Christopher Layne (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 neorealist, critic of liberal internationalism and proponent of Offshore balancing.
Should America Promote Democracy? - A Debate, with Sean M. Lynn-Jones (MIT Press, 1998)
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 Magazine articles
"The Real Conservative Agenda" (Foreign Policy, Winter, 1985-1986)
"Atlanticism without NATO" (Foreign Policy, Summer, 1987)
"Continental Divide - Time to Disengage in Europe" (The National Interest, 1988)
"NATO and the Next Administration" (An American Vision: Policies for the '90s, edited by Edward H. Crane, David Boaz, 1989)
"Superpower Disengagement" (Foreign Policy, Winter, 1989-1990)
"Ambivalent Past, Uncertain Future: America’s Role in Post-Cold War Europe" (NATO at 40: Confronting a Changing World, edited by Ted Galen Carpenter, 1990)
"After the Cold War: Symposium on New Defense Priorities" (Policy Review, 1990)
"America's Stake in Soviet Stability" (World Policy Journal, Winter, 1990/1991)
"Why the Gulf War Was Not in the National Interest" (The Atlantic Monthly, 1991)
"Rethinking NATO and other Alliances in a Multipolar World" (Market Liberalism: A Paradigm for the 21st Century, edited by David Boaz, Edward H. Crane, 1993)
"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)
"Rethinking American Grand Strategy: Hegemony or Balance of Power in the Twenty-First Century?" (World Policy Journal, 1998)
"Why Die for Gdansk? NATO enlargement and American Security Interests" (NATO Enlargement: Illusions and Reality, edited by Ted Galen Carpenter, Barbara Conry, 1998)
"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)
"Miscalculations and Blunders lead to War" (NATO's Empty Victory: A Postmortem on the Balkan War, edited by Ted Galen Carpenter, 2000)
"Collateral Damage in Yugoslavia" (NATO's Empty Victory: A Postmortem on the Balkan War, edited by Ted Galen Carpenter, 2000)
"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)
"The Next Emperor" (The American Conservative, 2004)
"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)
"Wilson’s Ghost" (The American Conservative, 2005)
"Failure is an Option" (The American Conservative, 2005)
"Impotent Power? Re-examining the Nature of America's Hegemonic Power" (The 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)
"Debunking the 1930s Analogy: Neville Chamberlain’s Grand Strategy Re-examined" (REGIS Working Paper no. 21, 2006)
"Who Lost Iraq and Why It Matters: The Case for Offshore Balancing" (World Policy Journal, 2007)
"How Good was the Good War?" (The American Conservative, 2008)
"China’s Challenge to U.S. Hegemony" (Current History, 2008)
"America's Middle East Grand Strategy after Iraq: The Moment for Offshore Balancing Has Arrived" (Review of International Studies, 2009)
"The Waning of U.S. Hegemony—Myth or Reality?: A Review Essay" (International Security, 2009)
"The Unbearable Lightness of Soft Power" (Soft Power and US Foreign Policy: Theoretical, Historical and Contemporary perspectives, edited by Inderjeet Parmar, Michael Cox 2010)
"Bye bye, Miss American Pie" (The European Magazine, 2011)
"The Unipolar Exit: Beyond the Pax Americana" (Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 2011)
"After the Fall" (FOKUS USA, 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: Is Grand Strategy Determined by Ambition or Politics?" (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)
"The Shadow of the Past: Why the Sino-American relationship resembles the pre-1914 Anglo-German Antagonism" (Norwegian Nobel Institute Symposium Paper, 2014)
"Avoiding a Sino-American Confrontation" (Atlantische Perspectief, 2015)
"Obama’s Missed Opportunity to Pivot Away from the Middle East" (Insight Turkey, 2015)
Newspaper articles
"Subverting Democracy for Power" (Los Angeles Times, 1987)
"Lone Ranger Diplomacy a Risky Path for Liberals" (Los Angeles Times, 1988)
"U.S. Tactical Nuclear Weapons Aim at the Heart of NATO Security" (Los Angeles Times, 1989)
"U.S. Troops Mustn't Be the Obstacle" (Los Angeles Times, 1990)
"Cold War's Over, Supercop Can Go Home" (Los Angeles Times, 1990)
