Edward Luttwak: Difference between revisions
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Luttwak was born into a [[History of the Jews in Romania|Jewish]] family in [[Arad, Romania|Arad]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], and raised in Italy and England.<ref name=meaney>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/09/edward-luttwak-machiavelli-of-maryland? |title=The Machiavelli of Maryland |work=[[The Guardian]] |author=Thomas Meaney |date=September 9, 2015 |accessdate=December 10, 2015}}</ref> After elementary school in [[Palermo]], [[Sicily]], he attended [[Carmel College (Oxfordshire)|Carmel College]] and Quintin Grammar in England, where he also received basic training in the [[British Army]], and then the [[London School of Economics]] where he graduated in analytical economics in 1964. |
Luttwak was born into a [[History of the Jews in Romania|Jewish]] family in [[Arad, Romania|Arad]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], and raised in Italy and England.<ref name=meaney>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/09/edward-luttwak-machiavelli-of-maryland? |title=The Machiavelli of Maryland |work=[[The Guardian]] |author=Thomas Meaney |date=September 9, 2015 |accessdate=December 10, 2015}}</ref> After elementary school in [[Palermo]], [[Sicily]], he attended [[Carmel College (Oxfordshire)|Carmel College]] and Quintin Grammar in England, where he also received basic training in the [[British Army]], and then the [[London School of Economics]] where he graduated in analytical economics in 1964. |
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After working in London, Paris, and [[Jerusalem]], he moved to the United States in 1972 for graduate studies at [[Johns Hopkins University]], where he received a doctorate in 1975. He had held an academic post before moving to the United States, at the [[University of Bath]]. Subsequently, he taught part-time as a research or visiting professor at Johns Hopkins and at [[Georgetown University]] starting in 1975. He has long been associated with the [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>[http://www.idcitalia.com/downloads/bio/luttwak_edward.pdf Professional Profile: Edward Luttwak]. Idcitalia.com. Accessed March 11, 2012.</ref> He is a member of the [[Italy-USA Foundation]]. |
After working in London, Paris, and [[Jerusalem]], he moved to the United States in 1972 for graduate studies at [[Johns Hopkins University]], where he received a doctorate in 1975. He had held an academic post before moving to the United States, at the [[University of Bath]]. Subsequently, he taught part-time as a research or visiting professor at Johns Hopkins and at [[Georgetown University]] starting in 1975. He has long been associated with the [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>[http://www.idcitalia.com/downloads/bio/luttwak_edward.pdf Professional Profile: Edward Luttwak] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224135301/http://www.idcitalia.com/downloads/bio/luttwak_edward.pdf |date=December 24, 2012 }}. Idcitalia.com. Accessed March 11, 2012.</ref> He is a member of the [[Italy-USA Foundation]]. |
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==Career== |
==Career== |
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===Confidence=== |
===Confidence=== |
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Writing in 2007 in ''[[National Review Online]]'', former [[George W. Bush]]'s speechwriter [[David Frum]] said Luttwak “is a very genuinely interesting writer. His book on the grand strategy of the [[Roman Empire]] was terrific, and his ''Coup D'État'' is that astounding thing: a great work of political science that is also a hilarious satire. Part of the secret of his success is his tone of total confidence. He makes startling claims in a tone that says, ‘If only you knew my super-secret sources.’” Frum was writing on the occasion of having just seen a column by Luttwak in the UK magazine ''[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]'', titled “The Middle of Nowhere”, in which Luttwak “magisterially and sardonically attacks a whole series of intellectual errors that allegedly dominate expert opinion on the Middle East”.<ref>http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTdkY2I2MWNlNzJiODBhNjU4ZTExNWNjMjUxYjg2ZTc=</ref> |
Writing in 2007 in ''[[National Review Online]]'', former [[George W. Bush]]'s speechwriter [[David Frum]] said Luttwak “is a very genuinely interesting writer. His book on the grand strategy of the [[Roman Empire]] was terrific, and his ''Coup D'État'' is that astounding thing: a great work of political science that is also a hilarious satire. Part of the secret of his success is his tone of total confidence. He makes startling claims in a tone that says, ‘If only you knew my super-secret sources.’” Frum was writing on the occasion of having just seen a column by Luttwak in the UK magazine ''[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]'', titled “The Middle of Nowhere”, in which Luttwak “magisterially and sardonically attacks a whole series of intellectual errors that allegedly dominate expert opinion on the Middle East”.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTdkY2I2MWNlNzJiODBhNjU4ZTExNWNjMjUxYjg2ZTc= |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-09-20 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921214608/http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTdkY2I2MWNlNzJiODBhNjU4ZTExNWNjMjUxYjg2ZTc= |archivedate=September 21, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> |
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==Published works== |
==Published works== |
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Revision as of 06:55, 29 November 2017
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Edward N. Luttwak | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 4, 1942 |
| Known for | Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook |
Edward Nicolae Luttwak (born November 4, 1942) is a political scientist who has published works on grand strategy, military history, and international relations. He also provides consulting services to governments and international enterprises including various branches of the U.S. government and the U.S. military.
