U.S. and Comparative Civil-Military Relations:
Political Violence and Terrorism:
- "How Military Leaders Can Manage a Crisis of Democracy: Lessons from the Reservist Protest in Israel," Just Security, August 17, 2023. https://www.justsecurity.org/87683/how-military-leaders-can-navigate-a-crisis-of-democracy-lessons-from-the-reservist-protests-in-israel/ (with Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis)
- "The Israeli Military's Democratic Dilemma," Foreign Affairs, May 9, 2023 https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/israeli-military-democracy-benjamin-netanyahu (with Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis).
- “The Right-Wing’s Loyalty Test for the U.S. Miliary,” Foreign Affairs, 14 Nov. 2022, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/right-wings-loyalty-test-us-military
- “Crisis of Command: America’s Broken Civil-Military Relations Imperils National Security,” Foreign Affairs (May/June 2021), print edition, 64-75. (with Jim Golby and Heidi Urben)
- “Brooks, Golby and Urben Respond to their Critics,” Foreign Affairs (Sept./Oct. 2021), print edition, 235-238. (with Jim Golby and Heidi Urben)
- “18 Steps to Democratic Breakdown” Washington Post, 10 December 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/interactive/2021/january-6-next-coup-signs/ (with Erica De Bruin)
- “The Escalating Politicization of the Military,” Inkstick, Sept. 21, 2021. https://inkstickmedia.com/the-escalating-politicization-of-the-us-military/
- “A Key Player in Trump’s First Impeachment Tells His Insider Story" Review of Alexander Vindman’s, Here Right Matters, Sunday New York Times Book Review, Aug. 3, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/books/review/here-right-matters-alexander-vindman.html
- “Civil-Military Relations in Sisi’s Egypt,” Malcom H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, in Yezid Sayigh with Nathan Toronto, Politics of Military Authoritarianism in North Africa, https://carnegie-mec.org/2021/03/17/civil-military-relations-in-sisi-s-egypt-pub-84074
- “The Real Threat to Civilian Control of the Military” Foreign Affairs, January 18, 2021. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-01-18/real-threat-civilian-control-military
- “How Biden’s Pick for Defense Secretary Might Shake up Civil-Military Relations,” Political Violence at a Glance, December 8, 2020. https://politicalviolenceataglance.org/2020/12/08/how-bidens-pick-for-defense-secretary-might-shake-up-civil-military-relations/ (With Michael Robinson and Heidi Urben)
- “Biden has picked a retired general for Defense Secretary. Here’s Why it Matters,” Washington Post Monkey Cage, Dec. 9, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/09/biden-has-picked-retired-general-defense-secretary-heres-why-it-matters/ (With Michael Robinson and Heidi Urben)
- “The Old and the New in Egyptian Civil-Military Relations,” Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), December 6, 2020. https://www.ispionline.it/en/pubblicazione/old-and-new-egyptian-civil-military-relations-28502
- “Let the Generals Speak? Retired Officer Dissent and the George Floyd Protests,” War on the Rocks, October 9, 2020. https://warontherocks.com/2020/10/let-the-generals-speak-retired-officer-dissent-and-the-june-2020-george-floyd-protests/ (With Michael Robinson)
- “The Herculean Effort to Build An American Army,” Review of Paul Dickson’s, The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941, New York Times Book Review (July 2020 Online Version; August 2020 Print Edition) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/books/review/the-rise-of-the-gi-army-paul-dickson.html
- “What do Paramilitaries in the streets of Portland signal for November? A correspondence between Matt Gallagher, Phil Klay and Risa Brooks,” Literary Hub, August 12, 2020. https://lithub.com/what-do-paramilitaries-in-the-streets-of-portland-signal-for-november/
- “Donald Trump’s Unhealthy Relationship with the U.S. Military,” International Politics and Society, journal of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, June 22, 2020. https://www.ips-journal.eu/regions/north-america/donald-trumps-unhealthy-relationship-with-the-us-military-4446/ [published in German and English]
- “Would the U.S. Military Repress Protesters: Lessons from the Arab Spring,” War on the Rocks June 10, 2020. https://warontherocks.com/2020/06/would-the-u-s-military-repress-protesters-lessons-from-the-arab-spring/ (With Sharan Grewal)
- “Career Military Officers and Political Appointments,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington D.C., May 11, 2020. https://www.csis.org/analysis/career-military-officers-and-political-appointments (With Alice Hunt Friend)
- “What can Military and Civilian Leaders do to Prevent the Military’s Politicization,” War on the Rocks, April 27, 2020. https://warontherocks.com/2020/04/what-can-military-and-civilian-leaders-do-to-prevent-the-militarys-politicization/
- “Congress Controls the Military Too,” The Hill, June 8, 2020. https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/501718-congress-controls-the-military-too-gen-milley-should-testify Also cited in CRS report for Congress, “Congress, Civilian Control of the Military, and Nonpartisanship,” 11 June 2020. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11566 (With Jim Golby)
- “Jim Mattis Tells His Life Story,” Review of Jim Mattis & Bing West, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead (Random House, 2019) in the Sunday New York Times Book Review (August 2019 Online Version; September 2019 Print Edition) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/books/review/call-sign-chaos-jim-mattis-and-bing-west.html
- Essay for ISSF/H-Diplo Roundtable on Sheena Greitens, Dictators and their Secret Police Cambridge University Press (2019). (2,200 words). https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/4007637/h-diploissf-roundtable-10-26-dictators-and-their-secret-police#_Toc5977890
- “Technology and Future War Will Test U.S. Civil-Military Relations,” War on the Rocks, November 26, 2018. https://warontherocks.com/2018/11/technology-and-future-war-will-test-u-s-civil-military-relations/
- “Trump’s National Security Process: Five Emerging Trends,” in The Changing International Order, TRENDS Report, 26 June 2017.
