Christopher Layne

Christopher Layne, PhD (born November 2, 1949) is Robert M. Gates Chair in Intelligence and National Security at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. An international relations theorist, he is a noted neorealist and critic of liberal internationalism. In his writings on U.S. foreign policy and grand strategy, he has advocated a return to a strategy of offshore balancing, as opposed to one of hegemony or primacy.

Education

B.A., University of Southern California
J.D., University of Southern California Law Center
LL.M., University of Virginia Law School
Diploma in Historical Studies, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge
Ph.D., Political Science, University of California at Berkeley

Career

Layne has taught political science and international relations at the University of California at Los Angeles, the Naval Postgraduate School, the University of Miami, and, now, Texas A&M University. He has been associated at various times with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, the Cato Institute, and the Independent Institute.

Works

Books

• The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present (Cornell, 2006)
• American Empire: A Debate, with Bradley A. Thayer (Routledge, 2006)

Academic papers and articles

• "The Real Conservative Agenda" (Foreign Policy, Winter, 1985-1986)
• "Atlanticism without NATO" (Foreign Policy, Summer, 1987)
• "Superpower Disengagement" (Foreign Policy, Winter, 1989-1990)
• "U.S. Troops Mustn't Be the Obstacle" (Los Angeles Times, 1990)
• "Why the Gulf War Was Not in the National Interest" (The Atlantic Monthly, 1991)
• "The Unipolar Illusion: Why New Great Powers Will Rise" (International Security, 1993)
• "American Hegemony: Without an Enemy" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (Foreign Policy, Autumn, 1993)
• "Kant or Cant: The Myth of the Democratic Peace" (International Security, 1994)
• "The Democratic Peace" by Bruce Russett, Christopher Layne, David E. Spiro, and Michael W. Doyle (International Security, 1995)
• "From Preponderance to Offshore Balancing: America's Future Grand Strategy" (International Security, 1997)
• "The Case Against Intervention in Kosovo" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (The Nation, 1999)
• "NATO: At 50, It's Time to Quit" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (The Nation, 1999)
• "What's Built Up Must Come Down" (The Washington Post, 1999)
• "A New Grand Strategy" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (The Atlantic Monthly, 2002)
• "Offshore Balancing Revisited" (The Washington Quarterly, 2002)
• "The Right Peace - Conservatives against a war with Iraq" (LA Weekly, 2002)
• "The 'Poster Child For Offensive Realism': America as a Global Hegemon" (Security Studies, winter 2002/3)
• "The Post-Saddam Quagmire - A view from the right" (LA Weekly, 2003)
• "China's Role in American Grand Strategy: Partner, Regional Power, or Great Power Rival?" (The Asia-Pacific: A Region in Transition edited by Jim Rolfe, 2004)
• "America cannot rely on power alone" (Financial Times, 2006)
• "Impotent Power? Re-examining the Nature of America's Hegemonic Power" (National Interest, 2006)
• "The Unipolar Illusion Revisited: The Coming End of the United States's 'Unipolar Moment'" (International Security, 2006)
• "A Matter of Historical Debate" (Foreign Affairs, 2006)
• "Dick Cheney has led America down the road to Hell in Iraq" (The Australian, 2007)
• "Who Lost Iraq and Why It Matters: The Case for Offshore Balancing" (World Policy Journal, 2007)
• "China’s Challenge to U.S. Hegemony" (Current History, 2008)
• "The Waning of U.S. Hegemony—Myth or Reality?: A Review Essay" (International Security, 2009)
• "Twilight of Pax Americana" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (Los Angeles Times, 2009)
• "Petraeus' dubious strategy in Afghanistan" (Chicago Tribune, 2010)
• "Bye bye, Miss American Pie" (The European Magazine, 2011)
• "After the Fall" (FOKUS USA, 2011)
• "A Timely Debate" (The New York Times, 2011)
• "The Real Post-American World - The Pax America's end and the future of world politics" (Debating a Post-American World: What Lies Ahead? edited by Sean Clark, Sabrina Hoque, 2012)
• "This Time It’s Real: The End of Unipolarity and the Pax Americana" (International Studies Quarterly, 2012)
• "Take Up the Slack" (The Weekly Standard, 2012)
• "The End of Pax Americana: How Western Decline Became Inevitable" (The Atlantic Monthly, 2012)
• "Zombie hegemony: Will America’s post-World War II liberal international order remain intact?" (Social Sciences in China Press, 2014)
• "America’s view of China is fogged by liberal ideas" (Financial Times, 2014)
• "US must acknowledge China’s ambition" ( Boston Globe, 2014)

Book Reviews and interviews

• "U.S. Hegemony in a Unipolar World: Here to Stay or Sic Transit Gloria?" (International Studies Review, 2009)
• "Chinese Social Sciences Today Interview with Christopher Layne" (Social Sciences in China Press, 2012)
• "Book discussion on 'Power and Willpower: Why the United States is Not Destined to Decline'" (H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable Reviews, 2013)
• "Book discussion on 'The Rise & Decline of the American “Empire”'" (H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable Reviews, 2014)

External links

• Bush School Faculty Profile
• Articles at Cato Institute
• Articles at the American Conservative
• Articles at the National Interest
• Articles at the Moscow Times
• Book Review of "The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present" by Peter Gowan