Strategic Doctrine Research Articles

Thoreau’s civil disobedience from Concord, Massachusetts: global impact

Major wars or battles, political revolutions, scientific breakthroughs, or profound social changes often constitute substantial historical turning points. The nineteenth century was a period of intense struggle for America, wrestling with its identity and unity, the quest for emancipation, and conflicts with Mexico. Amid these turbulent times, an initially inconspicuous essay, “Civil Disobedience,” penned in 1849 by a then-unknown Henry David Thoreau, proved to be a turning point that eventually changed the world. The essay provided the framework for a conscience-driven protest, which, when applied on a mass scale, gave the world an effective and non-violent method of war. The power of the voice rooted in conscience and courage, an approach sans violence, inspired “successful” movements across cultures, countries, and time. The essay Civil Disobedience laid the foundation for a conscience-driven, non-violent struggle against injustices that changed the course of human history and remains the best hope for fighting injustices in the future. While less recognized in the annals of popular culture than the political machinations of Machiavelli or the strategic doctrines of Sun Tzu, Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience has wielded a far more profound influence. In a world still riven by conflict and injustice, Thoreau’s 1849 essay offered the most impactful turning point in humanity’s struggle against injustice. It remains as compelling as ever, offering a blueprint for confronting tyranny not with arms but with the power of human conscience. It serves as a reminder that revolutionary changes sometimes begin with the quietest voice.

Fighting for Oxford and Cambridge: National Security and Imperial Ambition in the ‘Transition of Power’

ABSTRACT This article uses the rise of the doctrine of ‘national security’ in US statecraft and strategy to re-examine Brian McKercher’s work on the ‘transition of power’ from Britain to the United States. World War II marked the great watershed in American foreign relations, in particular the ability, and more specifically the willingness, of Americans to project power beyond the western hemisphere. Not coincidentally, the war also marked another crucial turning point in American war and diplomacy: the transition from concepts like ‘national self-defence’ and ‘the national interest’ to a strategic doctrine that blended the blunt necessity of defence with the capacious ambition of interests. This new doctrine of ‘national security’ conceived of self-defence in a new way, not just as the protection of territorial sovereignty but as the protection of values, morals, and political norms. This much more capacious idea of defence was designed to be the bastion of a new liberal order to safeguard Western civilisation. In this light, American internationalists conceived of US power as the rightful heir to the mandate of the British Empire, albeit in ways that privileged command of the global commons over direct control of foreign territory. This article investigates the construction of ‘national security’ and the nature of Anglo-American empire in a new light.

French Nuclear Strategy: The Making of a ‘Consensus’ (1972–1988)

ABSTRACT This article presents the first critical explanation of the construction of a French nuclear ‘consensus’ in the 1970s and 1980s. It draws on known sources, apart from a few interviews, but above all it puts forward a new question: what is the role of domestic politics in French foreign policy and defence choices? It demonstrates the artificial construction of general assent to meet national political objectives. These findings suggest that what is called ‘consensus’ is in fact the end of the debate and not the adherence of the whole population to the strategic doctrine of deterrence.

The importance of the space force: Where strategic doctrine meets grand strategy

AbstractThis article demonstrates the importance, roles, and responsibilities of the United States Space Force. It focuses on the need for its creation and its role as the fundamental lynchpin to American national security and prosperity now and in the future. The road ahead can only be successful while working with America's allies and ensuring that there are norms and rules of civilized behavior in, from, and to space. The authors propose 11 enduring principles for the Space Force that interconnect and enhance American grand strategy while dealing with potential adversaries and the need to bond this mission to the American public.

