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THE AUTHOR, A DEFENSE ANALYST, CLAIMS THAT IN U. S. CHINA POLICY THE DANGER IS THAT WE WILL BE TOO CAUTIUOUS, NOT TOO ACTIVE. ALTHOUGH HE FEELS IT UNLIKELY THAT SOVIET DIPLOMACY CAN CAUSE GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN SOVIET-PEKING RELATIONSHIPS, IT COULD HAPPEN: SO, MOREOVER, COULD WAR. AT THIS POINT CHINESE MILITARY DEFENSES AND STRENGTH ARE NOT GREAT. HE URGES MORE POSITIVE ACTION BY THE U. S.

"This book provides a short and accessible introduction to the theory of strategy, examines the general theory of strategy in accordance with 23 key Principles and explains its nature, functions, and intended consequences. 'Theory of Strategy' makes the radical argument that the familiar structure of strategy's general theory (political ends, strategic ways, military means - and assumptions) holds as sound for security at all times and in all places, of human necessity. Strategy is ever-varying in its character, but not in its nature, which is unchanging."--Page 4 of cover

Introduction : surviving Clausewitz -- Part I. Theory -- The theory of strategy, I : enduring nature, changing character -- The theory of strategy, II : construction, execution, and consequences -- Politics, war and strategy -- Part II. Practice -- Problems with strategy : Often a bridge too far -- The product : strategic effect -- Strategy, strategists, and command performance : joining up the dots -- Part II. Context and purpose -- Conclusion : bandit country and the strategist's quest for control -- Appendix A. The dicta of strategy -- Appendix B. General strategic theory, the classical canon -- Appendix C. Conceptual "Hueys" at Thermopylae? The challenge of strategic anachronism -- Appendix D. Potent trinities : fourteen skeleton keys of theory for strategists.

1. Politics, power, and security -- 2. Peace and war : politics at home and abroad -- 3. War and warfare -- 4. Theory for practice -- 5. Making strategy -- 6. History and geography -- 7. Culture and circumstance -- 8. Civil-military relations -- 9. Politics and defence planning -- 10. Morality and its ethics in politics and strategy -- 11. Strategic future.

Cover -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- General Theory -- Politics -- Prudence -- Legitimacy and Justice -- Historical Context -- Motives -- 1: Politics the Master -- The Argument: Basics of Strategy as Enduring Narrative -- Roots of Strategy: Human Nature and Politics -- The Meaning of Politics for Policy and Strategy -- Strategy: The Great Enabler -- 2: Strategy: What It Is, and Why It Matters -- The Bridge -- How Strategy Works: Removing the Mystery -- When Strategy Is Absent or Confused -- Strategy: Limitations and Substitutes? -- 3: Theory and Practice -- General Theory -- Theory and Practice -- National (and Cultural) Context -- The Value of Strategic Theory -- 4: Strategic History: Continuity and Change -- An Important Concept -- What Changes, and What Does Not? -- Two Hundred Years of Strategic History -- Did Strategic History Have a Start Date? Could It End? -- 5: Strategy, Strategies, and Geography -- The General and the Particular -- Geography, History, Politics -- Grand Strategy and Geostrategy -- Mackinder and Spykman: Ventures in Very Grand Theory -- Strategies are Joint -- 6: Strategy and the Future -- The Nuclear Exception? -- Conclusion: What Do We Know with High Confidence? -- Strategy and the 'Great Stream of Time' -- Further Reading -- Notes -- Introduction -- 1 Politics the Master -- 2 Strategy: What It Is, and Why It Matters -- 3 Theory and Practice -- 4 Strategic History: Continuity and Change -- 5 Strategy, Strategies and Geography -- 6 Strategy and the Future -- Conclusion: What Do We Know with High Confidence? -- Index -- EULA.

Since the end of the Cold War, and especially since September 11, 2001, few issues have been more hotly debated than the United States' role in the world. In this hard-nosed but sophisticated examination, Colin S. Gray argues that America is the indispensable guardian of the world order. Gray's constructive critique of recent trends in national security is comprehensive, rooting defense issues and prospective answers in both U.S. national security policy and in the emerging international security environment.

Strategic studies as a field of civilian scholarship has developed along distinctive lines in the United States since World War II. The rapid proliferation and increasing sophistication of weapons technology have required constant revision of strategic theory, while the shifting political climate, both internationally and in the United States, has had an equally powerful impact. One of the field's leading theorists now examines the history and development of American strategic studies, the varied roles assumed by civilian strategists, and their relationship with those charged with developing an

Introduction : master narrative -- Concepts : mind and muscle -- Ethics : strategy's moral maze -- Culture : beliefs, customs, and strategic behaviour -- Geography : geopolitics and deterrence -- Technology : magic bullets? -- Conclusion : the whole house of strategy, perilous dualism

Sir Halford Mackinder and Geopolitics -- The Problem of Security -- Statecraft: Retrospect and Prospect -- Geopolitics and Strategic Culture -- The American Way -- Of National Interests -- Organizing the Rimland -- The Course of Soviet Empire -- Containment -- Dynamic Containment -- Disengagement -- Rollback -- Strategy and Military Power

"A contemporary primer on the leading arguments about U.S. national security, National Security Dilemmas addresses the major challenges and opportunities that are live-issue areas for American policymakers and strategists today. Colin Gray provides an in-depth analysis of a policy and strategy for deterrence; the long-term U.S. bid to transform its armed forces' capabilities, with particular reference to strategic surprise, in the face of many great uncertainties; the difficulty of understanding and exploiting the challenge of revolutionary change in warfare; the problems posed by enemies who fight using irregular methods; and the awesome dilemmas for U.S. policy over the options to wage preventive and preemptive warfare." "This text can be used as an expert guide to the major national security challenges of today, for it both explains the structure of these challenges and provides useful answers."--Jacket