Hitler, Hussein, and the Crazy State: Why Strategic Rationality Is Not Enough

In this report the author explores the concept on rogue or 'crazy' states in the international community, an important topic in the increasingly multipolar and dangerous world of the post-cold war era. In such an environment, the author concludes, after examining the progressive craziness of the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler, the rational basis for strategy breaks down. Strategic rationality is simply not sufficient to gauge the behavior of such states in the international arena--a particularly dangerous turn of events in an era of mass destruction weapons proliferation.

Col. (Ret.) David Jablonsky, Ph.D. is the Professor of National Security Affairs in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.