Strategy in the Contemporary World

John Baylis is Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Relations and a former Pro-Vice Chancellor at Swansea University. Prior to that he was Professor of International Politics and Dean of Social Sciences at Aberystwyth University. He has published more than 20 books and over a hundred chapters and articles. His books include Sharing Nuclear Secrets: Trust, Mistrust and Ambiguity in Anglo-American Nuclear Relations since 1939, with Anthony Eames (Oxford University Press, 2023); The British Nuclear Experience: The Role of Beliefs, Culture and Identity, with Kristan Stoddart (Oxford University Press, 2015); The Makers of Nuclear Strategy, with John Garnett (Pinter, 1991); and The Globalization of World Politics, edited with Steve Smith and Patricia Owens (10th edn, Oxford University Press, 2026). He has a BA, MSc (Econ), PhD, and DLitt from Swansea and Aberystwyth Universities.James J. Wirtz is a Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He is the author of Understanding Intelligence Failure (Routledge, 2017). Along with Loch Johnson, he is the editor of Intelligence: The Secret World of Spies (6th edn, Oxford University Press, 2022). He received his PhD from Columbia University.Jeannie L. Johnson is the Founding Director of the Center for Anticipatory Intelligence at Utah State University and a Professor in the Political Science department. She is the author of The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture: Lessons Learned and Lost in America's Wars (Georgetown University Press, 2018), and the co-editor of Routledge Handbook of Strategic Culture (Routledge, 2024) and Crossing Nuclear Thresholds: Leveraging Socio-Cultural Insights into Nuclear Decisionmaking (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). Dr Johnson previously worked for the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence and the US State Department. She received her doctorate from the University of Reading in 2013.Danielle F. S. Cohen is the Director of the Public Policy Program at Lake Forest College, where she teaches courses in public policy, international relations, and modern East Asian history. She is the co-author, with Gilbert Rozman and Yun Sun, of Xi Jinping's Quest for a Sinocentric Asia, 2013-2024: Deciphering Chinese Strategic Thinking in a Pivotal Period (Routledge, 2025) and has been a frequent contributor to The Asan Forum. She received her PhD in Government from Cornell University in 2016.

• 1: Introduction: strategy in the contemporary world Part I: enduring issues of strategy 2: The history of the practice of strategy from antiquity to Napoleon 3: The evolution of modern warfare: Napoleon-Cold War 4: The evolution of modern warfare: 1990-today 5: Strategic theory 6: The causes of war 7: Strategic culture 8: Law, politics, and the use of force 9: Technology and warfare 10: Intelligence and strategy 11: Strategic terrain 12: Cyber: security, espionage, and warfare 13: Strategy and outer space Part II: contemporary problems 14: Irregular warfare: terrorism and insurgency 15: Nuclear weapons in the Twenty-first Century 16: The control of weapons of mass destruction 17: Conventional power and contemporary warfare 18: Humanitarian intervention and peace operations 19: Geopolitics and grand strategy 20: Chinese grand strategy Part III: the future of strategy 21: Strategic studies: The West and the rest 22: Strategic studies and its critics 23: A new agenda for security and strategy? 24: The practice of strategy 25: Does strategic studies have a future?

This is a comprehensive, engaging introductory textbook focusing on some of the key issues in Strategic StudiesIt has a stellar line-up of authors, including some of the best-known and most incisive scholars in the field.