Early life and education
Luttwak was born into a
After working in London, Paris, and
Career
He has served as a consultant to the
Luttwak has been a frequent lecturer and consultant, and is known for his innovative policy ideas, suggesting for example that major powers' attempts to quell regional wars actually make conflicts more protracted.[3] His book Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook has been reprinted numerous times, and translated into 18 languages. His book Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace is used as a textbook in war colleges and universities, has also been translated in several languages.[1]
The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century AD to the Third is controversial among professional historians. Luttwak is seen as an outsider and non-specialist in the field. However, the book is recognized as seminal because it raised basic questions about the Roman army and its defense of the Roman frontier. Although many professional historians argue against his views on Roman strategy, some at book length, his 1976 book has undoubtedly increased interest in the study of Roman frontiers and strategy. (For a summary of his thesis and criticism see Defence-in-depth (Roman military).) Since the 1980s he has published articles on Byzantium and his book, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire, was published in late 2009.[1]
Luttwak is frequently cited by Italian media on political subjects.[1] He has also co-authored two books in Italian with Susanna Creperio Verratti (a political philosopher and journalist): Che cos’è davvero la democrazia ("What Democracy Really Is"), 1996 and Il libro delle Libertà ("The Book of Liberties"), 2000.
He served on the editorial boards of
He received the America Award of the
He is chairman of the board of Aircraft Purchase Fleet Limited (APFL), an aviation lessor, and the head of a conservation ranch in the Amazon.
Criticism
Predictions
In his 2002 book
Besides also citing Luttwak’s prediction, in response to a question, of the impoverishing of all but a small minority of Americans "soon enough", Posner wrote that Luttwak predicted, shortly before the first
Luttwak had made the casualties prediction in a Reuters article on August 23, 1990, in which he was quoted by reporter Jim Wolf as saying, "Don't think that your precision weapons and your gadgets and your gizmos and your stealth fighters are going to make it possible to reconquer Kuwait without many thousands of casualties".
In a 2003 essay in
Most recently, Luttwak assessed the results of a Donald Trump presidency in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal arguing that "his foreign policies are unlikely to deviate from standard conservative norms," withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, avoiding involvement in Syria and Libya, eschewing trade wars, and modestly reducing spending—in short, "changes at the margin."[6]
Confidence
Writing in 2007 in
Published works
- ISBN 0-674-17547-6. London 1968; Revised Edition: Cambridge, MA, 1979; London, 1979; Sydney, 1979
- 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
- The Israeli Army (with 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
- Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economy (New York, 1999), ISBN 0-06-019330-1
- 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”. Infinity Journal, Fall 2011
- "Give War a Chance". Foreign Affairs. July 1999.
- "Iraq: The Logic of Disengagement" (PDF). Foreign Affairs. January 2005.
- "The middle of nowhere". Prospect. May 2007.
References
- ^ a b c d Thomas Meaney (September 9, 2015). "The Machiavelli of Maryland". The Guardian. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ Professional Profile: Edward Luttwak Archived December 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Idcitalia.com. Accessed March 11, 2012.
- )
- ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=gsoqJtai7moC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=posner+luttwak&source=bl&ots=P6qT9GdVYg&sig=7JU64dP3FwFMDBhYar2na6NX0uo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vcY8Urq5D8_j4AOctYCQBw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=posner%20luttwak&f=false
- ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=B01IuzJJ3MEC&pg=PA147&dq=%22All+those+precision+weapons+and+gadgets+and+gizmos%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WFFAUoG0Dub94APTy4CYBA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22All%20those%20precision%20weapons%20and%20gadgets%20and%20gizmos%22&f=false
- ^ Edward N. Luttwak, "Suffering From Trumphobia? Get Over It," Wall Street Journal, 10 Mar 2016, https://www.wsj.com/articles/suffering-from-trumphobia-get-over-it-1457565216
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
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Further reading
- "What the Byzantines Can Teach Us about Our National Security” by Ishmael Jones, American Thinker, March 6, 2010.
- Miles Ignotus, wrote in Harper’s January 1976 later that the U.S. with Israel’s help must prepare to seize Saudi Arabia’s oilfields. Miles Ignotus, Latin for “unknown soldier,” turned out to be the known civilian and Pentagon consultant Edward Luttwak. Luttwak urged a “revolution” in warfare doctrine toward “fast, light forces to penetrate the enemy’s vital centers” with Saudi Arabia a test case. The practical test would come, with results familiar to most of the world, 27 years later in Iraq.
External links
- Interview about Libya from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
- Interview about Soviet Union from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
- Robin, Corey. "The Ex-Cons: Right-Wing Thinkers Go Left!"., originally published in Lingua Franca (magazine), an analysis containing several pages on Luttwak's life and thought.
- Interview: Conversation with Edward Luttwak, Conversations with History, March 1987.
- Interview: The Logic of Strategy and U.S. Foreign Policy, Conversations with History] November 2007.
- Appearances on C-SPAN
