Talking Strategy6 Syys 2022

S1E9: Colin S Gray, Strategic Culture, and What is Good Enough with Dr Jeannie Johnson

Dr Jeannie Johnson, Director of the Center for Anticipatory Intelligence at Utah State University, joins us to discuss the legacy of Colin S Gray. Most notable for originating Donald Rumsfeld's 'unknown unknowns' through his tetrarchy of enquiry, Gray's thinking on strategic culture remains influential today.

With a career and influence straddling the Atlantic, and as an adviser to successive US administrations, Colin S Gray was a favourite in military academies. His approach went beyond theory and into practice, enabling him to challenge much of the abstract International Relations (IR) theory and to ground thinking and strategy in hard reality. One of Gray's key contributions to strategic thought was his enquiry into strategic culture. He cautioned against the assumptions underlying game theory and many other IR theories that claim that the enemy necessarily thinks like us. Instead, he would ask, 'what is the organisational culture engendering, what are the habits and patterns of thinking that we need to factor in when forecasting the enemy's moves, and how will the enemy react to our moves in a crisis?' In most contexts of crisis intervention, our resources are limited, so this response, he emphasised, could not be perfect. What, then, would be 'good enough'?

That having a particular strategic culture is not an attribute only of the adversary has been demonstrated by Gray's disciple Dr Jeannie Johnson, who will discuss his legacy with us. Herself a specialist on the US Marine Corps' (and wider US) strategic culture, she is the founding Director of the Center for Anticipatory Intelligence at Utah State University, and conducts research on cultural terrain mapping for the public sector.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(101)

S6E22: Delivering National Security Strategies

Former UN Ambassador and National Security Advisor Sir Mark Lyall Grant discusses the challenges facing delivery of Western security strategies. In this season of Talking Strategy we have explored man...

14 Heinä 38min

S6E21: Dr Jack Watling on Ukrainian Adaptation to War

In our 100th episode, we talk to RUSI senior research fellow Dr Jack Watling about the transformation in Ukraine in response to Russia's War. Against what many considered a materially superior adversa...

30 Kesä 33min

S6E20: Preparing for War: Adaptable Forces and Societies

Professor Olivier Schmitt describes the systemic challenges of military transformation, given rapidly evolving technology and NATO's distinct strategic cultures. Modern defence and security reviews hi...

16 Kesä 36min

S6E19: Adversarial Strategy: Russia's Preparations for a Long War

We look at how Russia's armed forces are learning lessons from combat and examine Moscow's ambitions in its war against Ukraine. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine is part of a long-term, much larger ...

2 Kesä 32min

S6E18: Bullion to Bullets: Mobilising the Financial Markets

The Centre for Economic Security's Dr Rebecca Harding argues for the importance of financial markets as the fourth pillar in supporting effective mobilisation. Conversations about industrial mobilisat...

19 Touko 35min

S6E17: Industrial Mobilisation: Harnessing the Capacity of Defence Primes Andrea Thompson

Despite an increasing focus on SMEs, effective industrial mobilisation must also better harness the power of traditional defence firms. Andrea Thompson from BAE Systems explains how. The excitement in...

5 Touko 36min

S6E16: Harnessing Disruptors in the Defence Industrial Ecosystem: Anduril Industries

The preparedness of Western armed forces for conflict is something that has featured prominently in many defence reviews. Christian Brose, Anduril's President & Chief Strategy Officer, describes how g...

21 Huhti 41min

S6E15: Integrating Today's Forces for Air and Missile Defence

Rear Admiral Archer M Macy Jr describes today's military, organisational, human and cultural risks and opportunities in integrating forces for air and missile defence. Many modern defence reviews focu...

8 Huhti 33min