Faculty Publications

The familiarity of measures of effectiveness (MOE) in many areas of life suggests that in modern society quantification is irresistible. Batting averages, stock market figures, returns on investment, air passenger miles, and countless other common measures serve to distill vast amounts of data into relevant information.

Lyle Goldstein and William Murray of the U.S. Naval War College maintain that despite tangible improvements in the U.S.-China relationship, China continues to engage in the rapid military modernization of its forces, including its submarine capabilities.

The institutionalized contacts and increased transparency engendered by such cooperation in submarine rescue would fit with broader trends toward increasing openness and participation in international organizations by the Chinese military and could constitute an important confidence-building mechanism between China and the region.

Chinese naval and strategic planners fear, and their Western counterparts seem to believe, that a maritime blockade could interrupt or significantly impede China’s energy supplies in a limited war. But probably it could not, and thinking it could is dangerous for everyone.

Despite this ambivalence and its anemic defense budget, Taiwan has sought costly weapons systems from the United States, including PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability, third version) missile systems, P-3 maritime patrol and F-16 fighter aircraft, Kidd-class destroyers, and diesel submarines.

Most Americans consider détente -- the reduction of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union -- to be among the Nixon administration's most significant foreign policy successes. The diplomatic back channel that national security advisor Henry Kissinger established with Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin became the most import...

What are the drivers behind China’s vigorous pursuit of sea power? What are the interests Beijing seeks to advance by building a powerful blue- water navy and the world’s largest coast guard? What are the principles that guide its use of sea power in pursuit of its national interest? How are China’s state objectives, and approaches to pursuing them, evolving over time?