• “Democracy and Victory: Why Regime Type Hardly Matters,” International Security Vol. 27, No. 2 (Fall 2002): 5-47. [Reprinted in Paul Diehl, ed. War (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2005)].

Other Materials

• “Democracy and Victory: Very Selective Effects," H-Diplo | ISSF Roundtable, Volume II, No. 12 (2011): 36-63.

Books

• “The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: The Liberal Tradition and Obama’s Counter-terrorism Policy,” PS: Political Science and Politics Vol. 43, No. 3 (July 2010): 425-29.

Articles

• “Liberals, Neocons, and Realcons: The Politics of Humanitarian Intervention,” Orbis Vol. 46, No. 4 (Fall 2001): 519-33.

• "War and Strong States, Peace and Weak States?" International Organization, Vol. 50, no. 2 (Spring 1996): 237-68.

• "The Keys that Lock Up the World: Identifying American Interests in the Periphery," International Security, Vol. 14, no. 1 (Summer 1989): 86-121.

2010s

• “Review of Randall L. Schweller, Maxwell’s Demon and the Golden Apple: Global Discord in the New Millennium,” Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 15, No. 4 (December 2017): 1198-1200.

• “America’s Liberal Illiberalism: The Ideological Origins of Overreaction in U.S. Foreign Policy,” International Security Vol. 32, No. 3 (Winter 2007/08): 7-43. [Portions reprinted as “The Liberal Roots of the American Empire” in Jocelyen Cesari, ed., Muslims in Europe and the United States After 9/11 (New York: Routledge, 2009), 88-115].

• "'That Deep Mud in Cuba:' The Strategic Threat and U.S. Planning for a Conventional Response During the Missile Crisis," Security Studies, Vol. 1, no. 2 (Winter 1991): 317-51.

• “Bush and the Generals,” Foreign Affairs Vol. 86, No. 3 (May/June 2007): 97-108. [reprinted in Gideon Rose, et al Among Nations: Readings in International Relations (Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2008) and Robert L. Taylor, William E. Rosenbach, and Erich Rosenbach, eds., Military Leadership: In Pursuit of Excellence [6th ed.](Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2008). ]

• “It Is Kind to Be Cruel: The Humanity of American Realism,” Review of International Studies Vol. 29, No. 4 (Summer 2003): 415-26.

MCDesch.com

• “The Myth of Abandonment: The Use and Abuse of the Holocaust Analogy,” Security Studies Vol. 15, No. 2 (January-March 2006): 106-45.

• "Culture Clash: Assessing the Importance of Ideas in Security Studies," International Security Vol. 23, no. 1 (Summer 1998): 141-70.

Before 2000

• "Soldiers, States, and Structures: The End of the Cold War and the Weakening of U.S. Civilian Control," Armed Forces and Society Vol. 24, no. 3 (Spring 1998): 385-406.

• “The Church of St. Andy,” The National Interest No. 155 (January/February 2015): 87-96.

• "Turning the Caribbean Flank: SLOC Vulnerability During a European War," Survival, Vol. 29, no. 6 (November/December 1987): 528-551.

• "Why the Soviet Military Supported Gorbachev But Why the Russian Military Might Only Support Yeltsin for a Price," Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 16, no. 4 (December 1993): 455-89.

• “The Wartime Impact of Peacetime War Planning,” Joint Forces Quarterly Spring 2002, 94-104.

• “Response to Comments on ‘Technique Trumps Relevance,’” Perspectives on Politics Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 2015): 406-7. [SSCI IF 3.035].

Published Articles

• "Why Realists Disagree About the Third World (and Why They Shouldn't)," Security Studies Vol 5, no. 3 (Spring 1996): 358-84. [Reprinted in Benjamin Frankel, ed. Realism: Restatements and Renewal (London: Frank Cass, 1995)].

• "Bases for the Future: U.S. Post-Cold War Military Base Requirements in the Third World," Security Studies Vol. , no. 2 (Winter 1992/93): 201-24.

2000s

• “What Do Policymakers Want From Us? Results of a Survey of Current and Former Senior National Security Decision-makers,” International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 4 (December 2014).