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.

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)
• "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" (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)
• "Offshore Balancing Revisited" (The Washington Quarterly, 2002)
• "The 'Poster Child For Offensive Realism': America as a Global Hegemon" (Security Studies, winter 2002/3)
• "The Unipolar Illusion Revisited: The Coming End of the United States's 'Unipolar Moment'" (International Security, 2006)
• "The Waning of U.S. Hegemony—Myth or Reality?: A Review Essay" (International Security, 2009)

References

Bush School Faculty Profile [1]