Must Reads
The following is a running list of strategic references that everyone should read:
GRAND STRATEGY
Title: A NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY PRIMER
Citation: HEFFINGTON, STEVEN, ADAM OLER, and DAVID TRETLER. "PRIMER."
Note: Readers can search CRS Reports for background when developing their own informal National Security Strategy.
Title: National Security Strategy: Mandates, Execution to Date, and Issues for Congress
Citation: Dale, Catherine. National Security Strategy: Mandates, Execution to Date, and Issues for Congress. Vol. 43174. Congressional Research Service, 2013.
Note: This reference is useful for readers who are willing to take the next step of understanding the actual process before drafting and advocating their own informal national security strategy.
Title: The 2015 national security strategy: Authorities, changes, issues for Congress
Citation: Lucas, N. J., & McInnis, K. J. (2015). The 2015 national security strategy: Authorities, changes, issues for Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.
Note: The section, "Linking Goals to Resources and Activities," Page 5, provides an overview of what needs to be considered by thinkers and planners when developing a national security strategy.
GENERAL STRATEGY
Title: Strategy as Simple Rules
Citation: Eisenhardt, Kathleen M., and Donald N. Sull. Strategy as simple rules. Vol. 6, no. 4. Harvard Bus Pub, 2001.
Note: This paper describes simple rules for decision making and fundamental strategic approaches in plain language.
Title: How strategists really think
Citation: Gavetti, Giovanni, and Jan W. Rivkin. "How strategists really think." Harvard Business Review 83, no. 4 (2005): 54-63.
Note: This is paper provides a method of using analogies to solve problems in a business context. Their methods (e.g., “Avoiding Superficial Analogies”) can easily be applied to areas other than business.
SYSTEMS
Title: Dealing with femtorisks in international relations
Citation: Frank, Aaron Benjamin, Margaret Goud Collins, Simon A. Levin, Andrew W. Lo, Joshua Ramo, Ulf Dieckmann, Victor Kremenyuk et al. "Dealing with femtorisks in international relations." Proceedings of the national academy of sciences 111, no. 49 (2014): 17356-17362.
Note: This PNAS paper provides examples of how complex adaptive systems operate in the global community. It discusses how to analyze and deal with the systemic risks that result from real-world complex adaptive systems.
Title: Systems engineering principles and practice
Citation: Kossiakoff, Alexander, William N. Sweet, Samuel J. Seymour, and Steven M. Biemer. Systems engineering principles and practice. Vol. 83. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Note: This is a great source of information about applying system engineering principles.
Title: Systems versus classical approach to warfare
Title: Systems versus classical approach to warfare
Citation: Vego, Milan N. "Systems versus classical approach to warfare." (2009).
Note: Draws useful distinctions between approaches to war and cautions readers about some of the traps in dismissing classical theories of warfare.
POWER
Title: A Network Theory of Power
Citation: Castells, Manuel. "Network theory| A network theory of power." International journal of communication 5 (2011): 15.
Note: Everyone who studies power, should be familiar with Castell's theory of power in the information age. This is a difficult read, because of how many times the words, "power" and "networks" are used, in isolation or in combinations with each other.
Title: A Sociology of Power: My Intellectual Journey
Citation: Castells, Manuel. "A sociology of power: My intellectual journey." Annual Review of Sociology 42, no. 1 (2016): 1-19.
Note: This paper clarifies many of the concepts in: "A Network Theory of Power."
Title: The network society revisited
Citation: Castells, Manuel. "The network society revisited." American Behavioral Scientist 67, no. 7 (2023): 940-946.
Note: Castells reconsiders his theory based on social changes in the last decade.
Title: Switching power: Rupert Murdoch and the global business of media politics: A sociological analysis
Citation: Arsenault, Amelia, and Manuel Castells. "Switching power: Rupert Murdoch and the global business of media politics: A sociological analysis." International Sociology 23, no. 4 (2008): 488-513.
Note: This is a detailed exploration of Manual Castells hypothesis of how power works in the network society, through a case study of Rupert Murdoch, CEO of NewsCorp.
POWER ELITE
Title: Who Rules America?: The Corporate Rich, White Nationalist Republicans, and Inclusionary Democrats in the 2020s
Citation: Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America?: The Corporate Rich, White Nationalist Republicans, and Inclusionary Democrats in the 2020s. Routledge, 2021.
Note: Additional material from the author can be found at: https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/
Title: Studying the power elite: Fifty years of who rules America?
Citation: Domhoff, G. William. Studying the power elite: Fifty years of who rules America?. Routledge, 2017.
Note: This book provides critiques of the "Who Rules America?" book series.
Title: Giants: The Global Power Elite
Citation: Phillips, Peter. Giants: The global power elite. Seven Stories Pres s, 2018.
Note: Giants, and the two "Who Rules America" references, are great starting points for developing preliminary theories of power in today's society.
DEEP STATE
Title: Political oversight, the rule of law, and Iran-Contra
Citation: Walsh, L. E. (1994). Political oversight, the rule of law, and Iran-Contra. Clev. St. L. Rev., 42, 587.
Note: Detailed description of how a “deep state” has operated in the past, from a reliable source.
CULTURE
Title: Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight
Citation: Geertz, Clifford. "Deep play: Notes on the Balinese cockfight." In New Critical Writings in Political Sociology, pp. 383-413. Routledge, 2024.
