Awards and Reviews

Article Awards

Elizabeth M. F. Grasmeder / Leaning on Legionnaires: Why Modern States Recruit Foreign Soldiers
2022

Congratulations to Elizabeth M. F. Grasmeder, winner of the American Political Science Association's Catherine McArdle Kelleher Best International Security Article Award. The award seeks to recognize the best peer-reviewed articles in the field of international security and security studies each year. The winning article by Grasmeder, "Leaning on Legionnaires: Why Modern States Recruit Foreign Soldiers," appeared in the Summer 2021 issue.

Yasuhiro Izumikawa / Network Connections and the Emergence of the Hub-and-Spokes Alliance System in East Asia
2021

Congratulations to Yasuhiro Izumikawa, winner of the Outstanding Article Award in the International History and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The Outstanding Article Award recognizes exceptional peer-reviewed journal articles representing the mission of the International History and Politics Section, including innovative work that brings new light to events and processes in international politics, encourages interdisciplinary conversations between political scientists and historians, and advances historiographical methods. The winning article by Izumikawa, "Network Connections and the Emergence of the Hub-and-Spokes Alliance System in East Asia," appeared in the Fall 2020 issue. 

Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman / Weaponized Interdependence
2020

Congratulations to Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman, winner of the ISSS Best Security Article Award from the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association. The Best Security Article Award seeks to recognize the best security article published in an academic journal in the prior year. The winning article by Farrell and Newman, "Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion," appeared in the Summer 2019 issue. 

Andrea Gilli and Mauro Gilli / Why China Has Not Caught Up Yet
2020

Congratulations to Andrea Gilli and Mauro Gilli, winner of the Best Research Article on U.S. Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy Award from America in the World Consortium. The Best Research Article award seeks to recognize the best peer-reviewed articles in the field of U.S. foreign policy and grand strategy. The winning article by Gilli and Gilli, "Why China Has Not Caught Up Yet: Military-Technological Superiority and the Limits of Imitation, Reverse Engineering, and Cyber Espionage," appeared in the winter 2018/2019 issue. 

Michael Beckley / The Power of Nations
2019

Congratulations to Michael Beckley, winner of the Best Article Award of the International Security (formerly International Security and Arms Control) organized section of the American Political Science Association. The Best Article Award seeks to recognize the best peer-reviewed articles in the field of international security and security studies broadly defined each year. The winning article by Beckley, “The Power of Nations: Measuring What Matters,” appeared in the fall 2018 issue.

Christopher Darnton / Archives and Inference: Documentary Evidence in Case Study Research and the Debate over U.S. Entry into World War II
2019

Congratulations to Christopher Darnton, winner of the Outstanding Article Award in International History and Politics. The award seeks to recognizes exceptional peer-reviewed journal articles representing the mission of the International History and Politics section of APSA, including innovative work that brings new light to events and processes in international politics, encourages interdisciplinary conversations between political scientists and historians, and advances historiographical methods. The winning article by Darnton, “Archives and Inference: Documentary Evidence in Case Study Research and the Debate over U.S. Entry into World War II,” appeared in the winter 2017/18 issue.

Lise Morjé Howard and Alexandra Stark / How Civil Wars End: The International System, Norms, and the Role of External Actors
2019

Congratulations to Lise Morjé Howard and Alexandra Stark, winners of the Best Security Article Award from the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association. The award seeks to recognize an article by an ISA member on any aspect of security studies that excels in originality, significance, and rigor, published in the prior calendar year. Howard and Stark’s winning article, “How Civil Wars End: The International System, Norms, and the Role of External Actors,” appeared in the winter 2017/18 issue.

Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press / The New Era of Counterforce
2018

Congratulations to Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press, winners of the Best Article Award of the International Security (formerly International Security and Arms Control) organized section of the American Political Science Association. The Best Article Award seeks to recognize the best peer-reviewed articles in the field of international security and security studies broadly defined each year. The winning article by Lieber and Press, “The New Era of Counterforce: Technological Change and the Future of Nuclear Deterrence,” appeared in the spring 2017 issue.

Aisha Ahmad / The Security Bazaar
2017

Congratulations to Aisha Ahmad, inaugural winner of the Best Security Article Award from the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association. The award is meant to recognize an article by an ISA member on any aspect of security studies that excels in originality, significance, and rigor, published in the prior calendar year. Ahmad's winning article, “The Security Bazaar: Business Interests and Islamist Power in Civil War Somalia,” appeared in the winter 2014/15 issue. Watch the Belfer Center's Author Chat with Aisha Ahmad about her article.

Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson / Deal or No Deal?
2017

Congratulations to Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson, winner of the DPLST Article Award from the Diplomatic Studies Section of the International Studies Association. This annual award recognizes the article that best advances the theoretical and empirical study of diplomacy—particularly articles that attempt to connect the study of diplomacy with broader issues and trends in the discipline. Shifrinson's winning article, "Deal or No Deal? The End of the Cold War and the U.S. Offer to Limit NATO Expansion" (Spring 2016), is freely available. Check out the Belfer Center's announcement for additional details and view their Author Chat with Mr. Shifrinson.

Michael Beckley / The Myth of Entangling Alliances
2016

Michael Beckley's "The Myth of Entangling Alliances: Reassessing the Security Risks of U.S. Defense Pacts" (International Security, Spring 2015) received an Honorable Mention in the 2016 competition for the Outstanding Article Award presented by the International History and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). View the Belfer Center's Author Chat with Mr. Beckley for a discussion of the article.

Mark S. Bell / Beyond Emboldenment
2016

Congratulations to Mark S. Bell, whose article “Beyond Emboldenment: How Acquiring Nuclear Weapons Can Change Foreign Policy,” (International Security, Summer 2015) has won the 2016 Patricia Weitsman Award for Outstanding International Security Studies Section Graduate Paper. The award will be presented at the 2016 International Studies Association Annual Convention in Atlanta, GA.

The Patricia Weitsman Award for Outstanding International Security Studies Section Graduate Paper recognizes the best graduate student paper on any aspect of security studies. The paper must have been given at the International Studies Annual Convention or the annual International Security Studies Section/International Security and Arms Control Conference.

In announcing Bell’s award, the Weitsman Award Committee praised his article:

Mark Bell’s paper, “Beyond Emboldenment: The Effects of Nuclear Weapons on State Foreign Policy,” proffers a new a typology that innovatively delineates the ways in which the acquisition of nuclear weapons can alter the foreign policy behavior of current and future nuclear states. He then demonstrates the utility of his argument by examining the “hard” case of Britain’s acquisition of nuclear weapons in the mid-1950s. This piece, which has since been published in the journal International Security, should help frame and inform how both scholars and policymakers think about the effects of the acquisition of nuclear weapons on state behavior.

Mark is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Listen to the Belfer Center's Author Chat podcast with Mr. Bell for a discussion on this article.

Keren Yarhi-Milo / In the Eye of the Beholder
2014

Congratulations to Keren Yarhi-Milo, whose article “In the Eye of the Beholder: How Leaders and Intelligence Communities Assess the Intentions of Adversaries,” (International Security, Summer 2013) has won the 2014 Outstanding Article Award from the International History and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA).

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Article Reviews

Winter 2022/23

Reid B. C. Pauly and Rose McDermott, "The Psychology of Nuclear Brinkmanship," International Security, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Winter 2022/23), pp.  9–51,https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00451.

Roundtable Participants: Jacques E. C. Hymans, Reid B. C. Pauly, Rose McDermott, Marika Landau-Wells, Joshua Rovner, and Janice Gross Stein

Summer 2021

Daniel Byman, "White Supremacy, Terrorism, and the Failure of Reconstruction in the United States," International Security, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Summer 2021), pp. 53–103, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00410.

Spring 2020

Arman Grigoryan,  “Selective Wilsonianism: Material Interests and the West’s Support for Democracy,”  International Security, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Spring 2020), pp. 158–200, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00378.

Reviewer: Benjamin Denison

Iain D. Henry, “What Allies Want: Reconsidering Loyalty, Reliability, and Alliance Interdependence,”
International Security, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Spring 2020), pp. 45–83, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00375.

Reviewer: Luis Simón

Winter 2019/20

Andrew Payne, “Presidents, Politics, and Military Strategy: Electoral Constraints during the Iraq War,” International Security, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Winter 2019/20), pp. 163–203, doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00371.

Reviewer: Benjamin O. Fordham

Brendan Rittenhouse Green and Austin Long, “Conceal or Reveal? Managing Clandestine Military Capabilities in Peacetime Competition,” International Security, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Winter 2019/20), pp. 48–83, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00367.

Reviewer: James Holmes

Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Myunghee Lee, and Emir Yazici,  “Counterterrorism and Preventive Repression: China’s Changing Strategy in Xinjiang,”  International Security, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Winter 2019/20), pp. 9–47, doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00368.

