Duke University Program in
American Grand Strategy
Duke American Grand Strategy
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American grand strategy is the collection of plans and policies by which the
leadership of the United States mobilizes and deploys the country's resources and capabilities, both military and non-military, to achieve its
national goals. Grand strategy exists in the real world of governing, whether it is carefully formulated and articulated in advance, or
whether it evolves ad hoc out of the world-views, predilections, and subjectivities of those who govern. It is a fruitful field for scholars
and students to study so that those who govern and those who are governed might have the richest conceptual repertoire with which to construct
and evaluate national policies. |
Next Event
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We have distinctive strengths in political science and public policy, including a diversity of experience across the partisan divide, and we complement that with a rich tradition of close collaboration with military and diplomatic history. Through workshops, distinguished lectures, and courses, participants in the Program on American Grand Strategy have the opportunity to interact with leaders in policy and the academy. |
Workshops and Distinguished Lectures
The American Grand Strategy community of undergraduates, graduates, and faculty participate in a diverse range
of workshops and distinguished lectures. The visiting speakers reflect a range of academic and policy perspectives,
involving both emerging and senior figures.
The majority of the speeches are structured as conversations - a public interview led by a local faculty member rather than
formal lectures. In addition, students may hold informal conversations with visitors over lunch or dinner. The more intimate
conversations are often the most rewarding, facilitating close interaction between aspiring policy makers and leaders in the
field.
Courses
The centerpiece of the Duke program is the American Grand Strategy course, a one-semester seminar for eighteen undergraduate
and graduate students. It was taught by Political Science Professor Peter Feaver and Military History Professor Alex Roland
in 2008 and will be in 2009. After that, the teaching of the course will rotate through the core faculty.
Around this core program Duke offers interdisciplinary courses that are closely related and facilitate a research community
interested in deepening our understanding of grand strategy.
What is Grand Strategy?
Grand strategy is a quintessentially interdisciplinary concept, approach, and field of study:
- Grand strategy is the art of reconciling ends and means. It involves purposive action – what leaders think and want.
- It operates in peacetime and wartime, incorporating military and non-military tools, and aggregating subsidiary tactics, operations, and policies.
- Grand strategy begins with theory: leaders’ ideas about how the world and what is or ought to be their states’ roles in that world. Yet it is embodied in policy and practice: government action and reaction in response to real (or perceived) threats and opportunities.
- It lends itself to vigorous interpretive academic debates, yet it is so realistic that practitioners can and must contribute for it to be properly understood.
Recent Lectures
John Lewis Gaddis
"What is Grand Strategy"
Delivered to Duke University's Program in American Grand Strategy, February 26th, 2008. 5:30pm