Read on Twitter
@dandrezner, Ron Krebs, and Randall Schweller make an excellent case for grand strategy by arguing that it does not exist. 1/ https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2020-04-13/end-grand-strategy">https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/...
@NinaSilove points out that "grand strategy" can mean "grand plans," "grand principles," or "grand behavior." DKS are only talking about the end of grand plans, which many have long been skeptical about. 2/ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09636412.2017.1360073">https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...
But DKS actually propose something like grand principles--beware entropy, experiment carefully--and an explanation of grand behavior--polarized U.S. domestic politics, and "nonpolarism"--which incidentally also explains why grand plans are all but impossible today in the U.S. 3/
And then there& #39;s that word--entropy. Here, and Schweller& #39;s book about Demons and Apples, entropy keeps getting conflated with complexity, which in many ways is the opposite of entropy (i.e., far from thermodynamic equilibrium). 4/
The other word, nonpolarism, seems custom-made for consumers of grand principles inclined to assume that Everything Has Changed. This seems a bit inconsistent coming from @dandrezner who regularly reminds us of the importance of states. 5/ #metadata_info_tab_contents">https://www.jstor.org/stable/20202392?seq=1 #metadata_info_tab_contents">https://www.jstor.org/stable/20...
But even if I question the historical claim of novelty, I am willing to buy that both point validly to something about world politics today that we can only describe as disorienting, chaotic, uncertain, frightening, etc., and certainly Very Complex. 6/
And this is a world in which we really need grand plans to make our way, if only as a baseline to explain why grand behavior is so often so dysfunctional in this same world. 7/
Note further that grand plans (or principles) need not imply grand results. I teach comparative grand strategy in Canada, which will, for better or for worse, never ever be able to do anything without taking into account the hyperactivity of its younger and stronger cousin. 8/
Even the weakest actor needs something like a grand strategy to figure out how to use its diplomatic, informational, military, and economic resources to at least survive if not thrive. A grand strategy need not have grand ends. 9/
But the title "The End of Great Power Grand Plans for Great Results and A Grandly Principled Call for A Grand Strategy more Consistent with the Grand Behavior of all the Relevant Political Actors in the World, Great and Not-so-Great" would not have been, well, so great. FIN