- “What Should Military Leaders Do in the Event of an International Crisis?” Washington Post Monkey Cage Blog, February 16, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/02/16/what-should-u-s-military-leaders-do-if-the-president-provokes-a-major-international-crisis/?utm_term=.a5941a11b8dd
- “Trump Breaks These Three Rules of How Presidents Relate to the Military,” Washington Post Monkey Cage Blog, March 24, 2017 (updated and re-published 23 August 2017). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/03/24/trump-breaks-these-3-rules-about-how-u-s-presidents-relate-to-the-military/?utm_term=.963e9e39282a
Political Violence and Terrorism:
- “Lessons from the Orlando Attack for Defining Terrorism,” TRENDS, July 12, 2016.
- “The Usefulness of the “Military” vs. “Civilian” Targeting Distinction in Defining Terrorism,” TRENDS, Feb. 24. 2016.
- “Why Isn’t There More Public Scrutiny of the U.S. Military,” Duck of Minerva, 11 Feb. 2016. http://duckofminerva.com/2016/02/why-isnt-there-more-public-scrutiny-of-the-u-s-military.html
- “The Politics of Labeling Terrorism in the United States,” TRENDS, Sept. 17, 2015 (2,600 words).
- “Are the Charleston and Chattanooga Attacks Acts of Terrorism?” TRENDS, August 30, 2015.
- Essay for ISSF/H-Diplo Roundtable 9-8 on Stefano Recchia, Reassuring the Reluctant Warriors: U.S. Civil-Military Relations and Multilateral Intervention, December 2016. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/157852/issf-roundtable-9-8-reassuring-reluctant-warriors-us-civil
- “Homegrown Terrorism,” Cato Unbound, June 2012 edition (lead essay). Online: http://www.cato-unbound.org/contributors/risa-brooks
- “Homegrown Terror isn’t just Islamist,” CNN.com, May 3, 2012. Online: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/03/opinion/brooks-bridge-homegrown-terrorists/
- “The Exaggerated Threat of Muslim ‘Homegrown’ Terrorism in the United States,” Policy Brief, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, December 2011. Online: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/brooks_policybrief_dec_2011.pdf
- “Hussein Regime Left Only Dregs to Lead Army,” Chicago Tribune, June 27, 2004.
- “War’s Aftermath Can’t Be An Afterthought,” Chicago Tribune, October 27, 2002.
Podcasts
- Podcast, War on the Rocks, “Keeping Civil-Military Relations Civil: Risa Brooks, Alice Hunt Friend, Doyle Hodges, and Ronald R. Krebs,” https://warontherocks.com/2022/11/keeping-civil-military-relations-civil/
- Podcast, “The Erosion of Civil-Military Relations” Cato Power Problems, 16 November 2021. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-erosion-of-civil-military-relations/id1282100393?i=1000542119198
- Podcast, “Dr. Risa Brooks, MAJ Michael Robinson and Dr. Heidi Urben on the Socialization of Civil-Military Norms and Non-Partisanship,” SOSH Podcast @West Point, January 28, 2021. https://www.westpoint.edu/academics/academic-departments/social-sciences/sosh-research-lab/podcast
- Podcast, “How Trump Damaged U.S. Civil-Military Relations and How to Repair Them,” Trend Lines Podcast, World Politics Review, November 25, 2020. https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/podcast/29248/how-trump-damaged-u-s-civil-military-relations-and-how-to-repair-them
- Podcast, “The Military and the Election,” Thank You For Your Service Podcast, October 30, 2020. https://www.csis.org/node/58716
- Podcast, with GEN (ret) Joseph Votel, “Rethinking Norms and Practices of U.S. Civil-Military Relations,” International Security’s Off the Page podcast, August 20, 2020. https://www.belfercenter.org/OffthePage ; Transcript available here: https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/OTP%20Transcript%20E11%20(FINAL).pdf
- Podcast, “Dr. Risa Brooks on the Theory and Paradoxes of Civil-Military Relations,” Thank You for Your Service podcast, March 9, 2020. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dr-risa-brooks-on-theory-paradoxes-civil-military-relations/id1441805414?i=1000467883684
- Podcast, “Civil-Military Relations Under Trump,” Politics, Politics, Politics podcast, July 1, 2020. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-down-bidens-first-public-appearance-in-months/id1051566354?i=1000481720814 ; https://politicspoliticspolitics.fireside.fm/79
- Podcast, “The [Four] Stars and the State: Civil-Military Affairs in 2019,” War on the Rocks, 11 Nov. 2019 (with Peter Feaver, Alice Hunt Friend & Jim Golby; Moderated by Ryan Evans). https://warontherocks.com/2019/11/the-four-stars-and-the-state-the-state-of-civil-military-affairs-in-2019/