Is the U.S. Ready to Support Multiple Conflicts?
Virtual Briefing Series
Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET
As the global geopolitical landscape evolves, the United States finds itself at a crossroads, facing the reality of either supporting or negotiating multiple and simultaneous conflicts. Today, ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza and actions by countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are destabilizing the post-WWII world order and Washington’s strategic preparedness. President Biden’s assertion that the United States can simultaneously support the current conflicts raises essential questions about the United States’ capacity to engage in additional crises, particularly with potential flashpoints involving China in Taiwan or the South China Sea.
Join us on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, from 12 PM to 1 PM ET for a comprehensive discussion on America’s strategic readiness. Our panel includes Dr. Raphael “Rafi” Cohen, Director of the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE, Dr. Jennifer Kavanagh, Senior Fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Political Scientists at the RAND Corporation; and Professor Simon Reich, Professor of the Division of Global Affairs, Political Science at the Rutgers School of Arts & Sciences – Newark. The experts will provide critical analysis of the shifting global dynamics, the challenges of a multipolar world, and the strategic considerations for the United States to maintain the liberal world order and its leadership therein amidst growing geopolitical tensions.
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SPEAKERS:
Dr. Raphael “Rafi” Cohen
Raphael “Rafi” Cohen is director of the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE, and a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He works on a broad range of defense and foreign policy issues, including defense strategy and force planning, Middle East and European security, and civil-military relations.
Cohen previously held research fellowships at the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute, and the National Defense University’s Center for Complex Operations. He has written for a variety of forums, including the Journal of Strategic Studies, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fox News, War on the Rocks, Lawfare, The Hill, The National Interest, and other publications. He also served as a staffer on the Congressionally-appointed 2018 National Defense Strategy Commission and is now the deputy executive director of the 2023 National Defense Strategy Commission.
A military intelligence branched lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, Cohen has held a variety of command and staff positions in both the active and reserve components, including during two combat tours in Iraq from 2005 to 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008. He holds a Ph.D. in government and an M.A. in security studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. magna cum laude in government from Harvard University.
Dr. Jennifer Kavanagh
Dr. Jennifer Kavanagh is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A political scientist by training, she has spent her career studying national security threats and their consequences for U.S. foreign policy and defense strategy. At Carnegie, Jennifer’s work focuses on U.S. national security and defense policy, including U.S. military strategy and defense commitments, military coalition building, and deterrence.
Dr. Kavanagh previously worked at the RAND Corporation for 14 years and completed projects for clients across the defense and national security community. As a senior political scientist, Dr. Kavanagh led projects focused on U.S. military interventions, military posture, and security cooperation. She was the director of RAND’s Army strategy program for three years, where she managed a large portfolio of projects for U.S. Army leaders.
Dr. Kavanagh received her Ph.D. from the University Michigan in Political Science and Public Policy and her B.A. in Government from Harvard University. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, War on the Rocks, Los Angeles Times, The Journal of Conflict Resolution, and The National Interest among other places. She is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
Professor Simon Reich
Simon Reich is a Professor of the Division of Global Affairs, Political Science, at the Rutgers School of Arts & Sciences – Newark.
Prior to his arrival at Rutgers-Newark, he worked at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs for over two decades. He has been a professor in the Division of Global Affairs and Department of Political Science at Rutgers’ Newark campus since his appointment in 2008. He also holds an appointment as a Chercheur Associé at the CentPer for International Studies (CERI) at the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques – Sciences Po (Paris).
His research interests have evolved from his initial work on global political economy to working on a variety of human, national and international security issues. His current project focuses on American and comparative grand strategy, which potentially involves three books and several articles, some online publications and editing a book series.
He has published several books since arriving at Rutgers Newark, most recently “Comparative Grand Strategy: A Framework and Cases” (edited with Thierry Balzacq and Peter Dombrowski), Oxford University Press, 2019. He is currently working on two books (both co-authored with Thierry Balzacq) as part of a project on Comparative Grand Strategy and a short introductory book on U.S. grand strategy (with Peter Dombrowski).
His articles have appeared in numerous journals such as Comparative European Politics, Governance, International Affairs, International Interactions, International Organization, International Politics, International Security, The Pacific Review, The Review of International Political Economy, Security Studies, Strategic Studies Quarterly and Survival.
He was awarded a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. He has received several grants including those from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford and Sloan Foundations, the Government of Canada, and the U.S. Institute for Peace. He has also been the recipient of Distinguished Visiting fellowships from Australian National University, the Central European University (funded by the Fulbright Foundation), the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques – Sciences Po (Paris), Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l’Ecole Militaire (IRSEM, Paris), the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and the Zentrum für Entwicklungforschung in Bonn, Germany.
Reich received his B.A. from the University of Essex. He initially studied in the U.S. at Brandeis University where he was awarded an M.A. Finally, he received both an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.
 
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