IREn5024 Grand Strategy

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Bradley Thayer, Ph.D. (lecturer), Mgr. Kateřina Fridrichová, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Petr Suchý, Ph.D.
Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Olga Cídlová, DiS.
Supplier department: Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
those interests, and the policies and military forces needed to minimize the danger posed by those threats. Grand strategy is an important topic in international politics because if a state has clearly defined interests and the means to protect them, the chance of war may be reduced or heightened. The aim of this course is to examine the grand strategies of great powers to determine what the relationship is between a great power’s grand strategy and stability in international politics. Particular attention will be paid to the factors that affect grand strategy; the grand strategy of the major powers in World Wars II; and the competing arguments over United States grand strategy in the post-Cold War world.
Syllabus
  • Course Outline: Part One: Introduction to Grand Strategy and the Major Factors That Affect It Session One : Introduction to Grand Strategy and State Interests and Threats, Systemic Influences on Grand Strategy, and Unit Level Influences Thomas Christensen and Jack Snyder, “Chain Gangs and Passed Bucks,” International Organization, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Spring 1990), pp. 137-168. Robert Jervis, The Meaning of the Nuclear Revolution: Statecraft and the Prospect of Armageddon (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989), pp. 1- 45. Part Two: Comparative Grand Strategies Session Two: Grand Strategy in World War II: Germany and the United States Wilhelm Deist, “The Road to Ideological War,” in Williamson Murray, MacGregor Knox, and Alvin Bernstein, eds., The Making of Strategy: Rulers, States, and War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 352-392. Eliot Cohen, “The Strategy of Innocence?,” in Murray, et al., eds., The Making of Strategy, pp. 428-465. 2 Part Three: The Grand Strategy of the United States Session Three : U.S. Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War World—The Case for Primacy Bradley Thayer’s chapters from Christopher Layne, Bradley A. Thayer, American Empire: A Debate (New York: Routledge, 2007), pp. 1-50, 103-119. Bradley A. Thayer, “In Defense of Primacy,” The National Interest, No. 86 (November/December 2006), pp. 32-37. Session Four : U.S. Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War World—The Cases for Alternative Grand Strategies, Isolationism and Offshore Balancing Christopher Layne’s chapters from American Empire, pp. 51-102, 121-137. Session Five : U.S. Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War World – How Long Will Primacy Last, and Evaluating the Grand Strategic Choice of the United States Hal Brands and Peter Feaver, “Stress-Testing American Grand Strategy,” Survival, Vol. 58, No. 6 (December 2016-January 2017), pp. 90-120. Stephen M. Walt, “Keeping the World ‘Off-Balance’: Self-Restrain and U.S. Foreign Policy,” in G. John Ikenberry, ed., America Unrivaled: The Future of the Balance of Power, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002), pp. 121- 154. Session Six: Final Examination
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Course Requirements: The course language is English. An examination will be given in class. This will count for the student’s grade.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on the per-term frequency of the course: 1-8 March 2021.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Note related to how often the course is taught: 1-8 March 2021.
General note: 1-8 March 2021.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Spring 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2025/IREn5024