Six Authors to Compete for Most Significant International Affairs Book Award

March 14, 2005 - The Council on Foreign Relations has announced the authors short-listed for the fourth annual Arthur Ross Book Award for the best book published in the last two years on international affairs.

Stephen Biddle for Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle (Princeton University Press). A powerful analysis of military power that makes a persuasive case on how doctrine, tactics, and force employment influence combat results.

Steve Coll for Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (Penguin Press). An expertly researched account of the Afghan jihad and the rise of al-Qaeda, and the role the U.S. government had in the process.

Francis Fukuyama for State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century (Cornell University Press). A brilliant synthesis of recent theories that probes the meaning of the modern nation state, and warns of the dangers of weak states for the international order.

John Lewis Gaddis for Surprise, Security, and the American Experience (Harvard University Press). An elegant and perceptive examination of George W. Bush’s foreign policy from a historical standpoint.

James Mann for Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet (Viking Books). An insightful 35-year historical portrait of Bush’s inner circle of advisers that sheds light on the decisions made following September 11.

Martin Wolf for Why Globalization Works (Yale University Press). A masterful and comprehensive review of the debate on economic globalization.

The Council on Foreign Relations’ Arthur Ross Book Award is the most significant award for a book on international affairs. It was endowed by Arthur Ross in 2001 to honor non-fiction works, in English or translation, that merit special attention for: bringing forth new information that changes our understanding of events or problems; developing analytical approaches that allow new and different insights into critical issues; or providing new ideas that help resolve foreign policy problems.

The award consists of a $25,000 first prize, a $10,000 second prize, and a $5,000 honorable mention.

The winners will be announced in early May and will be honored at a dinner at the Council in New York in June.

JURY

Lael Brainard
Senior Fellow, Economic and Foreign Policy Studies
The Brookings Institution

Rose Gottemoeller
Senior Associate
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Stanley Hoffmann
Paul & Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor
Harvard University

James F. Hoge, Jr. (Chairman)
Peter G. Peterson Chair & Editor
Foreign Affairs

Robert W. Kagan
Senior Associate
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Miles Kahler
Rohr Prof. of Pacific International Relations
University of California, San Diego

Michael A. McFaul
Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow
Hoover Institution in Washington

Arthur Ross*
Vice Chairman
United Nations Association of the U.S.A.

Stephen M. Walt
Academic Dean and Belfer Professor of International Affairs
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

*ex officio

Founded in 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, national membership organization and a nonpartisan center for scholars dedicated to producing and disseminating ideas so that individual and corporate members, as well as policymakers, journalists, students, and interested citizens in the United States and other countries, can better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other governments.

Contact: Marie X. Strauss, Communications, +1-212-434-9536 or [email protected]