Welcome to the Marshall Center

Dr. Sharyl Cross

Professor of International Security and Politics
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

Sharyl Cross has been a professor in the College of International and Security Studies at the Marshall Center since 2005. Dr. Cross has served as director of studies for both the Program in Advanced Security Studies and Senior Executive Seminar. She has also taught in the Program on Terrorism and Security Studies, and offers an elective course on United States-Russia/Eurasia security issues. Dr. Cross directed the Marshall Center project on countering ideological dimensions of terrorism involving participation of 60 nations, and routinely lectures for the NATO School in Oberammergau Germany.

Dr. Cross came to the Marshall Center from the United States Air Force Academy, where she had been appointed visiting distinguished professor of political science. She is a tenured full professor and former chair of the San Jose State University Department of Political Science in the California State University system.

In 1999, she was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar grant to support affiliations as visiting research scholar and professor at the Institute of USA & Canada Studies in the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Dr. Cross held prior appointments as a post-doctoral scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and as a visiting professor of transregional studies at the United States Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. She has been the recipient of three (2001, 2004, 2006-2007) post-doctoral research grants at the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC. In 2005, she was invited to serve as visiting professor of trans-Atlantic relations at the Institute of Political Studies/Sciences Po in Lille France.

Dr. Cross has edited three major books in security studies with specialists from Russia and China, and has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed academic journals and books.  She has consulted for the U.S. State Department, Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. European Command, and the U.S. Congress. Dr. Cross earned a Ph.D. in political science with concentrations in international relations, comparative politics, and American foreign and security policy from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was a resident fellowship scholar & consultant completing the graduate program in Soviet/Russian studies at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California.  Originally from Arizona, Dr. Cross graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest distinction in political science from the University of Arizona in 1983.

Dr. Cross' current research and teaching interests include United States-Russian security relations; Russian international behavior; NATO-Russia and security issues; Russia-China security relations; ideological, public diplomacy, and information/new media factors in international security and counter terrorism; religious dimensions in security, war and conflict resolution; democratization and security sector reform (regional interests: Russia, South East Europe, Euro-Atlantic security relations).

