|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Strategy on the International Stage
| Article
# : |
11620 |
|
|
Section : |
BOOK WORLD
|
| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1986 |
4,052 Words |
| Author
: |
Donald J. Senese
Donald J. Senese has traveled extensively throughout Asia and
has authored four books and numerous articles on the area. His
most recent works are Sweet and Sour Capitalism: An Analysis
of 'Socialism with Chinese Chinese Characteristics' (1985) and
Democracy in Mainland China: The Myth and the Reality(1986).
He traveled to the People's Republic of China in March of 1986
studying China's educational system. |
ON THE MEANING OF VICTORY: ESSAYS ON STRATEGY
Edward N. Luttwak
Simon & Schuster, 1986
335 pp., $18.95
Asserting that the essential nature of strategy embraces a knowledge of the art of war and tactics, scholar and military analyst Edward N. Luttwak laments that the United States, which has allowed its armed strength to decline beyond the limits of tolerable risks, puts too much emphasis on bookkeeping (efficiency) over strategy (effectiveness).
The result of this misplaced emphasis and failure to devise a long-range strategy for effective action in the international arena allows potential threats to become actual (the Persian Gulf) and consequently will increase strategic and tactical problems for the United States. "What this republic badly needs in its defense establishment," Luttwak asserts in On the Meaning of Victory: Essays on Strategy as he warms to his theme is "the wisdom of strategy and certainly not better 'management' or yet more 'efficiency'" (p. 115).
Luttwak brings impressive credentials to his task: Senior Fellow at the Center for strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University, a consultant to the U.S. Defense Department, and author of numerous articles and books on military issues and strategic analysis. His style is direct, clarifying some of the more complex issues for the defense and foreign policy specialist as well as for the uninitiated novice in the field. His essays seek to shape the question: Where does strategy belong in the arsenal of a nation's foreign and defense policies?
The Strategic Concept
The origin of the term "strategy" comes from the Greek word strategos meaning the "art of the general," reflecting a direct link to military battle but in a broader context to national policy carried on by military means. Although strategy has played some role in the activities and plans of various nation states throughout history, the eighteenth century gave it a more precise meaning reflecting the stratagems, by which a general sought to deceive an enemy, that is, the way he planned to deplore his forces in war.
Strategy soon began occupying a greater role as the plan for the battle, occupying and even preempting the whole field of generalship short
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
