SIS Book Launch- Joshua Rovner, Strategy and Grand Strategy

About the Book:

Wartime leaders should understand the link between violent means and political ends. They should also have a sense of how strategic decisions will affect the post-war peace. Yet they often fail to make these connections. Mistaking strategy for grand strategy, or misunderstanding the relationship between them, can frustrate soldiers and statesmen alike. Sometimes it can lead to national ruin. In this Adelphi book, Joshua Rovner offers a lucid analysis of strategy (a theory of victory) and grand strategy (a theory of security). He demonstrates vividly how these concepts interact in case studies from antiquity to the present, and he describes the implications for war and peace at a time of extraordinary technological change. Rovner’s work will prove indispensable to policymakers, scholars and anyone seeking to grasp these essential but often misunderstood concepts.

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About the Author:

Joshua Rovner is an associate professor in the School of International Service at American University, and a nonresident senior fellow the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. His research and teaching focus on intelligence, strategy, and the sources of international instability.

Rovner’s most recent book is “Strategy and Grand Strategy” (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2025). He is also the author of “Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence” (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011), which won the Best Book Award from the International Security Studies section of the International Studies Association, and the Edgar S. Furniss Book Award from the Mershon Center at the Ohio State University. Rovner is also the co-editor of “Chaos in the Liberal Order: The Trump Presidency and International Politics in the 21st Century,” with Francis J. Gavin, Robert Jervis, and Diane Labrosse (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018); and “Chaos Reconsidered: The Liberal Order and the Future of International Politics,” with Stacie Goddard, Robert Jervis, and Diane Labrosse (New York: Columbia University Press, 2023). His current book project is about secret intelligence and the causes of war.

In addition to his books and book chapters, Rovner has published in Security Studies, The Journal of Strategic Studies, The Journal of Global Security Studies, Diplomacy & Statecraft, Texas National Security Review, The Washington Quarterly, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and elsewhere.

Rovner is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego (B.A.); Boston College (M.A.); and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D.). Prior to joining American University, he held the John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security at Southern Methodist University, and was an associate professor of strategy and policy at the U.S. Naval War College. Rovner currently serves as associate editor at the Texas National Security Review. Previously he was managing editor of the H-Diplo International Security Studies Forum, and deputy editor of the Journal of Strategic Studies. In 2018-2019 Rovner served as scholar-in-residence at the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.

About the Panelists:

Ambassador Piper Campbell is the Chair of the Department of Foreign Policy and Global Security (FPGS) at American University. Ambassador Piper Campbell began teaching at AU in January 2020. She was Administrative Director of SIS's Foreign Policy (USFP) and Global Governance (GGPS) graduate programs before becoming inaugural chair of FPGS. This followed a distinguished, 30-year diplomatic career. Campbell also has taught national security strategy at the National Defense University’s National War College.

Emma Ashford is a Senior Fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center. She works on a variety of issues related to the future of U.S foreign policy, international security, and the politics of global energy markets. She has expertise in the politics of Russia, Europe, and the Middle East. Ashford is also a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, and an adjunct assistant professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.

David Edelstein is Vice Provost for Education and Professor in the Department of Government, the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. He is a scholar of great power politics, military intervention, and the causes of war and peace. He is currently researching the implications of the rise of China for the prospects of peace and security, the ways in which states exit unsuccessful military interventions, and alliance dynamics in contemporary international politics.

Host or Publisher School of International Service