აგრარული პოლიტიკის ფორმირების რეგიონული გამოწვევები საქართველოში

The modern world has entered an acute phase of irreversible changes and implementation of global economic transformation. In today's situation, a sensible, coherent, flexible and adaptable national economic strategic doctrine created by the state, delineating the proper role and function of the country's regional and agrarian policy, is becoming urgent. The Strategy of Agriculture and Rural Development of Georgia for 2021-2027 considers the creation of competitive products the main objective, however, the single action plan and the service programs available to the Ministry today do not leave the feeling that we have understood all the problems and challenges that arise at different stages, step or phase. Based on the foregoing, it is appropriate to raise the issue of policy options to promote production of agricultural products in the regions. Georgia's agriculture and regional development are moving absolutely haphazardly. It is this kind of inertia that needs to be stopped and urgently reformed and transformed, where the determination of the “rules of the game” of the institutional economy and the activity of regional structures in terms of statistical-analytical and situational-contextual studies become a prerequisite for targeted-program actions and the development of the field. It I safe to say that creating a regional agriculture and rural development strategy is an urgent and at the same time difficult task in today's situation. First of all, the problem is specified in the area of –administrative-territorial system and imperfections of legislation. As for the socio-economic aspects and the range of actions and thematic diversity here encourage us to think creatively and determine the advantages of causal programs. Contemporary world challenges in recent years show even more attention to issues of regionalization and the introduction of decentralization-deconcentration principles in the processes generally. The programs developed in the regions, which should be formed according to the “bottom-up” principle, fall under the institutional order network, because they become a continuation of the centripetal macroeconomic strategy of the government and create the needs of the centrist policy with the help of the principles of the regional economy. It is of the utmost importance that flexible and effective institutional changes appear in the regions, thus we will be able to analyze the resource potential and prospeects of the economy, motivate active behavior, which will replace evolutionary inertia and fragmentation with a complex, structurally-organizationally formed, technical-economically sound policy. The five directions of agricultural production optimization presented in the paper, starting from the land optimization formula and ending with the importance of introducing innovative technologies, are a single complex action module, where each has its own unique function-duty, and it is not unacceptable to disable or ignore them from a business and economical point of view.

Aligning tactics with strategy: Vertical implementation of military doctrine

ABSTRACT Why do armed forces sometimes write doctrines that are inconsistent across the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war? Using interviews to uncover how the Swedish Armed Forces implemented their 2016 military strategic doctrine, this study develops a theoretical concept of vertical implementation and explores why and under what conditions it varies. The findings suggest a tendency of lower levels to ignore superordinate doctrine; however, formal processes, actor attitudes, and doctrinal content seem to affect vertical implementation.

Irreversibility in nuclear arms control and disarmament law?

Abstract While irreversibility of nuclear arms control and disarmament measures can be supported by compliance with applicable legal norms, the existing treaty regulation has serious gaps: pertinent treaties are not universally applicable; limitations on missiles as important carriers of nuclear warheads have been abrogated; the strategic doctrines of nuclear weapons powers are not fully transparent, and while the latter may strengthen the effectiveness of nuclear deterrence, it also raises questions as to compliance with fundamental obligations to refrain from a threat or use of force and to settle international disputes by peaceful means. There are certain principles of general international law that can and should be used in international cooperation to overcome nuclear crisis situations and strengthen international security: fundamental norms regarding the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament under strict and effective international control have an erga omnes character and are accepted and recognized by the international community of States as a whole. Furthermore, general rules of international responsibility are fully applicable in the law of nuclear arms control and disarmament. It is in this sense that irreversibility in nuclear arms control and disarmament is served by legal principles and rules, which require States to comply with existing obligations and to cooperate for the maintenance of peace and security.