Reviewer: Jérôme Doyon

Fall 2019

Fiona S. Cunningham and M. Taylor Fravel, “Dangerous Confidence?  Chinese Views on Nuclear Escalation,”  International Security, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Fall 2019), pp. 61–109,   doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00359.

Reviewer: Andrew W. Reddie

Summer 2019

Ketian Zhang, “Cautious Bully: Reputation, Resolve, and Beijing’s Use of Coercion in the South China Sea,” International Security, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Summer 2019), pp. 117–159, doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00354.

Reviewer: Audrye Wong

M.E. Sarotte, “How to Enlarge NATO: The Debate inside the Clinton Administration, 1993–95,” International Security, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Summer 2019), pp. 7–41, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00353.

Reviewer: Joe Burton

Spring 2019

Eliza Gheorghe,  “Proliferation and the Logic of the Nuclear Market,” International Security, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Spring 2019), pp. 88–127, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00344. 

Reviewer: Bryan R. Early

Winter 2018/19

Deborah Jordan Brooks, Stephen G. Brooks, Brian D. Greenhill, and Mark L. Haas,  “The Demographic Transition Theory of War: Why Young Societies Are Conflict Prone and Old Societies Are the Most Peaceful,”  International Security, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Winter 2018/19), pp. 53–95, doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00335.

Reviewer: Richard Cincotta

Christopher Clary and Vipin Narang,  “India’s Counterforce Temptations:  Strategic Dilemmas, Doctrine, and Capabilities.”  International Security Vol. 43, No. 3 (Winter 2018/19), pp.  7–52,doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00340.

Reviewer: Mahesh Shankar

Fall 2018

Michael Beckley, “The Power of Nations: Measuring What Matters,” International Security, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Fall 2018), pp. 7–44, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00328.

Reviewer: Robert J. Reardon

Oriana Skylar Mastro, “Conflict and Chaos on the Korean Peninsula: Can China’s Military Help Secure North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons,”  International Security, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Fall 2018), pp. 84–116, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00330.

Reviewer: Terence Roehrig

Matthew Adam Kocher, Adria K. Lawrence, and Nuno P. Monteiro, “Nationalism, Collaboration, and Resistance: France under Nazi Occupation,”  International Security, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Fall 2018), pp.  117–150, doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00329.

Reviewer: Peter Liberman

Reid B.C. Pauly, “Would U.S. Leaders Push the Button? Wargames and the Sources of Nuclear Restraint,” International Security, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Fall 2018), pp. 151–192, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00333.

Reviewer:  Jan Ludvik

Summer 2018

James M. Acton, “Escalation through Entanglement: How the Vulnerability of Command-and-Control Systems Raises the Risks of Inadvertent Nuclear War,” International Security, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Summer 2018), pp. 56–99, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00320.

Reviewer: Vincent A. Manzo

Spring 2018

Aqil Shah, “Do U.S. Drone Strikes Cause Blowback? Evidence from Pakistan and Beyond,” International Security, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Spring 2018), pp. 47–84, doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00312.

Reviewer: Ashan I. Butt

David Shambaugh, “U.S.-China Rivalry in Southeast Asia: Power Shift or Competitive Coexistence?” International Security, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Spring 2018), pp. 85–127, doi:10.1162/isec_a_00314.

Eric Heginbotham and Richard J. Samuels, “Active Denial: Redesigning Japan’s Response to China’s Military Challenge,” International Security, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Spring 2018), pp.128–169, doi:10.1162/isec_a_00313.

Jennifer Lind and Daryl G. Press, “Markets or Mercantilism? How China Secures Its Energy Supplies,” International Security, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Spring 2018), pp. 170–204, doi:10.1162/isec_a_00310.

All reviewed by Priscilla Roberts

Fall 2017

Barbara F. Walter, “The Extremist’s Advantage in Civil Wars,” International Security, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Fall 2017), pp.  7–39, doi:10.1162/ISEC_a_00292.

Reviewer: Daniel Krcmaric

Amanda J. Rothschild, "Rousing a Response:  When the United States Changes Policy toward Mass Killing," International Security, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Fall 2017), pp. 120–154, doi:10.1162/ISEC_a_00295.

Reviewer: Debbie Sharnak

Summer 2017

Jacqueline L. Hazelton, "The 'Hearts and Minds' Fallacy: Violence, Coercion, and Success in Counterinsurgency Warfare," International Security, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Summer 2017), pp. 80–113.

