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The Strategy Bridge
Theory for Practice
Colin S. Gray
328 pages
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234x156mm
978-0-19-957966-2
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Hardback
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02 September 2010
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This item is printed to order. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.
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- Provides a comprehensive theory of strategy
- Helps strategists be better strategists
- Major new statement by a leading theorist
The Strategy Bridge: Theory for Practice is an original contribution to the general theory of strategy. While heavily indebted to Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and the very few other classic authors, this book presents the theory, rather than merely comments on the theory as developed by others. The author explains that the purpose of strategy is to connect purposefully politics and policy with the instruments they must use. The primary focus of attention is on military strategy, but this focus is well nested in discussion of grand strategy, for which military strategy is only one strand.
The book presents the general theory of strategy
comprehensively 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 behaviour 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 book tackles the problems that harass
and imperil strategic performance; it probes deeply into the hugely underexamined subject of just what it is that the strategist produces-strategic effect; and it '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 it is rigorously attentive to the significance of the contexts within which and for which strategies are developed and applied. The book 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. He seeks some control over the rival or enemy via strategic effect, the instrumental produce of his
instrumental labours. In order to maximise his prospects for success, the practicing strategist requires all the educational assistance that strategic theory can provide.Readership: Scholars and students of political science, strategic studies, security studies, and international relations.
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Colin S. Gray, Professor of International Politics and Strategic Studies, University of Reading.
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"It would be professional malfeasance...to overlook The Strategy Bridge." - Bradford Lee, Journal of Strategic Studies "...it is far more than a textbook, though it certainly can and should be used for instructional purposes. Interms of rigor, Strategy Bridge is every bit as scientific as Clausewitz's On War, but much more accessible... It's synthetic nature and analytic rigor make Colin Gray's Strategy Bridge a necessary, and welcome, addition to any educator's already vast library of works on strategy." - Antulio J Echevarria II, US Army War College "Gray is a prolific writer on strategy... It could be said that Gray has positioned himself in pole position as a strategic thinker. Few other
contemporary writers can rival him, and none has been so consistent in trying to develop a general theory, distilled largely, but not entirely from Clauswitz's On War. " - Christopher Coker, RUSI Journal d "For any aspiring military officer, there could be no better book than this." - Christopher Coker, 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" - William F. Owen, Infinity Journal
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Preface
Introduction: Surviving Clausewitz
PART I: THEORY
1: The Theory of Strategy, I: Enduring Nature, Changing Character
2: The Theory of Strategy, II: Construction, Execution, and Consequences
3: Politics, War, and Strategy
PART II: PRACTICE
4: Problems with Strategy: Often a Bridge too Far
5: The Product: Strategic Effect
6: Strategy, Strategists, and Command Performance: Joining Up the Dots
PART III: CONTEXT AND PURPOSE
7: Conclusion: Bandit Country and the Strategist's Quest for Control
Appendices
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 the Strategist
Bibliography
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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