British Responses to Italian Non-Belligerence, September 1939–June 1940

Abstract This article provides an assessment of the British perception of Italy’s reality during the period of non-belligerence and of British political, diplomatic, and military responses from September 1939 to June 1940. It analyses the alternative options available to British political and military officials and evaluates the decisions they took during the period under consideration. It concludes that British political and military officials accurately understood Italy’s situation and Mussolini’s desire to join the war on Germany’s side. However, they rightly reasoned that Italy’s entry into the war depended on the outcome of the Western campaign. It was only if and when that campaign had been decided that Mussolini would make his move. Given this, the choice to concentrate British forces against Germany rather than dispersing them by opening new fronts or expanding the existing battlefield was reasonable. Had the Anglo-French allies managed to repel the offensive in the West, the threat of Italy’s intervention would have been averted. It can therefore be argued that London’s decision to refrain from engaging Rome militarily was not due to a lack of awareness regarding Italy’s vulnerability, but rather to a strategic doctrine aimed at defeating Germany through a long war of attrition. This decision showcased a shrewd understanding of the prevailing situation.

Нормативно-правовая основа Стратегической доктрины казахстанского машиностроения в целях обеспечения развития транспортных и агротехнических заводов

В статье подвергнута общему анализу Стратегическая доктрина создания высокотехнологичного машиностроения с разделом транспортного и сельхозмашиностроения с 2020 по 2040 годы как акт «мягкого» права. Детализированно-аналитически рассмотрены новые казахстанские законы и международные конвенции, которые будут приняты в средне- и долгосрочной перспективе. Авторами применены методы логического анализа, сравнительного правового анализа, метод научного прогнозирования в отношении будущих казахстанских законов, нормативных правовых актов, международных конвенций. Нормативно-правовая база, составляющая одну из основ Стратегической доктрины, подразделяется на будущую законодательную базу в отношении автомобилестроения, железнодорожного машиностроения, сельскохозяйственного машиностроения и на нормы действующих и новых международных конвенций по вопросам цифровизации, автоматизации, роботизации производства заводов автомобильного, железнодорожного, сельскохозяйственного машиностроения.

ПРОЦЕС КИТАЇЗАЦІЇ МАРКСИЗМУ: ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ТЕОРЕТИЧНОЇ РЕКОНСТРУКЦІЇ ЛІ ЦЗЮНЬЖУ

The attributive characteristics of the conceptual approach, which forms one of the dominant ideational and political-ideological trends in Chinese historical-philosophical and social science discourses and provides justification for the narrative that the axis of development of Marxist thought in China during the 1930s–2010s was a gradual process of its Sinicization, are analyzed and revealed based on the study of publications by representatives of the Chinese community of philosophers and social scientists as well as the provisions of the CPC’s basic program documents. The philosophical-methodological, socio-political, and ideological features of such a nationalized version of the Marxist theoretical model, which received the name «Sinicized Marxism («Marxism with Chinese characteristics») in modern literature, have been revealed and characterized by means of a theoretical comparison of ideas from various and sometimes alternative interpretations by Chinese scientists of the history and logic of the relationship between the Western, Soviet (Marxism-Leninism) and Chinese Marxism and, above all, through a thorough analysis of the theoretical reconstruction, done by Li Junju, of the essence, stages and defining tendencies of the purposeful and initiated by the leaders of the CPC adaptation of axiomatics and the political and ideological component of the Marxist teaching to the conditions and tasks of national-state and socialist construction in the PRC. It was the system of his socio-political and ideological prescriptions and values that formed the theoretical foundation of the strategic doctrine of the Communist Party of China — «building socialism with Chinese characteristics».

Development of Organisational Resilience within SMEs through Implementation of Strategic Thinking

The focus of entrepreneurial, strategic and managerial concerns regarding the ensuring of survivability and achievement of successful competitive leverage within, primarily, the turbulent international commercial and business environments, has become concentrated on the development of organisational resilience to withstand the pernicious implications imparted by business discourses by situational complications. The recurrent global financial crises, trigger by divergent and multiplicity of factors, have impinged upon the survivability of business organisations of differential demeanours. The corresponding research endeavour has been oriented towards evaluation of development of constructive response based strategic policies of such SMEs from the organisational resilience angle through determination of the implications of strategic planning and thinking processes which could be employed by such business entities to foment crisis management capacities at the functional and operational domains. Specific research effort has been utilised to demonstrate the characteristics and constituents of the concept of organisational resilience and the influence of strategic management doctrines on such conceptual disciplines. The focal point of the research has been to assessment the empirical evidence regarding achievement of required degrees of organisational resilience, especially by the SMEs. The research undertaking has been cognisant equitably about the inherent deficiencies of SMEs and has involved considerable academic rigour regarding analysis of the prospects of latent opportunities within crisis situations which could be achieved through proficiencies of strategic planning and implementation of the same. The utility of the conducted research has been envisioned as outlining strategic features through which SMEs could ensure organisational resilience-based survivability.