Reviewers: David H. Ucko and Jason E. Fritz

Reply by Jacqueline L. Hazelton

Reply by Huw Bennett

Spring 2017

Caitlin Talmadge, "Would China Go Nuclear? Assessing the Risk of Chinese Nuclear Escalation in a Conventional War with the United States," International Security, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Spring 2017), pp. 50–92.

Reviewer: Nicola Leveringhaus

Winter 2016/17

Rebecca Slayton, "What Is the Cyber Offense-Defense Balance?  Conceptions, Causes, and Assessment," International Security, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Winter 2016/17), pp. 72–109.

Joseph S. Nye Jr., "Deterrence and Dissuasion in Cyberspace," International Security, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Winter 2016/17), pp. 44–71.

Reviewer: Brandon Valeriano

Reply by Rebecca Slayton.

Fall 2016

Alexander B. Downes and Lindsey A. O’Rourke, "You Can’t Always Get What You Want: Why Foreign Imposed Regime Change Seldom Improves Interstate Relations," International Security, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Fall 2016), pp. 43–89.

Keren Yarhi-Milo, Alexander Lanoszka, and Zack Cooper, "To Arm or to Ally? The Patron’s Dilemma and the Strategic Logic of Arms Transfers and Alliances,"  International Security, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Fall 2016), pp.  90–139.

Reviewer: Michael McKoy

Summer 2016

Stephen Biddle and Ivan Oelrich, "Future Warfare in the Western Pacific: Chinese Antiaccess/Area Denial, U.S. AirSea Battle, and Command of the Commons in East Asia," International Security, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Summer 2016), pp. 7–48.

Charles L. Glaser and Steve Fetter, "Should the United States Reject MAD? Damage Limitation and U.S. Nuclear Strategy toward China," International Security, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Summer 2016), pp. 49–98.

Both reviewed by James J. Wirtz

Walter C. Ladwig III, "Influencing Clients in Counterinsurgency: U.S. Involvement in El Salvador’s Civil War, 1979–1992," International Security, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Summer 2016), pp. 99–146.

Reviewer: David H. Ucko

Fall 2015

Daniel Bessner and Nicolas Guilhot, "How Realism Waltzed Off: Liberalism and Decisionmaking in Kenneth Waltz's Neorealism," International Security, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Fall 2015), pp. 87–118.

Reviewers: Stephen Walt, Campbell Craig, William Inboden, Robert Jervis, and Robert Vitalis

Summer 2015

Francis Gavin, "Strategies of Inhibition: U.S. Grand Strategy, the Nuclear Revolution, and Nonproliferation," International Security, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Summer 2015), pp. 9–46.

Or Rabinowitz and Nicholas L. Miller, "Keeping the Bombs in the Basement: U.S. Nonproliferation Policy toward Israel, South Africa, and Pakistan," International Security, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Summer 2015), pp. 47–86.

Mark S. Bell, "Beyond Emboldenment: How Acquiring Nuclear Weapons Can Change Foreign Policy," International Security, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Summer 2015), pp. 87–119.

Reviewers: Thomas Maddux, Hal Brands, Julia M. Macdonald, Leopoldo Nuti, and Elisabeth Roehrlich

Max Paul Friedman and Tom Long, "Soft Balancing in the Americas: Latin American Opposition to U.S. Intervention, 1898-1936,"  International Security, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Summer 2015), pp. 120–156. 

Reviewer: Christopher Darnton

Max Paul Friedman and Tom Long reply. 

Spring 2015

Michael Beckley, "The Myth of Entangling Alliances," International Security, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Spring 2015), pp. 7-48.

Reviewer: Jennifer Lind

Gene Gerzhoy, "Alliance Coercion and Nuclear Restraint: How the United States Thwarted West Germany’s Nuclear Ambitions," International Security, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Spring 2015), pp. 91-129.

Reviewer: Nicholas Miller

Winter 2014/15

Jon R. Lindsay, "The Impact of China on Cybersecurity: Fiction and Friction," International Security, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Winter 2014/15), pp. 7-47.

Reviewer: Xiaoyu Pu

Sebastian Rosato, "The Inscrutable Intentions of Great Powers," International Security, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Winter 2014/15), pp. 48-88.

Reviewers: Brandon Yoder and Kyle Haynes

Jaganath Sankaran, "Pakistan’s Battlefield Nuclear Policy: A Risky Solution to an Exaggerated Threat," International Security, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Winter 2014/15), pp. 118-151.

