Schools for Strategy: Teaching Strategy for 21st Century Conflict - Paperback

by Colin S. Gray (Author)

Education in strategy is feasible and important. Few are the would-be strategists who are beyond improvement by some formal education. However, for such education to be well directed, it needs to rest upon sound assumptions concerning the eternal nature, meaning, and function, yet ever shifting character of strategy, and the range of behaviors required for effective strategic performance. This monograph strives to shed light on these fundamental matters. Dr. Gray emphasizes the necessity for strategic education to help develop the strategic approach, the way of thinking that can solve or illuminate strategic problems. He advises that such education should not strive for a spurious relevance by presenting a military variant of current affairs. Also, the strategist will perform better for today if he has mastered and can employ strategy's general theory. The monograph is relatively optimistic, in that it argues the case for strategy being both possible and, in some helpful measure, teachable. Includes discussion of issues, the nature and character of strategy fundamentals, how to teach strategy and what to teach.

Author Biography

COLIN S. GRAY is Professor of International Politics and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading, England. He worked at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London), and at Hudson Institute (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) before founding the National Institute for Public Policy, a defense-oriented think tank in the Washington, DC, area. Dr. Gray served for 5 years in the Reagan administration on the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament. He has served as an adviser to both the U.S. and British governments (he has dual citizenship). His government work has included studies of nuclear strategy, arms control, maritime strategy, space strategy, and the use of special forces. Dr. Gray has written 23 books, including: The Sheriff: America's Defense of the New World Order (University Press of Kentucky, 2004); Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2005); Strategy and History: Essays on Theory and Practice (Routledge, 2006); War, Peace, and International Relations: An Introduction to Strategic History (Routledge, 2007; Potomac Books, 2009); and National Security Dilemmas: Challenges and Opportunities (Potomac Books, 2009). His next book is The Strategy Bridge: Theory for Practice (Oxford University Press, forthcoming). Currently, he is researching and writing a book on the theory and practice of airpower. Dr. Gray is a graduate of the Universities of Manchester and Oxford.