Volume 1, Issue 3
Summer 2011
France in Libya: A Strategic Perspective on Opération Harmattan
Olivier Schmitt
In this IJ Exclusive, Olivier Schmitt argues that French military actions are based on a flawed strategy, namely an unclear definition of the goals of the campaign, which prevents more efficient use of limited military means.
ReadThe Second Lebanon War: A Re-assessment
Martin van Creveld
Contrary to the usual view, the so-called Second Lebanon War was a great victory for Israel. In this article, Martin van Creveld explains why.
ReadLimited means strategy: What to do when the cupboard is bare
T. X. Hammes
The United States has shown a marked tendency to start all strategic discussion by defining the ends and ways it wishes to achieve. It has assumed the means will be available. Political reluctance to commit significant forces and the fiscal crisis mean the United States should start with the limited resources it will have available and then determine what goals can be accomplished.
ReadOn Paradigms
Justin Kelly
Justin Kelly questions whether the processes we usually rely on to generate theories and doctrines are logically sound. He concludes that many of the categories we use to order knowledge are, at best, problematic.
ReadThe Death of American Strategy
Gian P. Gentile
Gian P. Gentile argues that the tactics and methods of counterinsurgency have eclipsed strategy in Afghanistan, and have stifled intellectual rigor and creative thinking in the American Army.
ReadIsolationist heresies: strategy and the curse of slogans
Patrick Porter
Patrick Porter argues that the term ‘isolationist’ damages strategic debate. It makes it harder to argue for a rebalancing of ends and means in U.S. statecraft, and presents Americans with a false choice between global hegemony and retreat.
Read‘Cyberwar’ is not coming
David Betz
In this article David Betz finds much similarity between today’s talk of decisive ‘cyberwar’ and the overblown claims of the prophets of air power almost a hundred years ago.
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