Reviewer: Christopher Clary

Llewelyn Hughes and Austin Long, "Is There an Oil Weapon? Security Implications of Changes in the Structure of the International Oil Market," International Security, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Winter 2014/15), pp. 152-189.

Reviewer: Jeff Colgan

Spring 2014

Gaurav Kampani, "New Delhi's Long Nuclear Journey: How Secrecy and Institutional Roadblocks Delayed India's Weaponization," International Security, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Spring 2014), pp. 79-114.

Reviewer: Jayita Sarkar, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Reply by Gaurav Kampani

Spring 2013

Alexander B. Downes and Jonathan Monten, "Forced to be Free? Why Foreign-Imposed Regime Change Rarely Leads to Democratization," International Security,Vol. 37, No. 4 (Spring 2013), pp. 90-131.

Reviewer: Mark Peceny, University of New Mexico

Winter 2012/13

Stephen Brooks, G. John Ikenberry, and William Wohlforth, "Don’t Come Home, America: The Case against Retrenchment," International Security, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Winter 2012/2013), pp. 7–51.

Reviewer: Colin Dueck, George Mason University

Fall 2012

Benjamin S. Lambeth, "Israel’s War in Gaza: A Paradigm of Effective Military Learning and Adaptation," International Security, Vol. 37 No. 2 (Fall 2012), pp. 81-118; andJerome Slater, "Just War Moral Philosophy and the 2008-09 Israeli Campaign in Gaza,"International Security, Vol. 37 No. 2 (Fall 2012), pp. 44-80.

Reviewer: Jeremy Pressman, University of Connecticut

Brendan Rittenhouse Green, "Two Concepts of Liberty: U.S. Cold War Grand Strategies and the Liberal Tradition," International Security, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Fall 2012), pp. 9–43.

Reviewer: Paul C. Avey

Summer 2012

Stephen Biddle, Jeffrey Friedman, and Jacob Shapiro, "Testing the Surge: Why Did Violence Decline in Iraq in 2007?" International Security, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Summer 2012), pp. 7–40.

Reviewer: Austin Long

Spring 2012

Patrick B. Johnston, "Does Decapitation Work? Assessing the Effectiveness of Leadership Targeting in Counterinsurgency Campaigns," International Security, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Spring 2012), pp. 47–79; and Bryan C. Price, "Targeting Top Terrorists: How Leadership Decapitation Contributes to Counterterrorism," International Security, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Spring 2012), pp. 9–46.

Reviewer: Jenna Jordan, Georgia Institute of Technology

Paul C. Avey, "Confronting Soviet Power: U.S. Policy during the Early Cold War,"International Security, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Spring 2012), pp. 151–188.

Reviewer: Joseph M. Siracusa, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

Winter 2011/12

Nuno Monteiro, "Unrest Assured: Why Unipolarity is Not Peaceful," International Security, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Winter 2011/12), pp. 9–40.

Reviewer: William C. Wohlforth, Dartmouth College

David Ekbladh, "Present at the Creation: Edward Mead Earle and the Depression-Era Origins of Security Studies," International Security, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Winter 2011/12), pp. 107–141.

Reviewer: Robert Vitalis, University of Pennsylvania

Fall 2011

Bruce W. Bennett and Jennifer Lind, "The Collapse of North Korea: Military Missions and Requirements," International Security, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Fall 2011), pp. 84–119.

Reviewer: Brendan M. Howe, Ewha Womans University, Seoul

Spring 2011

Paul K. MacDonald and Joseph M. Parent, "Graceful Decline? The Surprising Success of Great Power Retrenchment," International Security, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Spring 2011), pp. 7–44.

Reviewer: Stephen R. Rock, Vassar College

Fall 2010

Michael S. Gerson, "No First Use: The Next Step for U.S. Nuclear Policy," International Security, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Fall 2010), pp. 7–47.

Reviewer: Joshua Rovner, U.S. Naval War College

Spring 2010

John M. Schuessler, "The Deception Dividend: FDR’s Undeclared War," International Security, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Spring 2010), pp. 133–165.

Reviewer: Marc Trachtenberg, University of California, Los Angeles

Winter 2009/10

Francis J. Gavin, "Same As It Ever Was: Nuclear Alarmism, Proliferation, and the Cold War," International Security, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Winter 2009/10), pp. 7–37.

Reviewer: John Mueller, Ohio State University