Phil Reynolds

Title
WW Adjunct Faculty
Email
Department
Dept of Emgy, Disaster & Global Security Studies
College
College of Arts & Sciences

Office Hours

Thursday, 9am-12 noon EST; Thursday 4pm-7pm EST.

Areas of Expertise

Global Politics; Cybernomos; U.S.-China relations; Africa; power transition and power cycle theories; irregular and asymmetric conflicts; critical IR

Dr. Phil Reynolds is a political scientist specializing in security cooperation, irregular warfare and global politics. He received his PhD from the University of Hawai‘i and holds a master’s degree in Defense Analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School.

His research examines how states design, implement and evaluate security assistance under conditions of political risk, institutional fragility and strategic competition. He has published in Journal of Strategic Security, Defence & Security Analysis, Journal of Military Studies and Small Wars & Insurgencies, and is the author of Ouroboros: Understanding the War Machine of Liberalism.

Dr. Reynolds has taught at the University of Hawai‘i and the College of Strategic Security Cooperation, where he led courses on operational analysis, comparative strategic culture, interagency coordination and ethics. He previously served as a U.S. Army officer and Department of Defense civilian, bringing applied policy experience into his teaching and research.

  • Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, University of Hawaii
  • GOVT 325: International Studies

Reynolds, Phil W. “Strategic fit: Application of world governance indicators to U.S. security assistance.” Defence & Security Analysis. 20, no. 1 (2025): 19-39.

Reynolds, Phil W. "Describing the Security Cooperation Dilemma.” The Defence Horizon Journal. (2025).

Reynolds, Philip. "Security Conditionality: Evidence and Effectiveness." Journal of Strategic Security. 18, no. 1 (2025) : 89-116.

Reynolds, Phil W. "Clausewitz and the Partisan: Accounting for Unlimited Enmity in the Twenty-first Century.” Journal of Military Studies. 10, no. 1 (2021): 130–138.

Reynolds, Phil W. "Past Failures and Future Problems: The Psychology of Irregular War." Small Wars & Insurgencies 26, no. 3 (2015): 446-458.

Reynolds, Phil W. and Doowan Lee "The Strategic Offensive Against the CCP.” The Cipher Brief. (2021).

Reynolds, Phil W. "What Happens if North Korea Collapses?" The Diplomat. 3 (2016).

Reynolds, Phil. “Is China Winning in the South China Sea?” The Diplomat. (2016).

Reynolds, Phil W. “NATO Forgets All Politics Are Local.” Real Clear Defense. (2018).

DSCU, Faculty, College of Strategic Security Cooperation, AUG 2023-AUG 2025

DSCA, Regional Plans and Programs Team Leader, Africa, MAY 2022 to SEP 2023

MSI, Business Development Analyst DEC 2021 to MAY 2022

ASD SO/LIC Legislative Affairs Analyst AUG 2021 to JAN 2022

DSCA, Monitoring & Evaluation Team Leader, Africa, AUG 2019 to AUG 2021

Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Futures Studies, University of Hawaii, APR 2017 to MAY 2019

Officer, United States Army, May 1997 to May 2018