LTC Michael Rosol International Affairs Program Director michael.rosol@westpoint.edu Biography Lieutenant Colonel Mike Rosol is an Academy Professor of International Affairs at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he teaches courses on international politics and security studies. Additionally, he serves as Director of Curriculum for West Point’s International Affairs Program. Lieutenant Colonel Rosol’s research focuses the politics of military strategy and operations, military change, innovation, and effectiveness, and military performance in unconventional war. He holds a BS from the United States Military Academy and an MA and PhD in Political Science from The University of Chicago. As an Armor and Cavalry Office, he has served in command and staff positions in the U.S. and Iraq in the 1st Cavalry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division. As an Army Strategist, he has served in the Commander’s Initiatives Group, International Security Assistance Force – Joint Command in Afghanistan and at Joint Task Force-North at Fort Bliss, Texas. Ongoing Research Projects “Weberian Armies.” This project, currently in progress, examines the role of promotion and appointment systems on military effectiveness in executing “population-centric” counterinsurgency strategies. It argues that such strategies create inherent principal-agent problems within a military organization that can only be resolved through merit-based promotions and appointments. By contrast, militaries that rely on cronyism, nepotism, or patronage will prove unable to solve these principal-agent problems and thus unable to effectively execute such strategies. Publications & Presentations Publications “Should the United States Maintain a Strong Leadership Role in Foreign Affairs?” Chapter in Taking Sides: Clashing Views in American Foreign Policy, 6th ed. Suzanne Nielsen and Scott Handler, eds. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013) Presentations “Weberian Armies: The Effects of Appointment and Promotion Systems on Military Effectiveness in Population Centric Counterinsurgency.” Paper presented at Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, April 2019. Also presented at The University of Chicago Workshop in International Politics, March 2019. “Conventional Militaries in Counterinsurgency Intervention: A Threat Based Theory of Campaign Plan Design.” Presented to Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), April 2013. Presented in revised form to the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 2013. “Conventional Militaries in Unconventional Wars: Adaptation and Innovation at the Campaign Plan Level.” Presented to the Program on International Security at The University of Chicago.