"Don't Rush Into Folly in the Gulf" by Christopher Layne and Ted Galen Carpenter (Los Angeles Times, 1990)
"Proliferation Is Safer in Guiding Hands" (Los Angeles Times, 1992)
"Is America Marching to Folly Once Again?" (Los Angeles Times, 1992)
"Perspective on the GOP Convention" (Los Angeles Times, 1992)
"How Marxist Is Our Foreign Policy?" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (New York Times, 1993)
"Perspectives on opening NATO Membership" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (Los Angeles Times, 1994)
"Perspectives on Bosnia" (Los Angeles Times, 1995)
"Be Prepared to Contain the Carthage of the 1990s: Japan" (Los Angeles Times, 1995)
"Congress Is MIA in Bosnia Debate" (Los Angeles Times, 1996)
"In Search of a Middle Road on U.S. Policy Toward China" (Los Angeles Times, 1999)
"Making the World Safe for...Business?" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (Los Angeles Times, 1999)
"Believe This: 'Credibility' Isn’t the Issue" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (Los Angeles Times, 1999)
"U.S. and NATO Have Put the Fox in the Chicken Coop" (Los Angeles Times, 1999)
"The Next Kosovo War Has Begun" (Los Angeles Times, 1999)
"NATO: Come Home From 'Over There'" (Los Angeles Times, 1999)
"A Fair Reading of History" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (New York Times, 1999)
"America's Role (cont'd.) - What's Built Up Must Come Down" (The Washington Post, 1999)
"Bush Is Charting a Dangerous Course" (Los Angeles Times, 1999)
"U.S. Must Stop Being a KLA Pawn" (Los Angeles Times, 1999)
"We Were Suckers for the KLA" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz ('The Washington Post, 2000)
"Bush-Rice Plan Identifies U.S. Interests" (Los Angeles Times, 2000)
"The Power Paradox" (Los Angeles Times, 2002)
"A Lower Profile Would Make the United States a Smaller Target" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (Los Angeles Times, 2002)
"Supremacy Is America’s Weakness" (Financial Times, 2003)
"America cannot rely on power alone" (Financial Times, 2006)
"Dick Cheney has led America down the road to Hell in Iraq" (The Australian, 2007)
"Twilight of Pax Americana" by Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz (Los Angeles Times, 2009)
"Petraeus' dubious strategy in Afghanistan" (Chicago Tribune, 2010)
"A Timely Debate" (The New York Times, 2011)
"America’s view of China is fogged by liberal ideas" (Financial Times, 2014)
"US must acknowledge China’s ambition" (Boston Globe, 2014)
"Neocons Vs. Eurowimps, Book review of 'How NATO Weakens the West'" (Reason Magazine, 1986)
"A House of Cards: American Strategy toward China, Book review of 'The Coming Conflict with China'" (World Policy Journal, 1997)
"Book review of 'Regime Change: U.S. Strategy Through the Prism of 9/11'" (Perspectives on Politics, 2007)
"Grown-Ups' Table, Book review of 'America and the World'" (The American Conservative, 2008)
"U.S. Hegemony in a Unipolar World: Here to Stay or Sic Transit Gloria?" (International Studies Review, 2009)
"Book review of 'Follies of Power: America's Unipolar Fantasy'" (Perspectives on Politics, 2011)
"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)
"Book discussion on 'Theory of Unipolar Politics'" (H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable Reviews, 2015)
Interviews, lectures and debates
"The Reagan Doctrine - Should it stay or should it go?" (Reason Magazine, 1987)
"Debate on European Security and Defense Identity" (C-SPAN, 2000)
"Christopher Layne debates American Decline" (NPR Radio, 2012)
"Chinese Social Sciences Today Interview with Christopher Layne" (Social Sciences in China Press, 2012)
"Christopher Layne lecture on American Grand Strategy" (Naval War College, 2013)
"Celebration of the Life of Kenneth N. Waltz Tribute" (Columbia University, 2013)
"Dr. Gabriela Marin Thornton’s interview with Christopher Layne" (Politica la Est, 2014)
"Christopher Layne lecture on Foreign Policy in America's Interest" (American Conservative, 2016)
"Christopher Layne lecture on 'The End of the Pax Americana'" (Notre Dame International Security Center, 2017)
