Making Twenty First Century Strategy

"This new work defines national security strategy, its objectives, the problems it confronts, and the influences that constrain and facilitate its development and implementation in a post-Cold War, post-9/11 environment. The authors note that making and implementing national strategy centers on risk management and present a model for assessing strategic risks and the process for allocating limited resources to reduce them. The major threats facing the United States now come from its unique status as "the sole remaining superpower" against which no nation-state or other entity can hope to compete through conventional means. The alternative is what is now called asymmetrical or fourth generation warfare. Drew and Snow discuss all these factors in detail and bring them together by examining the continuing problems of making strategy in a changed and changing world."-- AU Press web site.

This new work defines national security strategy, its objectives, the problems it confronts, and the influences that constrain and facilitate its development and implementation in a post-Cold War, post-9/11 environment. The authors note that making and implementing national strategy centers on risk management and present a model for assessing strategic risks and the process for allocating limited resources to reduce them. The major threats facing the United States now come from its unique status as "the sole remaining superpower" against which no nation-state or other entity can hope to compete through conventional means. The alternative is what is now called asymmetrical or fourth generation warfare. Drew and Snow discuss all these factors in detail and bring them together by examining the continuing problems of making strategy in a changed and changing world.

This new work defines national security strategy, its objectives, the problems it confronts, and the influences that constrain and facilitate its development and implementation in a post-Cold War, post-9/11 environment. The authors note that making and implementing national strategy centers on risk management and present a model for assessing strategic risks and the process for allocating limited resources to reduce them. The major threats facing the United States now come from its unique status as "the sole remaining superpower" against which no nation-state or other entity can hope to compete through conventional means. The alternative is what is now called asymmetrical or fourth generation warfare. Drew and Snow discuss all these factors in detail and bring them together by examining the continuing problems of making strategy in a changed and changing world.Contents * Foreword * Introduction * Notes * Section I * Framing the Problem * 1 Strategy In Perspective * Warfare in the Eighteenth Century * Foundations of Modern Warfare * Contrasts in the Cold War * Conclusions * 2 The Strategy Process - An Overview * Determining National Security Objectives * Formulating Grand National Strategy * Developing Military Strategy * Composing Operational Strategy * Formulating Battlefield Strategy (Tactics) * Influences on the Strategy Process * Conclusions * Section II * The Political Dimension * 3 Grand National Strategy * Vital National Interests * Instruments of National Power * Conclusions * Notes * 4 The Political Environment of Grand Strategy * Influences on Grand Strategy * Strategic Culture * Summary and Conclusions * Notes * 5 Grand Strategy Actors and Institutions * Executive Branch * Legislative Branch * Other Actors * Conclusions * Notes * Section III * The Military Dimension * 6 Military Strategy * Force Employment Strategy * Force Development Strategy * Force Deployment Strategy * Coordination of Military Strategy * Conclusions * Note * 7 Operational Strategy * Orchestrating Campaigns * Operational Strategy: Design Choices * The Essence of Operational Strategy * Orchestrating Theater Campaign. * Conclusions * Notes * 8 Asymmetrical Warfare Strategies * Insurgent Warfare * Counterinsurgency Concepts * New Internal War * Fourth Generation Warfare * Terrorism * Conclusions * Notes * 9 Nuclear Strategy * Dynamics of Nuclear Evolution * Basic Concepts and Relationships * Nuclear Stability * Current Strategic Issues * Proliferation of Weapons of Mass * Destruction * Missile Defenses * Conclusions * Notes * Section IV * Influences on the Process * 10 Fog, Friction, Chance, Money, Politics, and Gadgets * The Clausewitzian Trio * Strategy and the Clausewitzian Trio * Economic Influences on Strategy * Political Influences on Strategy * Impact of Technology on Strategy * Conclusions * Notes * 11 Worldviews and Doctrine * The Ground Force Worldview * The Naval Worldview * The Airman's Worldview * Worldviews and Military Doctrine * Evolving Worldviews * Conclusions * Notes * Section V * Continuing Dilemmas * 12 The Dilemmas of Conventional War * For Whom and What Do We Prepare? * Operations Tempo and the All-Volunteer Force * What Roles for Allies? * Dealing with 24-Hour News * Conclusions * Notes * 13 Asymmetrical Warfare Dilemmas * Nature of the Problem * Countering Asymmetrical Wars * Conclusions * Notes * 14 Threats, Interests, and Risks * Strategy during the Cold War * Contemporary Strategy * Conclusions * BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SUGGESTED READINGSThis book is about national security strategy: what it is, what its objectives are, what problems it seeks to solve or at least manage, and what kinds of influences constrain and create opportunities for the development and implementation of strategies. The heart of the problem with which national security strategy deals is the series of threats--normally military, but increasingly semi- or nonmilitary in character--that the country must confront and somehow overcome or contain.

