Freedman's magnum opus traces the concept of strategy from ancient Greece through Carl von Clausewitz to modern business management and political theory, producing the most comprehensive intellectual history of strategic thinking in the literature. The ambition of the project is matched by the quality of execution: Freedman reads across military history, political philosophy, social science, and organisational theory to show how the concept of strategy has evolved, been contested, and been applied — and misapplied — across centuries and domains.
For practitioners in strategic communications and influence operations, this book performs an essential function: it grounds contemporary practice in a historical and theoretical tradition that most current frameworks ignore. The confusion between strategy and tactics, between ends and means, between coercion and persuasion, and between narrative and reality are not new problems — they are problems that have been worked through repeatedly in different contexts. Freedman's synthesis shows what the accumulated understanding actually contains. Strategic communications that is not informed by strategic theory is just messaging; this book provides the theory.
Cogitavi commentary
Freedman's magnum opus traces the concept of strategy from ancient Greece through Carl von Clausewitz to modern business management and political theory, producing the most comprehensive intellectual history of strategic thinking in the literature. The ambition of the project is matched by the quality of execution: Freedman reads across military history, political philosophy, social science, and organisational theory to show how the concept of strategy has evolved, been contested, and been applied — and misapplied — across centuries and domains.
For practitioners in strategic communications and influence operations, this book performs an essential function: it grounds contemporary practice in a historical and theoretical tradition that most current frameworks ignore. The confusion between strategy and tactics, between ends and means, between coercion and persuasion, and between narrative and reality are not new problems — they are problems that have been worked through repeatedly in different contexts. Freedman's synthesis shows what the accumulated understanding actually contains. Strategic communications that is not informed by strategic theory is just messaging; this book provides the theory.