Note: Regardless of the validity of the author's interpretations; this paper is assigned reading in many college anthropology classes. It has been used to analyze the social and cultural dynamics of different communities.
ECONOMICS/FINANCE
Title: Who's in Charge of Global Finance
Citation: Barr, Michael S. "Who's in Charge of Global Finance." Geo. J. Int'l L. 45 (2013): 971.
Note: Published in 2013, this provides a historical account of the international financial architecture: post-World War to the Global Financial Crisis reforms.
Title: Office of Financial Research. 2012 Annual Report
Citation: Office of Financial Research. 2012 Annual Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Treasury, July 20, 2012. https://www.financialresearch.gov/annual-reports/2012-annual-report/
Note: Scan through the report. The following key sections of this report are invaluable for understanding our financial system: 2.1.1 Understand the Financial System; 2.1.2 Assess Risks and Vulnerabilities; 2.1.3 Evaluate Mitigants; 2.2 Current Threats to Financial Stability; and Glossary.
Title: In The Global Competitiveness Report 2014–2015
Citation: World Economic Forum. "THE 12 PILLARS OF COMPETITIVENESS." In The Global Competitiveness Report 2014–2015: Full Data Edition, Pages 4-9. Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2014.
Note: Provides a great starting point for analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a nation’s economy.
PUBLIC POLICY
Title: Congressional Research Service Reports on National Security and Defense Policy
Citation: Aftergood, Steven. Congressional Research Service Reports on National Security and Defense Policy. Federation of American Scientists. Last updated August 20, 2024. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/.
Note: This is a list of CRS Defense Primers. It includes, "Defense Primer: A Guide for New Members," shown below.
Title: Defense Primer: A Guide for New Members
Citation: U.S. Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, Defense Primer: A Guide for New Members (Washington, DC: CRS, Publication Date).
Note: These issue briefs are intended to provide members of Congress an overview of important aspects of the Department of Defense and Congress' authority over it. Serious activists in international relations and security studies should at least know as much as a freshmen member of Congress!
HISTORY
Title: The Memo
Citation: Powell Jr, Lewis F. "The memo." (1971).
Note: The "Powell Memorandum" was written by future U.S. Supreme Court justice, Lewis F. Powell Jr., before his nomination to the court. This battle plan became a blueprint for the modern conservative movement. This is a good starting point for anyone serious about developing counter strategies against the right.
MODELS
Title: The general systems perspective
Citation: "The general systems perspective" from The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition, Volume 27, Macropaedia, Knowledge in Depth, 2005, page 359.
Note: This entry provides some of the best insights for modeling how real-world actors interact with complex environments.
EDUCATION
Title: Educating Strategic Thinkers
Citation: Paul K. Van Riper, "Educating Strategic Thinkers," in Exploring Strategic Thinking: Insights to Assess, Develop, and Retain Army Strategic Thinkers, Research Product 2013-01, ed. Heather M.K. Wolters, Anna P. Grome, and Ryan M. Hinds (United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, 2013), 22–27.
Note: This section lists six fundamental elements for a strategic thinker's education.
LEADERSHIP
Title: Leading change
Citation: Ganz, Marshall, Nitin Nohria, and Rakesh Khurana. "Leading change." In Handbook of leadership theory and practice: a Harvard Business School centennial colloquium. 2010.
Note: Whether you agree or disagree; the authors present an easy-to-follow theory, that is clearly stated.
SOCIAL CHANGE
Title: Changing state structures: Outside in
Citation: Krasner, Stephen D. "Changing state structures: Outside in."
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, no. supplement_4 (2011): 21302-21307.
Note: Discusses how power can be exercised by domestic authority structures.
Title: Collapse, environment, and society.
Title: Collapse, environment, and society
Citation: Butzer, Karl W. "Collapse, environment, and society." Proceedings of the national Academy of Sciences 109, no. 10 (2012): 3632-3639.
Note: Proposes a conceptual model for how past societies have collapsed.
HUMAN DYNAMICS
Title: Human Dynamics
Citation: "Human Dynamics." Technical Digest 30, no. 1 (2011).
Notes: This volume describes in detail how human dynamics is practiced in the real world.
It describes examples of how human dynamics is implemented by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, including: sociocultural modeling, sentiment analysis, and cognitive engineering.
MEDIA
Title: An integrated model of communication influence on beliefs.
Citation: Eveland Jr, W. P., & Cooper, K. E. (2013). An integrated model of communication influence on beliefs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110 (supplement_3), 14088-14095.
Note: This paper is about more than the role of communication influencing scientific beliefs. The authors present a plausible Integrated Model for Communication Influence on Beliefs (IMCIB), based on different theories. The paper summarizes these theories and provides useful diagram of the author's IMCIB model.
TEACHING
Title: Teaching intelligence: briefing books, murder boards, and stirring scenarios.
Citation: Johnson, Loch K. "Teaching intelligence: briefing books, murder boards, and stirring scenarios." Intelligence and National Security 32, no. 7 (2017): 961-971.
Note: The author begins by reviewing some basic teaching principles. He then describes how he incorporates two important exercises into his National Security Intelligence class project (mock congressional committee Task Forces): (1) the development of a Briefing Book, and (2) the use of murder boards. These exercises are useful for many projects outside the intelligence field.