Praise for Dynamic Strategy-Making "An astonishingly timely, hopeful, and important book that recasts and freshly imagines strategy-making and integrates theory with practice in the field of strategic management. A must-read for all those who want to learn more about the future of strategy practice and become more skillful at it." WARREN BENNIS, Distinguished Professor of Business, University of Southern California; and coauthor, Transparency "This is one of the most valuable resources ever created for strategists and leaders in organizations. It uniquely combines concepts of leadership and organization with strategy content and implementation in a pragmatic and integrated approach that makes tremendous sense for our times. With concrete cases, it provides a clear road map for those who want and need to do a better job of formulating and implementing strategy." DAVID A. NADLER, vice chairman, Marsh & McLennan Companies; senior partner, Oliver Wyman-Delta Organization and Leadership; and author, Building Better Boards and Competing By Design "The authors correctly focus on the new dynamic of 24/7 competition and change and the need for organizations to be fast, fluid, and flexible. It is a must-read for managers of tomorrow and offers a number of practical insights and lessons on how to proceed with strategy execution that can be readily adopted in any organization. It is a call to action that few can afford to ignore." MANJIT SINGH, chairman, Sony Entertainment Television, India; and former CEO, Compete Inc., High Circle, Future Step, and Korn/Ferry International

This book presents a detailed discussion of Clausewitz's principal lines of thought and methods of implementation. It elaborates on his main objective of laying a foundation for the education of up-and-coming creative, knowledgeable and experienced future leaders. The book encourages reflection and study in strategic thinking in order to transform knowledge into genuine capability. The book explores the question of what a twenty-first-century decision-maker can learn from these strategic lines of thought. It bridges the gap between philosophical theory and strategic interaction in conflicts with an equal opponent. Readers learn to understand and employ the clash of wills, attack and defence, and friction, and in essence the necessary virtues of a strategic commander. The findings presented help to identify the essential features in complex decision-making situations and developing possible courses of strategic action from a holistic standpoint. As such, the book is a must read for strategists, business practitioners, and scholars of political leadership and management interested in a better understanding of strategy and decision-making.

This provides a comprehensive and clear analysis of the complex business of waging war, and give readers a thorough understanding of the key concepts in strategic thought, concepts that have endured for about 2500 years. Authors from the Australian Defence Force Academy.

This major new textbook focuses on the traditional and contemporary uses of organized force for political ends. The book brings together major scholars in the field and deals with both the theory and practice of strategy. It highlights the continuing relevance of traditional and new thinking about strategy for understanding the complex issues of war and peace at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The book opens with an introduction by the volume editors highlighting the centralunifying theme of the book as a whole: the historical and continuing role of military power in support of political ends. The book then breaks down into four broad sections covering the evolution of strategic thought; the theory and practice of land, sea, and air power; a range of new and adapted theories about peace and security which were developed during the Cold War and developments in strategic thinking and practice which have taken place since the end of the Cold War (including Revolutionin Military Affairs (RMA), Information (Cyber) Warfare, and Space Warfare). The book ends with a return to some of the themes identified in the Introduction and a discussion of the future direction of strategic studies. Carefully edited to create a fully integrated textbook and including excellent pedagogy throughout, this textbook offers a clear, accessible, and lively introduction to strategic studies for all students of politics and international relations.

Think about strategy and sharpen judgment in an unpredictable environment Carl von Clausewitz is widely acknowledged as one of the most important of the major strategic theorists; he's been read by Eisenhower, Kissinger, Patton, Chairman Mao, and numerous other leaders. In Clausewitz on Strategy, the Boston Consulting Group's Strategy Institute has excerpted those passages most relevant to business strategy from Clausewitz's classic text On War, the most general, applicable, and enduring work of strategy in the modern West and a source of insight into the nature of conflict, whether on the battlefield or in the boardroom. This book offers Clausewitz's framework for self-education--a way to train the reader's thinking. Clausewitz speaks the mind of the executive, revealing logic that those interested in strategic thinking and practice will find invaluable. He presents unique ideas, such as the idea that friction--unexpected interference--is an intrinsic part of strategy. The Boston Consulting Group is one of the world's leading management consulting firms whose clients include many of the world's industry leaders. Tiha von Ghyczy (Charlottesville, VA) has been a faculty member and Director of Business Projects at the Darden School of Business since 1996. While with The Boston Consulting Group, he assumed responsibility for the practice groups in manufacturing/time-based competition and high technology. He has published numerous articles and books on vision and strategy. Bolko von Oetinger (Munich, Germany) is a Senior Vice President of BCG. Christopher Bassford (Washington, DC) is presently a Professor of Strategy at the National War College in Washington, DC, and the author of several books, including Clausewitz in English: The Reception of Clausewitz in Britain and America, 1815-1945.