Profile picture for user fettweis.christopher

Christopher Fettweis

Associate Professor of Political Science, Tulane University
Chapter Member: New Orleans SSN
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Christopher

(504) 862-8310

About Christopher

Fettweis researches U.S. foreign and national security policies. He is currently most interested in decision-making, and trying to understand why the United States often makes such poor choices. He is also the president of the New Orleans chapter of the World Affairs Council.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Fear, Honor, Glory, and Hubris — How Misleading Beliefs and Assumptions Distort U.S. Foreign Policy

Key Findings Brief,

In the News

"Is Michael Flynn Trump's Machiavelli?," Christopher Fettweis, The National Interest , November 29, 2016.
"Don't Blame NATO for Libya," Christopher Fettweis, The National Interest , October 23, 2016.
"Joe Biden, the Realist, for President?," Christopher Fettweis, The National Interest , September 27, 2015.
"Relabeling: How to Diminish Armenian-Turkish Tensions," Christopher Fettweis, The National Interest, April 25, 2015.
"What's Really Stalling the Israel-Palestinian Peace Process," Christopher Fettweis, Los Angeles Times, April 28, 2014.
"Afghanistan and the Karzai Connection," Christopher Fettweis, Los Angeles Times, June 6, 2012.
"The World is Actually Safer than It Used to Be... and It Keeps Getting Safer," Christopher Fettweis, History News Network , September 30, 2011.
"Post-Traumatic Iraq Syndrome," Christopher Fettweis, Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2007.

Publications

"Making Foreign Policy Decisions: A Presidential Briefing Book" (Transactions Press, 2015).

Advises presidents (and non-presidents) about how to conduct foreign policy, and perhaps even avoid the kind of blunders experienced by their predecessors. 

"The Pathologies of Power: Fear, Honor, Glory, and Hubris in U.S. Foreign Policy" (Cambridge University Press , 2013).

Suggests that America's various blunders can be explained by a series of pathological, incorrect beliefs widely held by its decision-makers.

"Unipolarity, Hegemony, and the New Peace" Security Studies 26, no. 3 (2017): 423-451.

Challenges the nearly ubiquitous notion (at least in the policy world) that the only thing standing between the world and outright chaos is the United States. Discusses if U.S. power is a force for stability in the international system. 

"Dangerous Times? The International Politics of Great Power Peace " (Georgetown University Press, 2010).

Discusses the reasons why armed conflict seems to be disappearing from the planet, and suggests that the most likely explanation is that a fundamental evolution in the rule of the system-or norms- has taken place.