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

#Reviewing: Patents for Power

#Reviewing: Patents for Power

Robert M. Farley and Davida H. Isaacs’s contribution to both fields of international relations and intellectual property lies in their ability to explain the legal system that results in the diffusion of military technology in some cases. The diffusion of military technology is explained in the book by the difference in political factors, organizational structures, or protective security frameworks. The legal explanation for the commonality of some military technologies is not well understood but is a significant factor for explaining why some military technologies are more accessible and widespread than others. Further, their work is of contemporary importance noting the monolithic nature of the global defense industry, consisting of public and private partnerships as well as collaborative approaches to high end military technologies that require complex legal frameworks.

A Tsunami of Ships and Aircraft: #Reviewing Victory at Sea

A Tsunami of Ships and Aircraft: #Reviewing Victory at Sea

Almost eighty years after that war’s end, it sometimes seems little remains to be written about the war at sea. Is another history needed? Kennedy’s genius has always been his ability to highlight how the shifting tectonic plates of power underlie and help explain the surface history, sometimes represented in a single event. Rather than uncovering new history, Victory at Sea arranges existing history in ways that better reveal the whole.

#Reviewing On Killing Remotely

#Reviewing On Killing Remotely

While the intense psychological burden borne by the soldier engaged in battle is not in doubt, understanding what specific factors exact the greatest toll, or how the willingness to kill relates to battlefield outcomes, remains ripe for exploration…Wayne Phelps’s addition to this literature seems to be a direct continuation of Grossman’s work, and Phelps pushes the same thesis as Grossman—that warriors do not naturally want to kill—into the field of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs).

#Reviewing Hemispheric Alliances

#Reviewing Hemispheric Alliances

In Hemispheric Alliances: Liberal Democrats and Cold War Latin America, Andrew J. Kirkendall provides a thoughtful analysis of the Latin America policy devised by liberal Democrats in the period running from the 1960s to 1980s. The book’s core argument is that liberals in the Democratic Party attempted to design and implement a foreign policy for Latin America that moved beyond the Cold War strategy of containment. Instead of containment, these policymakers sought to leverage U.S. power to foster economic development, democracy, and human rights in the region.

#Reviewing The Inheritance

#Reviewing The Inheritance

Mara E. Karlin’s new book, The Inheritance: America’s Military After Two Decades of War is a sobering yet necessary read. In looking at the effects of the post-9/11 wars on the U.S. military, she asks—and proposes answers to—two questions. First, “[h]ow did the most capable military in U.S. history—indeed in the history of the world—fight to, at best, a draw in its longest contemporary conflict?” And second, “why has this not been the subject of greater reflection and debate.”

Defense Acquisition Realignment & Modernization

Defense Acquisition Realignment & Modernization

The U.S. defense budget is larger than the defense spending of the following eleven countries combined, partly due to the maintenance of aging platforms. At the same time, other countries are winning the race to new capabilities. An expert joint program review and modernization board can help America realign its priorities and regain its technological advantage.

Sorting Through the Noise: The Evolving Nature of the Fog of War

Sorting Through the Noise: The Evolving Nature of the Fog of War

It will be necessary for the modern strategist and military commander, regardless of which domain in which they operate, to be comfortable with the inherent fallibility of their tools. While sophisticated algorithms can generate convincingly granular models of reality, commanders should always maintain a healthy degree of skepticism regarding the information they receive. There is a natural trade-off between the volume of data and the ability of one’s staff to verify what they are reporting. Information sorted by artificial intelligence at high scales largely operates outside of programmer’s awareness, and is thus well beyond the capabilities of any individual commander to completely understand.

SEA-Merica 2040: Leveraging Climate Change to Win Friends and Influence the South China Sea

SEA-Merica 2040: Leveraging Climate Change to Win Friends and Influence the South China Sea

China’s excessive maritime claims in the SCS destabilize and undermine the balance of power in Southeast Asia. The best way to achieve a free and open SCS is a peaceful strategy that nests the common needs of the SCS Five within U.S. security interests and capabilities, all without requiring modification of Chinese behavior for success. SEA-Merica 2040 does the job.

Escaping the Cave: An Analysis of Russian and American Strategic Cultures Influence on War, Peace, and the Realm In Between

Escaping the Cave: An Analysis of Russian and American Strategic Cultures Influence on War, Peace, and the Realm In Between

In analyzing American and Russian strategic cultures, it is tempting to believe that once one determines how strategic culture shapes each nations’ preferences for decisions, one may also suppose that their strategic culture is somehow fixable. This sentiment is an intellectual dead end and entirely misses the point. Strategic culture is a package of robust variables and traits “not easily amended, let alone overturned, by acts of will.” As Gray points out, “even if you recognize some significant dysfunctionality in your strategic [culture], you may not be able to take effective corrective action.” Strategic culture’s persistence, however, does not mean it cannot or does not evolve.

A Transformative U.S. Strategy for Africa: A Proposal for New Wine in a New Bottle

A Transformative U.S. Strategy for Africa: A Proposal for New Wine in a New Bottle

Implementing a U.S. strategy for Africa that promotes the sustainable growth of African economies requires an approach focused on employing economic diplomacy at the continent level. Economic diplomacy provides a constructive way for the U.S. to positively influence African regional economic integration, the protection of human security, and African Union progression. Transnational threats, economic prosperity, and upholding a rules-based international order are issues that will continue to link African security with U.S. national security. An overarching strategy requires strong partnerships at the national level and leveraging U.S. strengths to increase pressure on great power rivals. This approach most effectively achieves African and U.S. economic and security objectives and counters the malign influence of China and Russia on the continent.