Strategic Universality in the Axial Age: The Doctrine of Prudence in Political Leadership

ABSTRACT The debate on the epistemological significance of leadership versus domestic politics or strategic culture remains fervent in modern International Relations. We suggest that there is a consensus found in classical Greek and Chinese texts about the core elements of realism and the consequentiality of political leadership on strategic choice. By engaging in a comparative study of strategic concepts emanating from pre-Qin China and Classical Greek strategic texts (which were developed independently into two closed hegemonic systems), we argue that the strategic logics of the West and East attest to the existence of a universal canon of strategy, one that places a premium on political leadership. Moreover, a shared intercultural strategic doctrine acknowledges the importance of utilitarian morality in politics, a consequentiality embedded within the structural restrictions of the interstate system and the constancy of human nature.

"Strategic Doctrine and Cyber Threats Realization"

يعد الأمن السيبراني واحداً من اهم نقاط الانكشاف والضعف التي تصيب حرجاً للاستراتيجية القومية للدولة كونها اصبحت مدخلاً جديداً ومهدداً واسعاً وممارستها تلوث العقيدة واركانها . ما دامت لا تتعدى بوصفها إدارة تقنية للمعلومات، إدارة إيجابية تتمثل بالحماية والأمن، وسلبية حيث الحرب والهجوم والجرائم، وفي محض دراستنا سنوضح مجريات العقيدة الاستراتيجية وادراكها للتهديدات السيبرانية . تعتمد العقيدة الاستراتيجية للدول والمنظمات على إدراكها للتهديدات السيبرانية والتعامل معها بفعالية. تزايدت التهديدات السيبرانية في العقدين الأخيرين مع التقدم التكنولوجي والاعتماد المتزايد على الأنظمة الرقمية. تشمل هذه التهديدات الهجمات على البنى التحتية الحيوية، سرقة البيانات، التجسس السيبراني، والهجمات الإرهابية. إدراك هذه التهديدات يتطلب تطوير استراتيجيات دفاعية تعتمد على التعاون الدولي، وتبادل المعلومات، وتطوير تكنولوجيا الحماية السيبرانية. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، يتعين على الدول تعزيز القدرات الوطنية من خلال تدريب الخبراء، وتعزيز الوعي الأمني بين الأفراد والمؤسسات، وتحديث التشريعات لتشمل الجرائم السيبرانية. تساهم هذه الجهود في بناء بيئة رقمية أكثر أمانًا، مما يعزز الاستقرار والأمن الوطني ويضمن استمرارية الأعمال والخدمات الأساسية.

The connection between the «color revolutions» and the strategic doctrines of the United States (late 20th century — 2014)

