Edward Luttwak

Edward Luttwak, 2010

Edward Nicolae Luttwak (born November 4, 1942 in Arad , Romania ) is a Romanian - American military strategist , political scientist and historian who has published monographs on military strategy and the history of international relations . He is also a government and business advisor .

He is chairman of the board of directors of Aircraft Purchase Fleet Limited (APFL), an aircraft leasing company, and director of a model ecological farm in the Amazon region.

Early years and education

Luttwak was born into a Jewish family in Arad and grew up in Italy and England. After primary school in Palermo , Sicily , he attended Carmel College and Quintin Grammar School in England, where he also received basic military training in the British Army . He then attended the London School of Economics . He completed his studies in 1964 with a degree in analytical economics.

After working in London, Paris and Jerusalem , he moved to the USA in 1972 to continue his studies there at Johns Hopkins University , which he completed with a doctorate in 1975. He received his first position as a university lecturer at the University of Bath . He later taught at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown University . He was closely associated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC

Professional career

He has served as an advisor to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council , the United States Department of State , the United States Navy , the United States Army , the United States Air Force, and various NATO defense agencies. In his work for the OSD / Net Assessment, he helped to develop the current maneuver warfare concept, worked for TRADOC, introduced the concept of the operational level of war into US military doctrine, wrote the first manual for the Joint Special Operations Agency, and contributed to the concept of the Rapid Deployment Force (later US Central Command ), which was developed for the Office of the Secretary of Defense International Security Affairs.

Luttwak was a frequent speaker and advisor and is known for his innovative political ideas. For example, he pointed out that attempts by great powers to resolve regional conflicts often tend to prolong those conflicts. His book Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook was reprinted several times and translated into 18 languages. His well-known work Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace is based on courses at universities and colleges and has also appeared in several languages.

The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century AD to the Third is controversial among historians. Luttwak is seen as an outsider and a layman. Nonetheless, this work is valued as it covers fundamental questions about the army of the Roman Empire and its defense of the borders. Since the 1980s he has also published articles on Byzantium. In 2009 his monograph The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire was published.

criticism

False prognoses

• In 1983 he predicted that the Soviet Union would successfully end its mission in Afghanistan.
• He thought a war between China and the Soviet Union was likely.
• In Gorbachev's policy of détente, he saw the basis for the resurgence of the Soviet Union as a military power.

Over-confidence

Luttwark is accused of always presenting his theses with the deepest conviction.

Publications

• Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook. London 1968, ISBN 0-674-17547-6 . Revised Editions: Cambridge, MA, 1979; London, 1979; Sydney, 1979, London, 2016.
  • The Coup d'Etat or How to stage a coup . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1969.
• A Dictionary of Modern War. London 1971, ISBN 0-7139-0130-6 .
• The Strategic Balance, 1972. New York 1972, ISBN 0-912050-33-0 .
• The Political Uses of Sea Power. Baltimore 1974, ISBN 0-8018-1658-0 .
• The US - USSR Nuclear Weapons Balance. Beverly Hills 1974, ISBN 0-8039-0096-1 .
• The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century AD to the Third. Baltimore 1976, ISBN 0-8018-2158-4 .
• Strategic Power: Military Capabilities and Political Utility. California 1976, ISBN 0-8039-0659-5 .
• Sea Power in the Mediterranean: Political Utility and Military Constraints. California 1979, ISBN 0-8191-6010-5 .
• with Dan Horowitz: The Israeli Army. Cambridge, Massachusetts 1983, ISBN 0-06-012723-6 .
• The Grand Strategy of the Soviet Union. London 1983, ISBN 0-312-34260-8 .
• The Pentagon and the Art of War. New York 1984, ISBN 0-671-61770-2 .
• Strategy and History. New Jersey 1985, ISBN 0-88738-065-4 .
• Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace. Cambridge, Massachusetts 1987, ISBN 0-674-00703-4 .
• The Endangered American Dream: How To Stop the United States from Being a Third World Country and How To Win the Geo-Economic Struggle for Industrial Supremacy. New York 1993, ISBN 0-671-86963-9 .
  • World economic war. Export as a weapon - partners become opponents . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-498-03883-4
• Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economy. New York 1999, ISBN 0-06-019330-1 .
  • Turbo capitalism. Globalization winners and losers . Europa-Verlag, Hamburg Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-203-79549-3
• Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace. Rev. Enlarged Edition Cambridge, Massachusetts 2002, ISBN 978-0-674-00703-1 .
• The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge, Massachusetts 2009, ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5 .
• The Rise of China vs. the logic of strategy. Cambridge, Massachusetts 2012, ISBN 978-0-674-06642-7 .
• Why China Will Not Become the Next Global Power… But It Could. In: Infinity Journal. Fall 2011.
• Give war a chance . In: Foreign Affairs , July 1999. 
• Iraq: The Logic of Disengagement (PDF). In: Foreign Affairs , January 2005. 
• The middle of nowhere . In: Prospect , May 2007. 

literature

• Ishmael Jones: What the Byzantines Can Teach Us about Our National Security. In: American Thinker. March 6, 2010.

Web links

• Interview about Libya In: Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives.
• Interview about Soviet Union In: Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives.
• Corey Robin : The Ex-Cons: Right-Wing Thinkers Go Left! .  (Originally published in Lingua Franca , an analysis work depicting Luttwak's life and thoughts).
• Interview: Conversation with Edward Luttwak. In: Conversations with History. March 1987.
• Interview: The Logic of Strategy and US Foreign Policy. In: Conversations with History. November 2007.
• Appearances on C-SPAN .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Thomas Meaney: The Machiavelli of Maryland . In: The Guardian . September 9, 2015. Accessed December 10, 2015.
2. ↑ Professional Profile: Edward Luttwak ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF).  
3. ^ Edward Luttwak: Give War a Chance . In: Foreign Affairs . 78, No. 4, July-August 1999, pp. 36-44. doi : 10.2307 / 20049362 .
4. ↑ National Review ( frum.nationalreview.com ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. )