The Strategy Bridge: Theory for Practice - Softcover

Gray, Colin S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198779127 ISBN 13: 9780198779124

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2016

Synopsis

The Strategy Bridge presents the general theory of strategy and explains the utility of this general theory for the particular strategies that strategists need to develop in order to meet their historically unique challenges. The book argues that strategy's general theory provides essential education for practicing strategists at all times and in all circumstances. As general theory, The Strategy Bridge is as relevant to understanding strategic behavior in the Peloponnesian War as it is for the conflicts of the twenty-first century.

The book proceeds from exposition of general strategic theory, to address three basic issue areas that are not at all well explained, let alone understood with a view to advancing better practice, in the extant literature. Specifically, The Strategy Bridge tackles the problems that harass and imperil strategic performance; probes deeply into the hugely underexamined subject of just what it is that the strategist produces-strategic effect; and 'joins up the dots' from theory through practice to consequences by means of a close examination of command performance.

The author takes a holistic view of strategy, and is rigorously attentive to the significance of the contexts within which and for which strategies are developed and applied. The Strategy Bridge regards the strategist as a hero, charged with the feasible, but awesomely difficult, task of converting the threat and use of force (for military strategy) into desired political consequences. The strategist seeks some control over the rival or enemy via strategic effect, the instrumental produce of his instrumental labors. In order to maximize his prospects for success, the practicing strategist requires all the educational assistance that strategic theory can provide.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Colin S. Gray is Professor of International Politics and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading. He is a dual US-UK citizen and serves as an adviser in Washington, DC and London. Dr. Gray has taught at universities in Britain, Canada, and the US, has been Assistant Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and worked with Herman Kahn at the Hudson Institute before founding the National Institute for Public Policy in Washington. From 1982 until 1987 he held a presidential appointment on the President's Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament.

Review

"For any aspiring military officer, there could be no better book than this."--The RUSI Journal

"What Gray has provided here is more than ample as a base line work for anyone who wishes to get serious about strategy."--Infinity Journal

His style of presentation, in the tradition of Clausewitz, is dialectical. He puts forward a proposition, then pushes back against it (in anticipation of criticism by other strategic thinkers), and finally reaffirms or reframes it. ...His style of presentation, in the tradition of Clausewitz, is dialectical. He puts forward a proposition, then pushes back against it (in anticipation of criticism by other strategic thinkers), and finally reaffirms or reframes it. ... Gray remarks that every decade he gets the urge to write a major work of theory for the sake of practice. One hopes that sooner than ten years from now he will be able to scratch that itch again."--Journal of Strategic Studies

"One of the most detailed and important investigations of the concept of strategy published in recent decades. ...seeks to approach the study of strategy from many angles, addressing a myriad of issues related to strategy and policy." --Comparative Strategy

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0198779127
• ISBN 13: 9780198779124
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336