Zachary Keck is Deputy Editor of e-IR. He holds a B.A. in political science from the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he focused on security studies. He has previously interned in the House of Representatives where he worked on defense and homeland security issues, and as a Joseph S. Nye Jr. National Security Research Intern at the Center for a New American Security. He is a foreign policy reporter at examiner.com and an editorial assistant intern at the Diplomat.

Can Any Realists do P.R. Anymore?

Steve Walt is right that the world would be better off if realists ran U.S. foreign policy. But they never will do so until they learn how to sell their policy prescriptions to the American people.

Start Making Sense: How Realism Explains Japan-ROK Relations

As the disparity between China and Japan’s material capabilities grows, the ROK is likely to place a greater emphasis on the threat of China’s coercive power.

Musings on Gaddafi’s death and Libya’s future

While few tears will be shed for Gaddafi’s loss, might his death turn out to be a curse in disguise? Will the loss of their common enemy lead the Libyan rebel forces to unravel? And, if things do fall apart in Libya, how will this affect the Arab spring in other countries?

Review – Counterstrike

Can al-Qaeda and like-minded terrorist groups be deterred? The Bush and Obama administrations both eventually concluded that they can be, according to a new book based on first hand accounts by Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker.

Review – A Contest For Supremacy

Friedberg’s thesis is two-fold. First, he argues the United States and China are locked in a quiet but increasingly intense struggle for power and influence in Asia and across the globe, which will only become more acute as China continues to accumulate more power. Second, the emerging rivalry is not the result of easily erased misperceptions, but driven by power politics and differing ideologies

Iran Continues to Outmaneuver the United States in Iraq

Iran has outmaneuvered the United States in Iraq at every turn. It has done this through its tremendous foresight as to the direction Iraq was heading at different moments, as well as its keen understanding of its American adversary. These past successes have, in turn, given Iran the upper-hand vis-à-vis the United States as Washington and Tehran battle to define the future of Iraq.

Review – Kissinger On China

One surefire way to know that a bilateral relationship is of the upmost importance is for Henry Kissinger to devote an entire book to the topic. With world stability likely to hinge in good part on the nature of future of Sino-American relations, and China’s continued rise being almost inevitable, much is at stake.

Ahmadinejad and the Politics of Mahdism in Iran

The need to resort to strategic symbols like Mahdi is to some degree the result of the Persian cultural trait of ta’arof which discourages direct confrontation and criticism. Westerners, bewildered by such peculiarities, often fall back on what they know best, Iran’s foreign affairs, while overlooking the domestic aspects that fuel Iranian behavior.