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War in Ukraine

Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World

edited by Hal Brands

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The war in Ukraine has altered the course of global history. These authors explore how.

When Vladimir Putin's forces sought to conquer Ukraine in February 2022, they did more than threaten the survival of a vulnerable democracy. The invasion unleashed a crisis that has changed the course of world affairs. This conflict has reshaped alliances, deepened global cleavages, and caused economic disruptions that continue to reverberate around the globe. It has initiated the first great-power nuclear crisis in decades and raised fundamental questions about the sources of national power and military...

The war in Ukraine has altered the course of global history. These authors explore how.

When Vladimir Putin's forces sought to conquer Ukraine in February 2022, they did more than threaten the survival of a vulnerable democracy. The invasion unleashed a crisis that has changed the course of world affairs. This conflict has reshaped alliances, deepened global cleavages, and caused economic disruptions that continue to reverberate around the globe. It has initiated the first great-power nuclear crisis in decades and raised fundamental questions about the sources of national power and military might in the modern age. The outcome of the conflict will profoundly influence the international balance of power, the relationship between democracies and autocracies, and the rules that govern global affairs.

In War in Ukraine, Hal Brands brings together an all-star group of analysts to assess the conflict's origins, course, and implications and to offer their appraisals of one of the most geopolitically consequential crises of the early twenty-first century. Essays cover topics including the twists and turns of the war itself, the successes and failures of US strategy, the impact of sanctions, the future of Russia and its partnership with China, and more.

Contributors: Anne Applebaum, Joshua Baker, Alexander Bick, Hal Brands, Daniel Drezner, Peter Feaver, Lawrence Freedman, Francis Gavin, Brian Hart, William Inboden, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Michael Kimmage, Michael Kofman, Stephen Kotkin, Mark Leonard, Bonny Lin, Thomas Mahnken, Dara Massicot, Michael McFaul, Robert Person, Kori Schake, and Ashley Tellis.

Reviews

Reviews

Brands contends, indeed convincingly, that if this war has proven so globally transfixing, perhaps that's because it reminds us of ugly realities—the viciousness of autocratic aggression, the destructiveness of large-scale war, the fragility of international order—we might prefer to forget.

[A] deeply fascinating and valuable book.

War in Ukraine asks big questions about the emerging world order that has surfaced since Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. It is a penetrating analysis of what changed in world leaders' minds to enable the possibility of war and what the future of the international order might be and ought to be....[An] indispensable resource for navigating the complexities of a turning point in the post–Cold War order...

Hal Brands' edited anthology War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World, provides several compelling essays about the war in Ukraine considered from a broad perspective....Brands' compendium does a nice job of bringing together notable experts...

"A comprehensive, insightful assessment of the profound military, economic, political, and security implications of the Ukraine conflict, a war with far-reaching consequences for Europe and the global order. This collection of essays from leading experts offers not just a timely 'first draft of history' but an essential compendium of lessons learned for policymakers and the public alike."

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About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
328
ISBN
9781421449845
Table of Contents

Introduction: The Ukraine War and Global Order
Hal Brands
Part I: Origins and Overviews
1: Ukraine, Russia, China, the World
Stephen Kotkin
2: Why Putin Invaded Ukraine
Michael McFaul and Robert Person
3

Introduction: The Ukraine War and Global Order
Hal Brands
Part I: Origins and Overviews
1: Ukraine, Russia, China, the World
Stephen Kotkin
2: Why Putin Invaded Ukraine
Michael McFaul and Robert Person
3: Strategic Fanaticism: Vladimir Putin and Ukraine
Lawrence Freedman
4: The Failure to Deter: U.S. Policy toward Ukraine and Russia from the End of the Cold War until February 24, 2022
Michael Kimmage
5: How the War Will End
Anne Applebaum
Part II: The Conflict
6: The Russia-Ukraine War: Military Operations and Battlefield Dynamics
Michael Kofman
7: Russian Military Resilience and Adaptation: Implications for the War in Ukraine and Beyond
Dara Massicot
8: Planning for the Worst: The Russia-Ukraine "Tiger Team"
Alexander Bick
9: U.S. Strategy in Ukraine
Kori Schake
10: Nuclear Lessons and Dilemmas from the War in Ukraine
Francis Gavin
11: Fallacies of Strategic Thinking in the Ukraine War
Thomas Mahnken and Joshua Baker
Part III: Global Dimensions and Implications
12: The Ukraine War and Global Cleavages
Ashley Tellis
13: Putin's Point of No Return
Andrea Kendall-Taylor
14: Accelerating Profound Changes Unseen in a Century: Chinese Assessments of and Responses to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
Bonny Lin and Brian Hart
15: The European Union as a War Project: Five Pathways Toward a Geopolitical Europe
Mark Leonard
16: Lose-Lose: The Economic Sanctions of the Russo-Ukrainian War
Daniel Drezner
17: America's Global Role in the Shadow of the Ukraine Conflict
Peter Feaver and William Inboden

Author Bio
Featured Contributor

Hal Brands

Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. A columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, he is also the author or editor of several books, including The New Makers of Modern Strategy: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age, The Twilight Struggle: What...