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Theory of Strategy: Conceptual Approaches for Surviving and Thriving

Module description

This module introduces you to foundational concepts in national and international security strategy. Engaging with both the theoretical literature and key empirical cases, the module examines the workings of international politics and the strategic choices necessary for states to survive and thrive therein. The module thus provides a broad grounding in the international environment in which states make their strategic choices, the factors that constrain their strategic choices, and the concerns that motivate their strategic choices.

No prerequisite modules are required, but you will be expected to complete POLM241 and POLM886; it is not available via interdisciplinary pathways

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module explores the theory and practice of national and international security strategy. The module aims to provide you with:

• A thorough grounding in the causes of conflict and cooperation between states;
• Core insights into the motivators of – and constraints upon – states’ strategic behaviour;
• An understanding of key fault-lines in the theoretical and corresponding policy debates;
• A sense of the enduring relevance – or otherwise – of scholarly thought on both the contemporary international system and states’ strategic choices;
• An ability to apply theoretical ideas to real-world problems of national and international security.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand the relevant strategic studies literature;
• 2. Understand the main theories of strategic behaviour and be able to assess their relative merits;
• 3. Develop empirical awareness of states’ real-world behaviour and be able to apply relevant theories to such cases;
• 4. Be able to talk and write critically and coherently about strategy and the literature thereon;
• 5. Formulate and present applied security strategy;
• 6. Judge and critique the execution of strategy;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Devise and articulate arguments about how strategic concepts might be located within the broader empirical and theoretical context of strategy, security, and statecraft;
• 8. Apply theory to contemporary statecraft to reappraise theoretical insights in the study of security strategy to draw systematic links between theory, policy, and empirical material – and demonstrate originality in your own application of these;
• 9. Analyse the significance of multidisciplinary and cross-sector concerns and questions for the making and implementation of strategy in peacetime, crisis, and conflict;
• 10. Analyse and evaluate advanced research monographs and articles relevant to the discipline;

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 11. Undertake independent self-directed learning (with effective time management) to achieve consistent, proficient, and sustained attainment;
• 12. Critically evaluate and engage with sources (both academic and otherwise);
• 13. Communicate your own original and evidenced arguments logically and effectively.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some of the following topics:

1. The Context of Strategy I: International Politics 101
2. The Context of Strategy II: Causes of Conflict
3. Global ‘Governance’? The Promise/Pitfalls of Institutions, Norms, and Rules
4. Power and Powers: How Do States Generate, Wield, and Lose It?
5. The Employment of Power: Clausewitz and the Extension of Policy through Violence
6. ‘Command of the Commons’? Strategy at Sea, in(/above) the Air, and in Cyberspace
7. To Balance or Not to Balance? Strategic Responses to Others’ Power and Promise
8. Deterrence and Coercion: Conventional, Nuclear, and/or ‘New’?
9. Sub- and Non-State Violence: Terrorism, Insurgency, and State Responses
10. Internal Conflict, External Intervention? Civil Wars and the ‘Responsibility to Protect’
11. Novel Threats, Timeless Problems? Strategy for the Contemporary World

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment. 

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e., a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

(This reading list is indicative – it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list.)

• Carl von Clausewitz, On War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976 [1832], eds. Michael Howard and Peter Paret)
• Dale C. Copeland, The Origins of Major War (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000)
• Giulio Douhet, The Command of the Air (Tuscaloosa, AL: Air University Press, 2009 [1921], eds. Joseph Patrick Harahan and Richard H. Kohn)
• John J. Mearsheimer, ‘The False Promise of International Institutions’, International Security (Winter 1994-95), pp. 5-49
• Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010 [1889])
• Julian S. Corbett, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy (Uckfield: The Naval and Military Press, 2009 [1911])
• Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth, World Out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008)
• Patrick Porter, The Global Village Myth: Distance, War, and the Limits of Power (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2015)
• Stacie E. Goddard, When Right Makes Might: Rising Powers and World Order (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018)
• Keir A. Lieber, War and the Engineers: The Primacy of Politics over Technology (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005)
• Daryl G. Press, Calculating Credibility: How Leaders Assess Military Threats (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005)
• Keren Yarhi-Milo, Knowing the Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence, and Assessment of Intentions in International Relations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014)
• Robert Jervis, ‘Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma’, World Politics 30:2 (January 1978), pp. 167-214.
• Robert Jervis, The Meaning of the Nuclear Revolution: Statecraft and the Prospect of Armageddon (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989)
• Thomas C. Schelling, Arms and Influence (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966 [New Ed. 2009])
• John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (New York: Norton, 2001)
• David Blagden, ‘When does Competition become Conflict? Technology, Geography, and the Offense-Defense Balance’, Journal of Global Security Studies 6:4 (December 2021), pp. 1-23. 
• Patrick Porter, The False Promise of Liberal Order: Nostalgia, Delusion, and the Rise of Trump (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2021)
• Robert A. Pape, Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996)
• Bleddyn E. Bowen, War in Space: Strategy, Spacepower, Geopolitics (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020)
• Thomas Rid, Cyber War Will Not Take Place (London: Hurst, 2017)

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• You should familiarise yourself with the outputs of leading national and international security think-tanks, specialist blogs, and major newspapers’ defence/security/diplomatic commentary.

Key words search

Strategy, International Relations, Warfare, Alliances, Power, Statecraft, Foreign Policy, Defence Policy