After the collapse of the USSR, fundamentally new phenomena appeared on the world arena, which became a watershed separating the bipolar order from the monopolar order associated with the establishment of the US global hegemony. Such phenomena were the events that are most often called «revolutions» in connection with the scale of the changes being made — «velvet revolutions» in the former Eastern Bloc, as well as revolutions of a different type, which ended in a change in the current regimes with such serious consequences that we are also talking about revolutionary transformations. These are technologies of «color revolutions» that allow organizing artificial and seemingly spontaneous mass protests leading to the removal of the legitimate government operating in the country and, in fact, to the seizure of power by a pro-American forces that ensure the Westernization of the country and the implementation of "neoliberal modernization", which essentially means the opening of national markets and the provision of natural resources for the undivided use of the Western factor (TNC and TNB). «Color revolutions» are inseparable from the strategic documents of the United States, in which, from the end of the 20th century, even before the collapse of the USSR, two main tendencies were clearly traced: the expansion of the right to unilateral use of force up to a preemptive strike, which is inextricably linked with the ideological justification of «missionary» American foreign policy, and the right to «assess» the internal state of affairs in countries and change it to a «democratic format», that is, «democratization». «Color revolutions», although they are not directly mentioned in strategic documents, but, being a «technical package of actions», straightforwardly follow from the right, assigned to itself by Washington, to unilateral use of force, which is gradually expanding from exclusively military actions to a comprehensive impact on an opponent country, i.e. essentially a hybrid war. Thus, the «color revolutions» clearly fit into the strategic concept of Washington on the use of force across the entire spectrum (conventional and unconventional war) under the pretext of «democratization». The article examines the period of registration and expansion of the US right to use force (which, according to the current international law, is a crime without a statute of limitations) in the time interval from the end of the twentieth century until 2014, filling semantic content about the need for «democratic transformations» of other states, with which the United States approached the key point of the events of the «Arab spring» and «color revolutions» in the post-Soviet space, the last and most ambitious of which was the «Euromaidan» in Ukraine in 2014. The article presents the material for the preparation of lectures and seminars in the framework of the training fields «International Relations» and «Political Science».

The Conceptual Reworking of Deterrence Theory in American Nuclear Doctrine: The Emergence of a Countervailing Strategy

The development of a countervailing nuclear strategy was a salient feature of U.S. national security policy during the 1970s and 1980s. This article sets out the conceptual elements of that strategy and identifies the environmental factors that led to its emergence as the informing principle of the era’s American strategic doctrine. The strategy’s counterforce and nuclear warfighting premises are assessed in terms of their impact on security policy outcomes by analyzing the contending arguments of the leading proponents and critics of intra-war deterrence.

Turkey’s Islamic Public Diplomacy in the Post-Davutoğlu Era: Neo-Ottomanism, Humanitarianism and the Legitimation of Hamas after the Arab Spring

Summary What are the public diplomacy strategies for legitimising a pro-Islamist foreign policy? This research unveils how Turkey, which has been a vocal supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates across the Middle East since the Arab Spring, draws on pan-Islamic soft power, neo-Ottoman myth-making and public diplomacy strategies embedded in the precepts of the strategic depth doctrine to rationalise its pro-Hamas foreign policy position under the Justice and Development Party (AKP). By employing critical discourse analysis to the political speeches delivered by the Turkish government officials in domestic and international fora, this article suggests that Turkey has sought to legitimise its pro-Islamist foreign policy and subvert the terrorist designation of Hamas internationally through the humanitarian, Islamic and neo-Ottoman framings of the Palestinian issue. It is argued that Turkey’s public diplomacy of Hamas constitutes part and parcel of the AKP’s grand strategy to project Islamic soft power.

Improving of reparative osteogenesis in patients diagnosed with chronic generalised periodontitis

Pathological condition of periodontal structures presents a most complicated and wide spread problem in modern stomatology. According to data provided by WHO the periodontal disorders affect from 55 % up to 99% of population between the ages of 15 to 20 years and varies from 65% up to 98% in the age group from 35 to 44 years. It has to be emphasized that there is none a single efficient treatment of generalized chronic periodontitis. Therefore, it is vital to improve the existent methods and find the new ones in diagnosis and management of periodontal disorders. The latter remains an actual subject of modern periodontology and surgical stomatology and exceeds a strategic doctrine on the whole. The article demonstrates the results gained by surgical treatment of chronic generalized periodontitis, III degree of severity obtained by administration of bone-plastic material “Osteoplast-К” together with barrier membrane “Parodoncol” and pharmacological agent with immunomodulating effect «Extra Erbisol». We have observed the high efficiency of the recommended treatment that was proved by positive dynamic of alkali nephosphatase (ALP) in the blood serum of the main group over the period from 4 to 30 days by 21,7% comparing to the initial level (р < 0,05). This investigation suggests that there is higher alveolar bone regeneration in the patients from the main group after the introduced treatment comparing to the control group. On the other hand, activity of aminotranspherase did not changed significantly before and after operation in the control group. The findings also prove that there is no harmful influence of pharmacological agents used in this scheme.

