Setting the Strategic Cat among the Policy Pigeons: The Problems and Paradoxes of Western Intervention Strategy

M. L.R. Smith

doi:10.1080/1057610X.2021.1903669

Setting the Strategic Cat among the Policy Pigeons: The Problems and Paradoxes of Western Intervention Strategy

M. L.R. Smith^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

War Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

In theory, the idea of strategy is easy to comprehend but in practice it is a hard taskmaster because it often involves calculations of political values that are rarely amenable to the kind of rationalistic application of “expert” opinion to which Western nations invariably default when considering overseas interventions. Based on remarks to the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre, this research note argues that foreign policy experts frequently find themselves out of touch with the sentiments of their own populations, which in part is responsible for the poor strategic outcomes that Western foreign policies have incurred in recent years. A number of remedies are suggested, based principally on returning Western policy making to a tradition of prudential realism.

Original language	English
Journal	STUDIES IN CONFLICT AND TERRORISM
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2021.1903669
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 2021

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Setting the Strategic Cat among the Policy Pigeons: The Problems and Paradoxes of Western Intervention Strategy

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