Selected Publications

• Shaping South East Europe's Security Community for the 21st Century:  Trust, Partnership, Integration, co-edited with R. Craig Nation, Savo Kentera, and Radovan Vukadinovic, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2013.
• "Defining Elements for International Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism in the Internet/ Social Media Communities," Strategy Review, Fall 2011 and reprinted in Lidija Cehulic Vukadinovic ed., Sipan Yearbook 2011, Atlantic Council of Croatia, Centre for International Studies, Zagreb, 2012.
• "NATO's Strategic Concept 2010 and Beyond:  The Question of NATO-Russia Security Partnership," Lidija Cehulic Vukadinovic ed., Sipan Yearbook 2010, Atlantic Council of Croatia, Centre of International Studies, Zagreb, 2011. 
• "A Perspective on Montenegro's Security in the 21st Century:  On the Right Path," in Security Magazine, Podgorica, Montenegro, 2010.
• "Contemporary Sino-Russian Strategic Partnership:  Challenges and Opportunities for the Twenty First Century," co-authored with Paul J. Bolt, Asian Security, vol. 6.3 October 2010.
• “Exploring Dimensions in Countering Ideological Support for Terrorism: Contributions from the Middle East,” Sharyl Cross, John C. Reppert, Heidi E. Lane, Mari K. Eder, David Kirkham,  Ahmad Eid Al-Masarwah, and Abdesalam al Harazneh, Amman Conference Summary Report, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and Royal Jordanian National Defence College (Amman, Jordan) January 2010 (published in English and Arabic).
• “Advancing a Strategy for Constructive Security Engagement:  ‘Resetting’ the US/NATO Approach Toward Russia,” American Foreign Policy Regional Perspectives Workshop Publication, Naval War College, May 2009.
• "Countering Ideological Support for Militant Extremism/Terrorism:  Some Reflections,” in Islam and Europe:  Emerging Legal Issues, W. Cole Durham, Jr., Tore Lindholm, David Kirkham, and Rick Torfs, eds., forthcoming.
• The United States, Russia, and China: Confronting Global Terrorism and Security Challenges of the Twenty First Century, Paul J. Bolt, Su Changhe, and Sharyl Cross eds., Praeger Security International Series, 2008.
• “Toward Building Cooperation in Energy Security,” co-authored with Dianne C. Barton and Mikhail V. Margelov in The United States, Russia, and China: Confronting Global Terrorism and Security Challenges of the Twenty First Century, Paul J. Bolt, Su Changhe, and Sharyl Cross eds., Praeger Security International Series, 2008.
• "Exploring Military Dimensions in Countering Ideological Support for Terrorism," co-authored with John C. Reppert, James K. Wither, John J. LeBeau, and Alberto Cervone, published by the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and Center for High Defense Studies (CASD), (Rome Italy), September 2008.
• “Advancing International Cooperation in Countering Ideological Support for Terrorism,” co-authored with John C. Reppert and James K. Wither, Ankara Conference Summary Report, published by the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and Center of Excellence-Defense Against Terrorism (Ankara Turkey) November 2007.
• “US/NATO-Russia and Countering Ideological Support for Terrorism: Toward Building a Comprehensive Strategy,” Connections, Vol. V, #4, Winter 2006 (served as guest editor with the Connections editorial staff for an expanded two volume issue devoted to countering ideological support for terrorism).
• “US/NATO-Russia and Countering Ideological Support for Terrorism in the Information Age,” in V.V. Yashchenko and R. Rohozinski eds., Proceedings Second International Security Conference, Lomonosov Moscow State University Press, 2007.
• “Countering Ideological Support for Terrorism: Toward Building a Comprehensive Strategy for the South Caucasus and Beyond,” in The South Caucasus-2006: Main Trends, Threats and Risks, SPECTRUM, Amrots Group, Yerevan, 2007.
• “Russia’s Relationship with the US/NATO in the Global War on Terrorism,” Journal of Slavic Military Studies, July 2006.
• “Orthodoxy, Weber and the New Russian Capitalism,” co-authored article with Dr. Valentina Fedotova , Social Sciences and Modernity, #2, 2006.
• "Russian Orthodoxy in an Era of Globalization: Civic/Economic Transformation and Support for the Underprivileged," in Religion in the Contemporary
  International System: Human Rights and Religion, St. Petersburg State University Press, 2008.
• “Russian Orthodoxy: Civic/ Economic Transformation and Support for the Underprivileged,” St. Petersburg State University Press, 2008.
• “Ethnonational Identity, Security and the Implosion of Former Yugoslavia: The Case of Montenegro and the Relationship with Serbia,” co-authored with Pauline Komnenich, Nationalities Papers, March 2005.
• “Putin’s Turn toward the West: Russia, US-NATO and the War on Terrorism Post September 11,” in Konstantin Khudoley and Dmitri Katsy eds., Post Communist Countries in a Globalizing World, St. Petersburg State University Press, 2004.
• “Russia and NATO Toward the 21st Century: Conflicts and Peacekeeping in Bosnia- Herzegovina and Kosovo” published at NATO’s Academic Forum and Journal of Slavic Military Studies, July 2002.
• “The Relevance of Gorbachev for 21st Century World Politics,” in Valentin Tolstykh ed., A Millennium Salute to Mikhail Gorbachev on his 70th Birthday, R. Valent Publisher, Moscow, 2001.
• Global Security Beyond the Millennium: American and Russian Perspectives, Sharyl Cross, Igor A. Zevelev, Victor A. Kremenyuk and Vagan M. Gevorgian, eds., Macmillan, 1999.
• “United States-Russian Security Relations on the Threshold of the 21st Century,” in Sharyl Cross, Igor A. Zevelev, Victor A. Kremenyuk and Vagan M. Gevorgian, eds., Global Security Beyond the Millennium: American and Russian Perspectives, Macmillan, 1999.
• “Moscow and the Yugoslav Secession Crisis,” co-authored with Igor A. Zevelev in Constantine P. Danopoulos and Kostas Messas, eds., Crisis in the Balkans: Views from Participants, Westview, 1997.
• “The Question of NATO Expansion: Searching for the Optimal Solution,” Mediterranean Quarterly, vol. 7, #1, Winter 1996 and USA: Economy, Politics, Ideology, #9, September 1996, (Moscow).
• “Congress, the President and the United States-Mexico Free Trade Agreement,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 26, #2, Spring 1996.
• “The Military in Cuba,” in Constantine P. Danopoulos and Cynthia Watson, eds., Political Role of the Military, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996.
• “Learning in the Soviet and Cuban Responses to the Nicaraguan Revolution,” Journal of Political and Military Sociology, vol. 22, Winter 1994.
• The New Chapter in United States-Russian Relations: Opportunities and Challenges, Sharyl Cross and Marina A. Oborotova eds., Praeger, 1994.
• “Gorbachev's Policy in Latin America: Origins, Impact and the Future,” Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 26, #3, 1993 and published in the International Relations Working Paper Series, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 1993.
• “'New Thinking' and the U.S.S.R.'s Economic Behavior in Latin America: Mexico, Brazil and Argentina,” in Deborah Anne Palmieri, ed., The U.S.S.R. and the World Economy Challenges for the Global Integration of Soviet Markets under Perestroika, Praeger, 1992.
• Book reviews on topics pertaining to Russian foreign policy and other international relations/security issues published in Journal of Slavic Military Studies (January & October 2009, March 2012), American Political Science Review (March 2002), International Politics (June 2001), Slavic Review (Spring 1999), Canadian-American Slavic Studies (Winter 1997), Journal of Political and Military Sociology (Winter 1994), Presidential Studies Quarterly (1993), Soviet and Post-Soviet Review (1993).