Volume 2, Issue 3
Summer 2012
The Foundation of Strategic Thinking
Paul van Riper
Lt. Gen (Ret) Paul van Riper contends that national leaders and defense officials need to understand how nonlinear systems work if they are to implement military strategy effectively, especially as they seek to tie tactical actions to strategic goals through operational design.
ReadLiving in a Mahanian World
Benjamin “BJ” Armstrong
While strategists continue to study the work of Clausewitz and Sun Tzu the work of Alfred Thayer Mahan has fallen out of favor in recent decades. This article demonstrates why a century after the death of the inventor of American grand strategy, the works of Mahan and consideration of the maritime elements of grand strategy are relevant as ever before.
ReadClearing the Air - Taking Manoeuvre and Attrition Out of Strategy
Cole Petersen
Should strategy be concerned with attrition and manouevre? In this article, Cole F. Petersen revisits the attrition/manoeuvre debate and argues for clarity in strategic terminology.
ReadMarried to Clausewitz but Sleeping With Jomini: How Operational Concepts Masquerade as Strategy, and Why They Must
Paul Darling & Justin Lawlor
Fault for America’s lack of strategy and the high cost that it entails lies not in the halls of the Pentagon but rather at the feet of its political masters.
ReadBeyond Future Threats: A Business Alternative to Threat-based Strategic Planning
Robert Mihara
Do future threats really matter? In this article, Robert Mihara asserts that many landpower experts have overstated the significance of future threats for determining the future of the U.S. Army and argues that business theory offers a better basis for institutional strategic planning.
ReadAn Introduction to Clausewitzian Strategic Theory: General Theory, Strategy, and their Relevance for Today
Joseph M. Guerra
What makes strategic theory Clausewitzian? What is it about Clausewitzian thought that provides its “timeless” quality? Joseph Guerra argues that it is Clausewitz’s General Theory of war that provides the answers to these questions.
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