Alessandra Nisch
Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of ...

President Putin made three foundational assumptions in launching his war against Ukraine that should have been correct but were not. First, Putin assumed the invasion of Ukraine would be a quick and easy fight. Second, he assumed the world would denounce the invasion but tacitly allow it. Third, Putin assumed the war would deter NATO expansion.

Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of Applied Friction

#WritingContest2021

Michelangelos of Strategy: Linguistic Chisels, Sculptural Forms, and the Art of Strategy

Michelangelos of Strategy: Linguistic Chisels, Sculptural Forms, and the Art of Strategy

Strategy, like art, requires a unique talent and disposition, an eye for both minute detail and overall composition, time, training, and the uninhibited opportunity to create. There is no lack of talent, artistry, or creativity in the guild of American strategists. When given a block of marble and the latitude to truly innovate, the results can be astounding works of art. American strategy attempts to present a contrapposto, the relaxed confidence of a superpower with the slight twist of dynamic responsiveness to external actors or new challenges.

The Topography of Geopolitics: Net Resources and the Past, Present, and Future of American Power

The Topography of Geopolitics: Net Resources and the Past, Present, and Future of American Power

Net resources offer an additional insight into historical, present, and future trends of the global balance of power, enhancing and expanding our understanding of great power politics and competition. They can be a modern-day oracle—imperfect and imprecise, but nonetheless useful…The concept of net power resources and what it indicates is relevant, and deserves closer analysis by those wishing to understand the topography of the past, present and future geopolitical challenges.

Strategic Drift in Afghanistan, from Bonn to the National Elections

Strategic Drift in Afghanistan, from Bonn to the National Elections

Wars rarely follow straight paths from beginning to end. Belligerents constantly shift, seeking advantage and adapting to change, and the interaction takes its participants to places unimagined at the war's inception. Such has been the case for the American' war in Afghanistan. The U.S. started with clear strategic aims: defeat al-Qaeda and their Taliban hosts. Within months, military action had accomplished both. Yet, having achieved those aims, the war continued to escalate, and the war deviated from its expected path.

Relational Strategic Culture, Strategy-Making, and China

Relational Strategic Culture, Strategy-Making, and China

The concept of strategic culture gives fresh insights into China’s current strategy and behaviour, particularly in North-East Asia. Strategic culture also demonstrates the difficulty in separating the connection between ideational forces and the development and execution of strategy. This essay expands on the concept of strategic culture by incorporating relationality into the analysis. The argument is that a state’s strategic preferences are shaped normatively over time through consistent inter-state relations. This essay looks at China’s relationships with North Korea and Japan as case studies, before commenting on the implications of relational strategic culture for China’s future actions and the future of strategy.

Data Analytics in the Combatant Command: Improving the Approach to Decision-Making

Data Analytics in the Combatant Command: Improving the Approach to Decision-Making

To complete their missions, combatant commanders will, out of necessity, leverage data as a weapon system as it constitutes the basis of information development within the commander's decision space. With new sensors, the amount of collected data continues to climb, making more data available for transformation into actionable information supporting decision-making. Given the enormous volume of data that presently exists and the supply of trained analysts within a command, the commander and staff are assumed to have the capability to effectively employ data analytics to support the planning and execution of operations within the area of responsibility decisively. The perception is partially true.

To the Last Bullet: The Cold War’s Last Gasps and Enduring Impact in the Horn of Africa

To the Last Bullet: The Cold War’s Last Gasps and Enduring Impact in the Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa dominates today’s headlines. From ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to the ongoing war against al Shabaab, the region is beset by overlapping crises. Understanding today’s tumult in the Horn requires grappling with the complex legacy of the Cold War’s final chapter in the region. The Cold War accelerated and intensified the Horn of Africa’s zero-sum brand of ethnic politics from 1977-1985, and the thaw and subsequent end of the Cold War in Africa ended critical lifelines for the notorious regimes in Addis Ababa and Mogadishu, precipitating their collapse in 1991. This essay outlines how the Cold War’s conclusion laid the groundwork for the Horn’s bloody 21st century.

