Richard K. Betts

Richard K. Betts is director of the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University.


Essays

Global Governance

The Three Faces of NATO

| 04.10.09

One must wonder why, with the end of the cold war, NATO did not dissolve. How do we explain the organization's transformation and vitality at the end of the twentieth century?

Economics

Revisiting Iran

| 03.01.07

The United States must find new and innovative ways to avoid the trap of a dead-end policy towards Iran. A roundtable discussion.

Security

The Osirak Fallacy

| 03.01.06

If a strike on Osirak failed to turn back the clock on Saddam's nuclear program, why would one work for Iran?

Security

The Lesser Evil: The Best Way Out of the Balkans

| 06.01.01

Unless the United States wants to occupy the Balkans for decades to come, it will have to contemplate withdrawal under imperfect and unappealing circumstances.

Security

China: Getting the Questions Right

| 12.01.00

The usual questions about the China threat are increasingly unproductive. The authors suggest some new ones of their own.

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Reviews

Security

Institutional Imperialism

| 04.19.11

John Ikenberry's latest—Liberal Leviathan—offers a relentless mantra on the merits of the global liberal order while painting over the inherent tension between U.S. power and multilateral cooperation.

Commentary

Security

Revisiting Iran?

| 02.28.07

On Tuesday the United States’ agreed to join in talks with Iran and Syria on Iraq’s future. The following are excerpts from The Grammercy Round, titled “Revisiting Iran?”, in the forthcoming March/April issue of The National Interest

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May 18, 2013