Experts

Spencer D. Bakich

Nonresident Senior Fellow
Bakich-CV.pdf

Fast Facts

  • Director of the National Security Program, Virginia Military Institute
  • Recipient, 2023 SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award
  • Expertise on wartime diplomacy and strategy, coercive diplomacy, American grand strategy, cybersecurity

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • War and Terrorism
  • Governance
  • The Presidency

Spencer D. Bakich is a professor of international studies and the director of the National Security Program at the Virginia Military Institute. He is the author of The Gulf War: George H. W. Bush and American Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War Era (Kansas, 2024) and Success and Failure in Limited War: Information and Strategy in the Korean, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Iraq Wars (Chicago, 2014), as well as articles, book chapters, and essays on wartime diplomacy and strategy, coercive diplomacy, American grand strategy, and cybersecurity. His commentary has been featured in The National Interest, USA Today, The Washington Post, and The Strategy Bridge. 

Bakich earned a BA in international affairs and economics from James Madison University (magna cum laude) and an MA and PhD in politics at the University of Virginia. He is the recipient of a 2023 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Featured Publications

The Gulf War
The Gulf War

Spencer D. Bakich

Success and Failure in Limited War
Success and Failure in Limited War

Spencer D. Bakich

Spencer D. Bakich News Feed

miller center headline
Colliding crises: The Israel–Hamas conflict, the war in Ukraine, and geopolitics
In this live webinar discussion convened by UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, experts in history, political science, economics, law, and diplomacy from across the University of Virginia join veteran government practitioners to discuss the array of world crises now challenging American policymakers.
Aynne Kokas, Eric Edelman, Harry Harding, John Owen, Mara Rudman, Phil Potter, Spencer Bakich, Stephen Mull, Syaru Shirley Lin, William Antholis Miller Center Presents
Helsingin Sanomat Headline
The calculating defender of democracy
Spencer Bakich of the Miller Center at the University of Virginia points out that Biden is not a "crusader for democracy" like, for example, George W. Bush was. Instead of trying to "spread" democracy to new countries, Biden is trying to maintain relations with already existing democratic states.
Spencer Bakich Helsingin Sanomat
News Channel 6
MSU Texas speaker series presents Spencer D. Bakich
The Speakers & Issues Series at Midwestern State University presented international studies expert and military strategist Spencer D. Bakich. Bakich talked at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU Texas at 7 p.m. on March 21. His topic was “Counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan: Strategy and History.”
Spencer Bakich News Channel 6
iheart radio
Biden visits Ukraine
Senior Fellow Spencer Bakich is interviewed about President Biden's visit to Ukraine.
Spencer Bakich iHeart Radio
screenshot of podcast headline and photograph of Zhuang quilted bedcover with embroidery, patchwork and triangle pattern. Quiltmaker: Huang Biyu from Xinzhou Township, Longlin County, Baise City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Image Source: Collection of the Anthropology Museum of Guangxi. Used with permission of the Anthropology Museum of Guangxi.
Who runs the world?
Spencer Bakich, nonresident senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, says that the two nuclear powers’ greatest military threat lies in the small, technological giant: Taiwan.
Spencer D. Bakich With Good Reason
screenshot of Miller Center event title superimposed over seal of the Central Intelligence Agency
'Undaunted': A former CIA director’s fight against America’s enemies
Spencer Bakich, nonresident senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, moderates a conversation with former CIA director John Brennan about his brutally honest memoir 'Undaunted'.
Spencer D. Bakich Miller Center Presents