The Return of Strategy
Abstract
Today there is a return to strategy in the foreign and defense policies of the United States and its allies. Strategy's return has been prompted by the need to make decisions about when, where and how to use force to deter, disrupt and destroy individuals, groups and states that seek to attack the United States and its overseas interests and to stop the spread of democracy and free markets. Because force is now being considered not just to deter war, but also to wage war, there is a need to revive the fine art of strategy. Strategy, according to Daniel Moran, is "the calculated application of collective violence for some ulterior purpose." Although strategy and strategists take prevention and the mitigation of international violence as their primary goal, they do not believe international disarmament or the adoption of a philosophy and policy of nonviolence is a realistic national objective. The goal of strategy and strategic studies is to make force, as the great Prussian philosopher Carl von Clausewitz stated, a rational instrument of politics. The goal of strategy is to devise ways to harness the death and destruction that occurs in war to alter the political calculations of all concerned to achieve national objectives.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA525420
Entities
People
- James J. Wirtz
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School