The Emergence of War in Plato’s Republic

The Emergence of War in Plato’s Republic

Plato’s Republic is endlessly rich. Broadly, it begins when Socrates and his friend Glaucon are compelled to stay at Cephalus’ house in the Piraeus. Remaining just outside Athens, the many—including Polemarchus, Thrasymachus, and Adeimantus, among others—debate questions of justice. When no satisfactory answers emerge, Socrates originates the great thought experiment—to construct a city in speech. Over the course of the dialogue, the imagined city undergoes numerous revisions as the founders identify and fulfill the imagined city’s needs. War, it turns out, is not a need, but a consequence. It is only after Glaucon’s relishes are admitted that Socrates finds cause for war. To what extent does war make the city possible?

Opposite Sides of the COIN: Understanding Unlikely Insurgent Successes and Failures

Opposite Sides of the COIN: Understanding Unlikely Insurgent Successes and Failures

Looking into the future, it is critical to build more typologies for insurgent success in order to understand how states can achieve the upper hand. Most important however is conceptualizing how insurgents successfully relate their strategy of violence to their environment. Had the United States, for example, spent more time analyzing what victory looked like for the Taliban and how they planned on achieving it based on their environment, they may have bolstered America’s own strategy.

A Strategist’s Cast of Characters: The Critical Attributes and Skills of Strategic Decision-Makers

A Strategist’s Cast of Characters: The Critical Attributes and Skills of Strategic Decision-Makers

Greek drama was itself embodied in the masks representing Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy, and Thalia, the Muse of comedy. This concept of characterization also provides an allegorical framework through which to consider some of the critical characteristics and skills necessary for strategists. Strategists need to have the ability to reconcile and balance opposing tensions, as represented by Thalia and Melpomene, engage in both reflection of the past and anticipation of the future like the Roman God Janus, emulate the contemplation and discernment of Judeo-Christian cherubim, and seek the aims of the embodiment of Lady Justice.

Reconstructing the Ladder: Towards a More Considered Model of Escalation

Reconstructing the Ladder: Towards a More Considered Model of Escalation

In the field of geopolitical analysis and strategy, models and frameworks are crucial. They inform the focus of the analyst, how to measure and evaluate the area of attention, and what to expect in the future. This process can occur consciously as part of a formal analytical procedure, or subconsciously, through the mental models that an analyst internalises. The escalation ladder is one such model. It advises an analyst to focus on how a state escalates and de-escalates against its competitors, and how to measure actions against the different escalation levels, or steps, on the ladder.

Do Not Trust Your Gut: How to Improve Strategists’ Decision Making

Do Not Trust Your Gut: How to Improve Strategists’ Decision Making

Critical thought can benefit from both patience and intellectual humility. Military strategists should thoughtfully consider their cognitive limitations as well as the range of possible outcomes in pursuit of political goals and in support of civilian leaders. Strategists who devote attention to thinking about thinking and learning from the mistakes of the past may improve their ability to plan for the future.

Shaking the Dungeon: James Baldwin and the Strategies of Subversion and Surveillance

Shaking the Dungeon: James Baldwin and the Strategies of Subversion and Surveillance

Observing civil rights activists through the lens of Cold War national security concerns makes the rise of a federal militarized police force in the United States appear logical, necessary, and socially acceptable. The United States, while engaged in a global ideological conflict with the Soviet Union, could ill afford any stains on its national reputation. America could not claim to stand for global democracy yet consistently deploy its military to suppress domestic civil unrest and constitutionally protected political movements. Nor could the federal government allow individual states to openly dismiss federal mandates or jeopardize American foreign policy objectives…The Cold War emphasis on national security granted law enforcement the license to develop and implement unconventional warfare strategies into the types of extralegal methods of policing used on Americans like James Baldwin. These strategies evolved into future approaches recognizable in counter-terrorism operations, the War on Drugs, and the Global War on Terror.

U.S. Strategy and the Future of Money: Advancing U.S. Interests During a Financial Transformation

U.S. Strategy and the Future of Money: Advancing U.S. Interests During a Financial Transformation

The United States has enjoyed decades of influence over the international financial system thanks to the unique role of the U.S. dollar in the international economy. This dollar dominance could even be considered an element of U.S. power, underpinning a range of political and economic tools used by policymakers to advance U.S. strategic interests.

4Q22 Call for Strategy Bridge Submissions

4Q22 Call for Strategy Bridge Submissions

Perspectives matter. Susan Colbourn pointedly explains, “The scholarly obsession in the United States with centering the United States is stunting our ability to analyse foreign affairs, leading too many of us to assume the United States can influence everything.” How can we escape this tendency? What perspectives are we missing? What should we understand about other influential forces at work? How do the world views of others drive miscalculation? These questions serve to focus the fourth quarter series of 2022 at The Strategy Bridge. We seek submissions that specifically address these questions. We look forward to seeing your submissions!

The Management of Violence: #Reviewing Bomber Mafia

The Management of Violence: #Reviewing Bomber Mafia

Malcolm Gladwell is known for telling stories—stories about success, societal change, underdogs, and how people or groups of people misunderstand each other. In his book, The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World. Gladwell brings to life historical figures who were instrumental in developing the United States’ bombing campaigns during World War II.

Writing Strategy 2022

Writing Strategy 2022

Earlier this year, The Strategy Bridge asked civilian and military students around the world to participate in our sixth annual student writing contest on the subject of strategy. The response was once again amazing. 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!