29 August 2012

Thomas Mahnken’s Conclusion to “Competitive Strategies for the 21st Century: Theory, History, and Practice”

Thomas G. Mahnken, “Conclusion,” in Thomas Mahnken, ed., Competitive Strategies for the 21st Century: Theory, History, and Practice (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012), 301-05.

Click here for additional information on this edited volume.

This volume has sought to stimulate interest in formulating and implementing long-term strategies for defending U.S. interests in the face of growing Chinese military power. Its chapters have described the theory of peacetime competition and its practice during the Cold War and have speculated as to its utility in Sino-American competition.

This chapter concludes the volume by broadening the framework articulated in previous chapters and identifying avenues for further research. Specifically, it argues that greater work needs to be done to explore the contours of past peacetime competitions, understand the dynamics of Sino-American strategic interaction, and apply the competitive strategies approach to other contemporary challenges. …

 For full text of one of the works cited, see Andrew Erickson, Gabriel Collins, Lyle Goldstein, and William Murray, “Chinese Evaluations of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force,” Naval War College Review 61.1 (Winter 2008): 68-86.