New offensive strategy of Washington and Tokyo in the APR

The article is devoted to an important and topical issue - the advancement by the new American administration of an offensive strategy in the Asia-Pacific region (APR), aimed at ensuring the leading role in the region of the United States and its allies and applying, if necessary, the use of force. This strategy has led to a serious shift in the overall situation in the region and to rising tensions. The main target of this strategy is China, which is claimed to be "the only competitor capable of presenting a real challenge to a stable and open international system". On the one hand, China in recent years has become an important economical partner to the countries of the APR, but its rapid growth and “assertive policy undermining existing status-quo” raised, as it stated by Washington and Tokyo,great anxiety. A special role in the U.S. policy is given to Japan, which has taken a course towards further strengthening the Japanese-American alliance and enhancing its role in the affairs inthe region and on the world stage. The concept of a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific region" (FOIP) has been put forward by Washington and Tokyo, as their central strategic doctrine. An important component of this policy is a significant build-up of military efforts by these countries in the APR - in the context of the confrontation with Beijing. Although the situation is reallydangerous and the parties will have to reckon with new circumstances, carefully calibrating their actions, however, each of them, as expected, will try to avoid a direct armed clash that could have unpredictable consequences.

Glasnost in Soviet Strategic Doctrine During the Gorbachev Era

The paper attempts to fathom the series of initiatives taken by Gorbachev aimed at global disarmament and arms control. The renewed interest in arms control and disarmament was mainly due to the initiatives taken by Soviet Union. It presents Gorbachev’s novoye myshleniye in the field of arms control negotiations and analyse the onslaught of peace proposals put forward by him. Gorbachev’s new thinking and his impassioned appeals to USA to enter negotiations to freeze the arms race gave a new facet to the process of arms control mechanism. In keeping with the Leninist tradition of peaceful co-existence, Gorbachev gave the clarion call for a world free of nuclear weapons. He followed it up with a set of unilateral proposals, which received applause from even his critics in the west.

Transformation of the Political Discourse of the Ukrainian Elite in the Context of Competition between the Russian Federation and the West: 2004–2014

The article establishes the relationship between the interests of the Ukrainian establishment and the foreign policy vector of Kyiv. The author identified the main actors who determined the specifics of the transformation of the strategic course of Ukraine. On the one hand, the author revealed the critical problems of European integration and on the other hand, the improvement/ degradation of relations with the Russian Federation. The author evaluated the strategic doctrines used by the Ukrainian elite and analysed main changes in the approaches of the Ukrainian establishment. This article considers the reaction of Russian and Ukrainian political elites to the correction of the foreign policy imperatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, respectively. Also, the author, using the theory of the “heavy” and “light” fractions of Ukrainian political elites as an example, identifies specific features of the correlation between the replacement/renewal of key elite groups and the adaptation of the strategic vector, including a qualitative rethinking of the approaches inherent in the replaced establishment. On the other hand, the author compared between the declared positions/slogans and specific doctrines/concepts, initiated, for example, by individual actors of the political elite. The author analyses the main reasons for the soft dismantling of the so-called multi-vector diplomacy in favour of the Euro-Atlantic course. Also, in the article, concerning the realities of Ukraine, the influence of the political model of “shapeless pluralism” of hybrid regimes on the transformation of the foreign policy’ agenda.