October 10, 2025
The Return of Diplomacy to Great Power Competition
On the surface, great power competition often seems driven by economic and military conflict, but diplomacy has always been central to great powers' engagement with the world. This is the argument made by Dr. Wess Mitchell in his forthcoming book, Great Power Diplomacy, The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger. Covering 15 centuries of history, the book makes a powerful case that diplomacy is an essential tool of great power politics and leaders ignore diplomatic skill at their own peril. With the press of current events and especially the rise of cooperation across the Axis of Upheaval, the book is more relevant than ever.
We are very delighted to welcome the book's author, Wess Mitchell, to Brussels Sprouts.
A. Wess Mitchell is a scholar of international relations, a principal at the Marathon Initiative, and he served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia from 2017 to 2019.
More from CNAS
-
The Sound of Munich: Autonomy, Anxiety, and the Twilight of Transatlantic Order
Commentary
This article was originally published in War on the Rocks. Munich was warmer than Washington this weekend, both in weather and in sentiment. Neither development was widely fo...
By Richard Fontaine
-
Commentary
Transatlantic Security / Middle East Security
Migration Can Provide the Manpower for European DefenseThis article was originally published in Foreign Policy. Europe faces parallel challenges that policymakers have yet to connect: a pressing military recruitment shortage and a...
By Adham Sahloul
-
Can Europe (Ever) Defend Itself?
Podcast
Today’s Brussels Sprouts discussion follows on from our conversation last week on whether middle powers have the ability to chart a course more independent of the United State...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Jim Townsend & Franz-Stefan Gady
-
There’s a Way Forward for Sovereign European Space Intel, but Is There the Will?
Commentary
This article was originally published in Space News. Germany’s top intelligence officials made waves last year by calling for the creation of a European spy network to lessen ...
By Cameron Olbert
