Faculty Profiles

Popescu, I. C. (2026, July 20). The Iran War is Lose-Lose. The American Conservative.

Popescu, I. C. (n.d.). Grand Strategy and Political Judgement. In Handbook of Political Judgment in Government. London and New York, U.K./U.S.: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Popescu, I. C. (2026, August). Security in the 21st Century Europe. Parameters. US Army War College Press.

Popescu, I. C. (2025). No Peer Rivals: American Grand Strategy in the Era of Great Power Competition. University of Michigan Press. Retrieved from https://press.umich.edu/Books/N/No-Peer-Rivals2

Popescu, I. C. (2025, April 25). Is There a Trump Doctrine? The National Interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/feature/is-there-a-trump-doctrine

Popescu, I. C. (2025). Adapting US Defense Strategy to Great-Power Competition. Parameters, 55, 73–90. Retrieved from https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/News/Display/Article/4129357/adapting-us-defense-strategy-to-great-power-competition/

Popescu, I. C. (2025, March 13). Romania’s Electoral Coup Is a Blow to Europe. The American Conservative. Retrieved from https://www.theamericanconservative.com/romanias-electoral-coup-is-a-blow-to-europe/

Popescu, I. C. (2025). Great Power Competition, Offensive Realism, and The New Debates on US Grand Strategy. Comparative Strategy, (44), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2024.2445492

Popescu, I. C. (2024, November 20). The Promise of Trump’s Realist China Grand Strategy. The American Conservative. Retrieved from https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-promise-of-trumps-realist-china-grand-strategy/

Popescu, I. C. (2024, July 5). From Globalism to America First Geoeconomics. The American Conservative. Retrieved from https://www.theamericanconservative.com/from-globalism-to-america-first-geoeconomics/

Popescu, I. C. (2024, May 21). Donald Trump’s First-Term China Strategy Was A Success. The National Interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/feature/donald-trump’s-first-term-china-strategy-was-success-211110

Popescu, I. C. (2024, March 1). Review of The Pursuit of Dominance: 2000 Years of Superpower Grand Strategy by Christopher J. Fettweis. Political Science Quarterly. Oxford University Press.

Popescu, I. C., Jim, C., & Dan, N. (2023, March). Rare Earths Supply Chains and Confrontation with China. The National Interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/feature/rare-earths-supply-chains-and-confrontation-china-206331

Popescu, I. C. (2022, December 7). Only Offensive Realism Can Contain China. The National Interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/feature/only-offensive-realism-can-contain-china-205988

Popescu, I. C. (2022, May 27). “Essay by Ionut Popescu on Benjamin Miller, Grand Strategy from Truman to Trump,.” H-Diplo. United States: ISSF Roundtable 13-11. Retrieved from https://issforum.org/roundtables/13-11#Review_by_Ionut_Popescu_Texas_State_University

Popescu, I. C. (2021, June). Seeds of Stability: Land Reform and US Foreign Policy. Perspectives on Politics. US and UK: Cambridge University Press.

Popescu, I. C. (2020, September 22). It’s Too Soon For America To Kill Its Grand Strategy. The National Interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/its-too-soon-america-kill-its-grand-strategy-169398

Popescu, I. C. (2020, April 15). It’s Time to Get Real About Great-Power Politics. The National Interest. US. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/feature/its-time-get-real-about-great-power-politics-144742

Popescu, I. C. (2020, February 18). An Old Grand Strategy for A New Era. Providence. Retrieved from https://providencemag.com/2020/02/old-grand-strategy-american-conservative-nationalism-book-review-colin-dueck-age-iron/

Popescu, I. C. (2019). American Grand Strategy and the Rise of Offensive Realism. Political Science Quarterly, 134(3), 375–405. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/polq.12960

Popescu, I. C. (2019, March). A Middle Path? US Public Opinion and Grand Strategy. E-International Relations. Retrieved from https://www.e-ir.info/2019/03/03/a-middle-path-us-public-opinion-and-grand-strategy/

Popescu, I. C. (2019). Pragmatism and Practicality: Rethinking U.S. Civil-Military Relations Models for a  Turbulent Era. Armed Forces & Society, 45, 198–205. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0095327X18765473

Popescu, I. C. (2018). Grand Strategy vs. Emergent Strategy in The Conduct of Foreign Policy. Journal of Strategic Studies, 41(3), 438–460.

Popescu, I. C. (2018, December 19). The Case for Pragmatic Globalism: Review of Paul Miller’s American Power and Liberal Order. Providence. Retrieved from https://providencemag.com/2018/12/the-case-for-pragmatic-globalism-review-of-paul-millers-american-power-and-liberal-order/

Popescu, I. C. (2018, May 21). Trump Doesn’t Need A Grand Strategy: Why Planning is Overrated. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2018-05-21/trump-doesnt-need-grand-strategy

Popescu, I. C. (2018). Conservative Internationalism and the Trump Administration. Orbis, 62, 91–104.

Popescu, I. C. (2017). Emergent Strategy and Grand Strategy: How American Presidents Succeed in Foreign Policy. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved from https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/emergent-strategy-and-grand-strategy

Popescu, I. C. (2017, December 11). Grand Strategy is Overrated. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/12/11/grand-strategy-is-overrated-trump-national-security-strategy-nss/?utm_content=bufferf9643&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Popescu, I. C. (2017). Strategic Uncertainty, the Third Offset, and US Grand Strategy. Parameters, 46(Winter 2017). Retrieved from https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/parameters/issues/Winter_2016-17/9_Popescu.pdf

Popescu, I. C. (2016). The Intellectual Roots of Reagan’s Foreign Policy. In E. Patterson & J. Morrison (Eds.), The Reagan Manifesto: “A Time for Choosing” and Its Influence. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Popescu, I. C. (2015). What Obama Gets Right and Wrong on Grand Strategy. War on The Rocks. Retrieved from https://warontherocks.com/2015/03/what-obama-gets-right-and-wrong-on-grand-strategy/

Popescu, I. C. (2014). Is It Time for Retrenchment? The Big Debate on American Grand Strategy. In P. Feaver (Ed.), Strategic Retrenchment and Renewal in the American Experience. Carlisle, PA: Army War College Strategic Studies Institute.

Popescu, I. C. (2014, February 12). Conservative Internationalism and American Foreign Policy [Review of Conservative Internationalism, by H. Nau]. War on the Rocks.

Popescu, I. C. (2010). The Disputed Importance of Process in the Making of American Grand Strategy: A Review Essay. Orbis, 54.

Popescu, I. C. (2010). War and Military Operations in the 21st Century: Implications for Civil-Military Relations. Triangle Institute for Security Studies.

Popescu, I. C. (2010). The Last Quadrennial Defense Review? What the Pentagon Should Learn from Corporations about Strategic Planning. Armed Forces Journal.

Popescu, I. C. (2009). Strategic Theory and Practice: A Critical Analysis of the Planning Process for the Long War on Terror. Contemporary Security Policy, 30.

Popescu, I. C. (2009). Bridging the Strategy-Resources Gap: Defense Planning in a Time of Crisis. Joint Force Quarterly.