Are democracies better administrators of resources than non-democracies in times of armed conflict? Overall, this D. Reiter & A. Stamm III's book is an "interesting" one. Nevertheless, a couple of affirmations significantly damaged my... Continue Reading →

June 19, 2020 0

Book review: The War Puzzle Revisited, by John Vasquez, 2009.

A Syrian forces' artillery observer looks through a scope as smoke plumes rise on the horizon, near the town of Qumhanah in the countryside of the central province of Hama, on April 1, 2017. Photo: STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images. Bottom line: this book is interesting. John Vasquez affirms that around 70% of wars happen because of territorial... Continue Reading →

February 15, 2020 0

Book review: Win, Lose, or Draw, by Allan C. Stam III, 1999.

This is a well-organized and elegant work, however, It lacks a condensing theory, though. The main argument of this work is that domestic politics are the main elements that predetermine the result of an inter-state armed conflict. This is not a new idea; however, it is a novelty in the sense that it challenges presuppositions of... Continue Reading →

November 30, 2019 0

Book review: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, 2007.

United States Capitol (2011) "it [the Israel Lobby] has a core consisting of organizations whose declared purpose is to encourage the U.S. government and the American public to provide material aid to Israel and to support its government's policies, as well as influential individuals for whom these goals are also a top priority" (Mearsheimer and... Continue Reading →

November 17, 2019 0

Book review: The Defence of Duffer’s Drift, by Sir Ernest D. Swinton, 1904.

Canadian Infantry Unit, 2014. Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. - Carl Jung For over 100 years (published first in 1904 in the U.K.), “The Defence of Duffer’s Drift” has been in the list of basic books of military... Continue Reading →

November 9, 2019 0

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