Tag: strategy
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A War Studies Classic
A War Studies Classic This year we are seeing the refurbishment of a classic in war studies and military history. There is a new edition of the book Makers of Modern Strategy. As a guide through our IWP course # 628 on “Military Strategy,” I have been excited to examine the new volume of May 2023…
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Terrorism at Munich: Lessons Learned 50 Years On
About the Lecture Not many events of the late 20th century are as important and foreboding as the seizing of 11 athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Black September, a Palestinian group, held the Israeli captives during a long drama observed over T.V. by as many as one billion people. Then, at a nearby…
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Countering Islamist Political Extremism by Orchestrating the Instruments of National Power
This event is part of the Winning without War series sponsored by The Institute of World Politics. About the lecture: Despite suffering repeated setbacks in recent years, Islamic extremism or more specifically, totalitarian Islamism, and the terrorism it spawns, remains a major threat to the United States and its allies. While there will always be…
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Innovation and Historical Continuity in Great Power Competition
Innovation and Historical Continuity in Great Power Competition Abstract: Even in this age of remarkable changes, the character of warfare and the continuities of geography and politics are weighty and instructive. Politicians and strategists often relearn the most fundamental lessons about these continuities. It is thus no surprise that the current security establishment in China…
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Terrorist Advocacy and Propaganda (IWP 686)
Dr. Christopher C. Harmon discusses his course on Terrorist Advocacy and Propaganda (IWP 686, 2 credits). Course Objectives: Terrorism has been well-defined as “the deliberate and systematic murder, maiming, and menacing of the innocent to inspire fear for political ends” (Jonathan Institute, 1979). Because terrorism always has a political character, it is not only action…
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How Do We Learn?
How Do We Learn? How is it that we anticipate a coming threat, so as to understand and meet it? Unusually, the danger may be new. The Internet was revolutionary, so cyber attack is largely a new threat to us. It cannot be met by hiring more postal inspectors but must be considered and defeated…
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On Strategic Thinking: Patterns in Modern History
Originally published on Classics of Strategy Strategy is the organization and application of power—especially military power—to achieve national policy objectives. Because it is not an exact science, strategy has a “history” only in inexact ways: there has been continual change but little that resembles true development in strategy. Strategy is part art as well as…
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‘Are We Beasts’ Churchill And The Moral Question Of World War II ‘Area Bombing’
Read the full article This historical reassessment of the World War II British bombing campaign notes that though in 1940 Churchill declared that he was waging “a military and not a civilian war” to destroy “military objectives” and not “women and children,” within eighteen months both types of targets would be struck by Bomber Command.…