Abstract
Abstract : This paper examines the use of strategic war gaming to improve interagency coordination and national policy formulation. The paper addresses the following: (1) What benefits war games provide and what is their applicability at the strategic level?; (2) How is war gaming being used at the strategic level?; (3) What does war gaming not do well at the strategic level?; and (4) How could strategic war gaming be integrated for interagency planning and what are the possible constraints and barriers? The research reveals war gaming's potential benefits and applicability at the strategic level. Strategic war gaming (especially table-top, role-playing games) allows participants to engage in an analytical dialogue that enables an exploration of their roles, actions, and possible outcomes of the simulated scenario. There are, however, limitations as to the direct conclusions players can gain from war gaming. Because of the myriad of forces that bear strategic and policy-level questions, and the assumptions that are required to simulate these settings, the use of war gaming for rigorous analysis is questionable. The author concludes that, despite areas of possible governmental resistance, war gaming should be codified and used as part of the interagency process.
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