John Bew is best known for showing how history quietly shapes strategy, and how leaders misstep when they misunderstand it. A historian of geopolitics and foreign policy, his work focuses on how nations think about power, restraint, sovereignty, and global order over time. Rather than treating history as background, Bew examines how selective readings of the past influence present-day decisions, often narrowing options rather than expanding them.

He explores why concepts like realism, nationalism, and internationalism are repeatedly misapplied, and how this leads to strategic confusion in moments of pressure.

For senior leaders, his insight is clarifying: good strategy depends less on prediction than on judgment, context, and an honest reading of constraints. Bew helps decision-makers understand not just what happened before but how to think historically when the stakes are high.