Colin S. Gray (December 29, 1943 – February 27, 2020) was a British-American writer on geopolitics and professor of
International Relations and
Strategic Studies at the
University of Reading, where he was the director of the Centre for Strategic Studies. In addition, he was a Senior Associate to the National Institute for Public Policy.
Gray was educated at the
University of Manchester and the
University of Oxford. He worked at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies and the
Hudson Institute
The Hudson Institute is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporat ...
, before founding the National Institute for Public Policy in Washington, D.C. He also served as a defence adviser both to the British and U.S. governments. Gray served from 1982 until 1987 in the Reagan Administration's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament. He taught at the
University of Hull, the
University of Lancaster,
York University, the
University of Toronto and the
University of British Columbia.
">NIPP : echo $Page_Section; if($Page_Subsection != "none") ?>
Gray published 30 books on military history
Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships.
Professional historians norma ...
and strategic studies, as well as numerous articles.
Gray was criticized by Alex Marshall of the University of Glasgow for his attempt to elevate Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
's reputation to "a level of adulation far higher than the historical record could ever objectively sustain", as well as for Gray's silence on Truman's intellectual mediocrity and role in bringing about the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
.
Bibliography
* Canadian Defence Policy: A Question of Priorities ( Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1972).
* 'Predicting Arms Race Behaviour' ''Futures'' (October, 1974)
* The Soviet-American Arms Race ( Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1976).
The Geopolitics of the Nuclear Era
(New York: Crane, Russak, 1977)
* 'Victory is Possible', with Keith Payne (in: ''Foreign policy'', No. 39 Summer 1980 : 14-27)
* The MX ICBM and National Security (New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
: Praeger, 1981).
* Strategic Studies: A Critical Assessment ( Westport, CT: Greenwood Press
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...
, 1982).
* Strategic Studies and Public Policy: The American Experience ( Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1982).
* American Military Space Policy: Information Systems, Weapon Systems, and Arms Control ( Cambridge, MA:Abt, 1983).
* Nuclear Strategy and National Style ( Lanham, MD: University Press of America
University Press of America is an academic publisher based in the United States. Part of the independent Rowman & Littlefield
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the ...
, 1986)
The Geopolitics of Super Power
(Lexington, KY:University Press of Kentucky, 1988).
War, Peace, and Victory: Strategy and Statecraft for the Next Century
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990).
* House of Cards: Why Arms Control Must Fail ( Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992).
The Leverage of Sea Power: The Strategic Advantage of Navies in War
(New York: The Free Press, 1992).
* Weapons Don't Make War: Policy, Strategy, and Technology ( Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1993).
* The Navy in the Post-Cold War World: The Uses and Value of Strategic Sea Power ( University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 1994).
* Explorations in Strategy (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996; 1998 sec. ed. pb raeger.
* The Second Nuclear Age (Boulder
In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive.
In c ...
, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999).
* Modern Strategy ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
* Strategy for Chaos: Revolutions in Military Affairs and Other Evidence of History ( London: Frank Cass, 2002).
* Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson
Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991.
History
George Weidenfeld a ...
, 2005)
* Strategy and History: Essays on Theory and Practice ( Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2006).
* War, Peace, and International Relations. An Introduction to Strategic History (Abingdon, UK:Routledge, 2007).
* The Strategy Bridge: Theory for Practice ( Oxford, UK; Oxford University Press, 2010)
* Airpower for Strategic Effect ( Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 2012).
* Strategy and Defence Planning: Meeting the Challenge of Uncertainty (Oxford University Press, 2014).
Citations
References
*
*
External links
Colin Gray: The Strategist’s Strategist
by Mackubin Thomas Owens
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Colin S.
1943 births
2020 deaths
International relations scholars
Academics of the University of Reading
British political scientists
Political realists
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Alumni of the University of Manchester
Academics of the University of Hull
Academics of Lancaster University
Academic staff of the University of Toronto
Academic staff of the University of British Columbia
Military strategists