Maurizio Recordati-Koen

I was trained as a historian of Modern Europe and Imperial Russia. My research examines the history of Western art-of-war literature—its language, epistemology, and evolving concepts of military science. I am particularly drawn to the concept of strategy, which reveals—better than most military ideas—the unbridgeable gap between theory and practice, between text and reality. The term is often invoked to assert expert authority over the supposed logic behind the direction of war—the age-old notion of “the art of command.” This reflects a broader scientistic faith in the power of literature to prescribe correct action and to represent reality objectively.

My current book project traces the genealogy of the idea of strategy in the Western tradition. It draws on hundreds of treatises and works of military history in ten languages, from Ancient Greek to Russian, covering authors from Xenophon to twentieth-century theorists of grand strategy. It is the first comprehensive study to treat Western military literature as a corpus—as a literary tradition—rather than as an anthology or a narrow canon of “usual suspects” (Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Clausewitz). Instead, it reads this literature intertextually, following recurring themes and concepts across authors, eras, and languages.

Before beginning my doctoral studies in the United States, I served as Director of the MA Program in Energy Politics in Eurasia (ENERPO) at the European University at St. Petersburg, where I was also Senior Lecturer in World Oil and Gas Affairs. Prior to entering academia, I worked for two years within the institutions of the European Union, focusing on energy security issues.

Recent publications:

– Recordati Koen, Maurizio (2025). “Science of War, Strategy in Doubt: The Ambiguity of Military Theory in the Age of Reason.” Nuova Antologia Militare 6 (6): 539–586.

– Recordati Koen, Maurizio (2024). “The Mirage of Strategy in the Italian Geopolitical Discourse: An Epistemological Critique.” Quaderni di Scienza Politica 1: 51–78.

– Recordati Koen, Maurizio (2023). “The Stuff of Strategy: How Sublime Strategics Turned into a Real Thing.” The RUSI Journal 168 (1–2): 116–126.

– Recordati Koen, Maurizio (2020). “Towards an Epistemology of Grand Strategy: Stereotype, Ideal Type, and the Dematerialization of the Concept.” The Strategy Bridge, October 2020.

Awards and Fellowships (Selected):

– Hans J. Morgenthau Fellowship in Grand Strategy (University of Notre Dame)

– Trench Gascoigne Essay Competition, first-place winner (The Royal United Services Institute)

– Writing Strategy Contest, first-place winner (The Strategy Bridge)

Courses Taught at Penn State:

– HIST 1 – Western Civilization

– HIST 120 – Europe since 1789

– HIST 141 – Medieval and Modern Russia

Areas of Specialization

– Late Modern Europe

– History of Strategic Thought

– History of War

– Late Imperial Russia