TY - JOUR
T1 - Is grand strategy a research program? A review essay
AU - Balzacq, Thierry
AU - Dombrowski, Peter
AU - Reich, Simon
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - 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 explanatory or prescriptive. This article examines four recent, important books as a platform for addressing these issues and argues that, as currently constituted, grand strategy is a field of study rather than a mature research program. It concludes by offering a modest range of options that can be employed to rectify these problems and develop a comparative grand strategy program.
AB - 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 explanatory or prescriptive. This article examines four recent, important books as a platform for addressing these issues and argues that, as currently constituted, grand strategy is a field of study rather than a mature research program. It concludes by offering a modest range of options that can be employed to rectify these problems and develop a comparative grand strategy program.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054838481&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85054838481&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09636412.2018.1508631
DO - 10.1080/09636412.2018.1508631
M3 - Article
SN - 0963-6412
VL - 28
SP - 58
EP - 86
JO - Security Studies
JF - Security Studies
IS - 1
ER -