What Is Grand Strategy?* by John Lewis Gaddis** Yale University When my colleagues Paul Kennedy‚ Charlie Hill‚ and I first began talking about setting up a grand strategy course at Yale in the late 1990s‚ at least half the people to whom we tried to explain this thought we were talking about “grant” strategy: how do you get the next federal or foundation grant? This misunderstanding would not have occurred‚ I think‚ during the fifty years of insecurity that separated the Japanese attack on Pearl
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Technology has changed the face of warfare. Today‚ technological advancement has enlarged the battle space‚ increased the lethality of weapons and enabled greater precision. In other words‚ technological advancement has sold this idea that war can be won with minimal casualties and collateral damage. As a result‚ in place of human beings‚ we are starting to see an increased use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA)‚ drones and robots in today’s wars. This phenomenon is picking up pace today to the extent
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"I doubt seriously whether a man can think with full wisdom and deep convictions regarding certain of the basic international issues today who has not at least reviewed in his mind the period of the Peloponnesian War and the Fall of Athens." George C. Marshall. The Peloponnesian War that took place from 431 B.C. to 404 B.C.‚ as George C. Marshall said‚ is one of the most important wars in the last 2‚500 years of history. The war changed the expansion of democracy for the rest of history and forced
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planning of the war. Its’ contribution shaped decisions and actions of commanders in both armies. Gathering intel consisted of scouting‚ cavalry reconnaissance‚ interrogations‚ visual observation‚ interception of enemy flag messages‚ and espionage. Jomini‚ a military writer favored by American officers stated‚ “How can any man decide what he should do himself if he is ignorant of what his enemy is about?” (Fishel 9). Who better to discover confidential orders from officers of the opposing side than
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absence of war is usually called peace. In 2003‚ Nobel Laureate Richard E. Smalley identified war as the sixth biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years. In the 1832 treatise On War‚ Prussian military general and theoretician Carl von Clausewitz defined war as follows: "War is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will." While some scholars see warfare as an inescapable and integral aspect of human nature‚ others argue that it is only inevitable under certain socio-cultural
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the unarmed. Shaw states that “Lemkin invented ‘genocide’ because he wanted to describe – and highlight for countervailing action – a general class of violent actions.” Taking lessons from one of the most influential studies on war by Carl von Clausewitz‚ Shaw sees genocide as a form of war directed against civilians. Debates about genocide have certainly advanced since the introduction of the term‚ yet‚ Shaw feels these debates from the 1940s onwards have lost two very key aspects of the original
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Lord of the Flies Military theorist Carl von Clausewitz once said: “Savage peoples are ruled by passion‚ civilized peoples by the mind. The difference lies not in the respective natures of savagery and civilization‚ but in the attendant circumstances‚ institutions‚ and so forth... even the most civilized peoples… can be fired with passionate hatred for each other.” In Lord of the Flies‚ by William Golding‚ the boys on the island slowly lose sight of their humanity‚ becoming more and
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International Relations (IR) is the field of study which concerns people and cultures throughout the world which the ultimately relationships among the world’s governments. These relationships cannot be understood plainly as they are closely connected with other actors. Many theories have been used to explain the wide range of international interactions but one theory that has historically held a central position in the study of IR is realism. Realism (or realist theory) is a school of
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The Importance of Strategy Most corporations would purport to have a well defined strategy which they have developed to take their business forward. Often however strategy is confused with operational planning‚ planning focused on delivering a more effective outcome for the business as it exists and not about positioning the company for the future. So widgets are made with ever increasing efficiency until the time comes when no one wants widgets like the company makes them any longer and
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COUNTERING THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY: THE SUN TZU APPROACH BY Komolafe Solomon (ASP) FIRST SEMESTER 2013 CONTENT Abstract Introduction 1 Conceptual Definition 3 Historical Overview
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