Phillips O’Brien
Professor of Strategic Studies and Head of the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews
Professor Phillips O’Brien is the Chair of Strategic Studies and Head of the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. He has published widely on issues of conflict, politics, war and strategy in the 20th and 21st centuries. Among his books are How the War Was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2015), The Second Most Powerful Man in the World: The Life of Admiral William D. Leahy, FDR’s Chief of Staff (Penguin/Random House, 2015), The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler-How War Made Them and How They Made War (Penguin/Random House, 2024), and the latest War and power: Who Wins Wars and Why (Viking, 2025). He has recently been appointed as a Senior Adviser (non-residential) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. He has published multiple articles in major journals, including Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic History, the Journal of Strategic Studies, and Past and Present, and is a frequent commentator on the Russia-Ukraine war in major media outlets, like The Atlantic, The Times, The Spectator, The Telegraph, and also MSNBC, CNN, NPR, BBC, DW, and L’Express.
Updated: March 5, 2026