The Lion and the Mouse: The Need for Greater U.S. Focus in The Pacific Islands

The Lion and the Mouse: The Need for Greater U.S. Focus in The Pacific Islands

The Pacific island countries, a cluster of fourteen states and home to nine million people, share a profound legacy of appreciation, trust, and shared values with the U.S. The Pacific island countries historically reflected the U.S. preference for diplomatic norms in the way of life and international organizations. Unfortunately, in recent years this congruence has become precarious. The catalyst for this shift can be tied to China actively exerting influence in Pacific island countries through development, economic aid, and security cooperation that endangers the relationship the U.S. shares with them. Chinese diplomatic and economic engagement in the Pacific island countries threatensU.S. influence and values in the region and will become an existential threat to security if not addressed. The U.S. strategy can counter China's power projection in the Pacific island countries by maintaining the existing soft power presence in the region and amplifying the Biden administration's efforts to mitigate climate change. The U.S. can also capitalize on the emerging need for economic development by investing in vaccine diplomacy to fight against COVID-19 to reiterate the U.S. commitment as a partner of choice to the region.

Arctic Competition, Climate Migration, and Rare Earths: Strategic Implications for the United States Amidst Climate Change

Arctic Competition, Climate Migration, and Rare Earths: Strategic Implications for the United States Amidst Climate Change

Climate change is rapidly reshaping the world despite international efforts to curb the warming trend. At its current pace, climate change will dramatically reshape the landscape by 2050, causing more than a billion people to compete for resources in affected regions. Moreover, the melting of Arctic ice caps will open new maritime routes nearly year-round, shifting global shipping to less secure zones. As fragile regions become unstable and climate change exacerbates conflict drivers, the U.S. must not remain strategically flexible but should prepare for certain variables. Of these variables, three stand out as most concerning for U.S. security and require shifts in strategy: Arctic ice loss, human displacement, and rare earth supplies.

Old Enemies, New Friends: Repairing Japanese-Korean Relations and Moving to a Networked Approach Towards America’s Alliance

Old Enemies, New Friends: Repairing Japanese-Korean Relations and Moving to a Networked Approach Towards America’s Alliance

Expectations that Japan and the Republic of Korea could work together to develop their own strategic partnership have been dashed, with the two countries drifting apart over the past few decades and allowing tensions in their bilateral relationship to hamper any cooperation on security issues. This breakdown in Japanese-Korean relations is limiting the ability of the U.S. to fully utilize its regional alliances to defend the status quo in East Asia. It is in the interest of American peace and prosperity to prevent any foreign power from dominating the region, which is home to multiple security partners and critical markets for American goods. Additionally, East Asia sits atop a number of trade routes vital to the broader economy that underpins the broader liberal international order. This article proposes a potential strategy through which Washington can foster relations between its allies and better push back against Beijing’s efforts to become a regional hegemon.

Swiftly Changing Tides: Reorienting U.S. Foreign Policy Around the Threat of Climate Change

Swiftly Changing Tides: Reorienting U.S. Foreign Policy Around the Threat of Climate Change

Because of the urgency of addressing climate change, U.S. foreign policy should be re-oriented around climate change. This can be accomplished by linking climate change to national security, especially within the executive branch, pursuing a comprehensive international climate strategy, and addressing the U.S.'s own contributions to climate change, both domestically and abroad.

Writing Strategy 2021

Writing Strategy 2021

Earlier this year, The Strategy Bridge asked university and professional military education students to participate in our fifth annual student writing contest on the subject of strategy. The response was amazing, with more submissions than our small team of volunteers could handle. We’ll publish the winners and some additional submissions earning an honorable mention in the coming weeks. In the meantime…Congratulations to all the winners!