Political Warfare: Strategies for Combating China's Plan to 'Win Without Fighting'

Kerry Gershaneck — a retired Marine Corps intelligence officer and former journalist who has worked extensively in Asia — provides the most operationally grounded available account of Chinese political warfare doctrine and its application against democratic states. The book analyses China's 'Three Warfares' concept — psychological warfare, public opinion warfare, and legal warfare — as integrated components of a coherent political warfare strategy designed to achieve strategic objectives without kinetic conflict. Gershaneck draws on Chinese military doctrine, documented operations, and his own operational experience to produce a framework that is more practically useful than most academic treatments.

The book is particularly relevant for practitioners advising clients with significant exposure to Chinese influence operations — government clients in the Indo-Pacific, academic institutions with Chinese partnerships, businesses operating in China or dependent on Chinese supply chains. Gershaneck is frank about Western vulnerabilities and the inadequacy of existing counter-measures, and his recommendations are specific and operationally grounded. Published open access by the Marine Corps University Press, this is one of the most valuable practitioner-facing resources on Chinese information operations available.