War Studies Program
Learn the theory, practice, organization, and control of war and military forces.
This War Studies Advanced Program is shaped by the publication of two important new books—one examining Clausewitz’s interaction with some of the dominant philosophical developments of his time; the other examining (for the first time) his intellectual interactions with his wife and with the intellectual and social environment of his life. It also takes advantage of the publication of a new work wrestling with the ethical framework of war, dominated hitherto by Walzer, into a more rigorous and philosophically grounded structure. The common theme of these works, and of Clausewitz himself, is the attempt to determine the best philosophical approach to understanding war—an activity that inevitably also shapes the meaning of the concept of understanding war itself.
The result of this study should be twofold: first, it will help us comprehend why Clausewitz’s work is so powerful and seemingly eternal in its utility, as well as how best to engage with it; second, it will further our own efforts to understand war, examine what we mean by “understand war”, and give us a solid intellectual and theoretical framework for engaging in that task in a time of great confusion and apparent transformation, once again, in the nature of war itself.
The course will not follow a fixed agenda—it cannot, given the enormous intellectual complexities involved in understanding the difficult theories of Kant and Hegel, the effects of the intertwined personal and intellectual lives of Carl and Marie, and the evolution of On War itself, as well as the interactions of Kant, Hegel, and Clausewitz with the ethics of war. We will generally focus on Cormier and Dubik during the first weekend and on Bellinger during the second, but the discussion will range freely over both.
War Studies Advanced Programs are open only to alumni of the basic War Studies course. These sessions are offered in the winter and summer, and focus either on a national security challenge or on a historical conflict. Learn more about the War Studies Program.
Image: Georg Bleibtreu, Battle of Königgrätz, oil on canvas, 1866
Frederick Kagan on war & statesmanship
Faculty
James M. Dubik
LTG James M. Dubik (U.S. Army, Ret.) is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War and a Professor at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program. General Dubik has extensive operational experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Bosnia, Haiti, Panama, and in many NATO countries.
James M. Dubik
LTG James M. Dubik (U.S. Army, Ret.) is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War and a Professor at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program. General Dubik has extensive operational experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Bosnia, Haiti, Panama, Honduras, and in many NATO countries.
His last job on active duty was as Commanding General of the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I) and the NATO Training Mission-Iraq during the Surge of 2007–2008. He is a member of the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame and a distinguished member of the U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment.
General Dubik taught Philosophy at West Point and Campaign Theory and Practice at the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He has completed an MIT fellowship program for national security studies as well as executive programs in national security at Harvard’s JFK School of Government and Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He is the author, most recently, of Just War Reconsidered: Strategy, Ethics, and Theory.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Gannon University, Erie, Pennsylvania; a Masters in Military Arts and Sciences from the Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Johns Hopkins University.
Frederick W. Kagan
Frederick W. Kagan is a Senior Instructor with the Hertog War Studies Program at the Institute for the Study of War. The author of the 2007 report “Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq,” he is one of the intellectual architects of the successful “surge” strategy in Iraq. He is the Director of AEI’s Critical Threats Project.
Frederick W. Kagan
Frederick W. Kagan is a Senior Instructor with the Hertog War Studies Program at the Institute for the Study of War. The author of the 2007 report “Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq,” he is one of the intellectual architects of the successful “surge” strategy in Iraq. He is the Robert H. Malott Chair and Director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
In 2009, he served in Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of General Stanley McChrystal’s strategic assessment team, and he returned to Afghanistan in 2010, 2011, and 2012 to conduct research for Generals David Petraeus and John Allen. In July 2011, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen awarded him the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor the Chairman can present to civilians who do not work for the Department of Defense, for his volunteer service in Afghanistan.
He is coauthor of the report Defining Success in Afghanistan (AEI and the Institute for the Study of War, 2010) and author of the series of reports Choosing Victory (AEI), which recommended and monitored the US military surge in Iraq. His most recent book is Lessons for a Long War: How America Can Win on New Battlefields (AEI Press, 2010, with Thomas Donnelly). Previously an associate professor of military history at West Point, Dr. Kagan is a contributing editor at the Weekly Standard and has written for Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and other periodicals.
He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University in Russian and Soviet military history.
Kimberly Kagan
Kimberly Kagan is a Senior Instructor with the Hertog War Studies Program and founder and president of the Institute for the Study of War. She is a military historian who has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Yale, Georgetown, and American University.
Kimberly Kagan
Kimberly Kagan is a Senior Instructor with the Hertog War Studies Program and founder and president of the Institute for the Study of War. She is a military historian who has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Yale, Georgetown, and American University.
Dr. Kagan served in Kabul for seventeen months from 2010 to 2012 working for commanders of the International Security Assistance Force, General David H. Petraeus and subsequently General John Allen. Admiral Mike Mullen, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recognized Dr. Kagan for this deployment as a volunteer with the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor the Chairman can present to civilians who do not work for the Department of Defense.
Dr. Kagan previously served as a member of General Stanley McChrystal’s strategic assessment team, comprised of civilian experts, during his campaign review in June and July 2009. She conducted many regular battlefield circulations of Iraq between May 2007 and April 2010 while General Petraeus and General Raymond T. Odierno served as the MNF-I Commanding General.
Dr. Kagan held an Olin Postdoctoral Fellowship in Military History at Yale International Security Studies in 2004 to 2005 and was a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies in 2002 to 2003. She received her B.A. in Classical Civilization and her Ph.D. in History from Yale University.
Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session
Session I
Readings:
- Youri Cormier, War as Paradox: Clausewitz and Hegel on Fighting Doctrines and Ethics
- Carl von Clausewitz, On War, especially Books I (review), II, III, and VIII
Discussion Questions:
- What are the various purposes of attempting to understand war?
- What are the different methods of attempting to understand war?
- How does the purpose interact with the method?
- How does the intellectual/theoretical/philosophical context of a thinker shape his/her approach to understanding war?
- How does personal experience and personality affect one’s approach to understanding war?
- Is there a “best” approach to understanding war?
Session II
Readings:
- Vanya Eftimova Bellinger, Marie von Clausewitz: The Woman Behind the Making of On War
- James M. Dubik, Just War Reconsidered: Strategy, Ethics, and Theory, Chapters 4 and 5
Discussion Questions:
- What are the various purposes of attempting to understand war?
- What are the different methods of attempting to understand war?
- How does the purpose interact with the method?
- How does the intellectual/theoretical/philosophical context of a thinker shape his/her approach to understanding war?
- How does personal experience and personality affect one’s approach to understanding war?
- Is there a “best” approach to understanding war?
