Contact Colin […] This consideration is the part of strategy-making where one considers the relative strengths and weaknesses of one’s self as well as one’s opponent. Aside from disclosing the range and complexity of strategic activity, Colin’s analysis is sobering because he notes that competence is required in all of the dimensions. The strategic culture fraternity convincingly argued that geography, historical experience, socially transmitted ideas, etc. Cutting through the many debates surrounding airpower (coercion, strategic bombing, irregular warfare), Colin cut to the chase with his definition (building upon Billy Mitchell): “Air power may be defined as the ability to do something strategically useful in the air.” Again, Colin was rightly focusing our attention on the process of strategic effect. Toward the end of his career, Colin challenged the orthodoxy again. March 20, 2020. Lay out the American Way of War in 25 words or less. He has been a Podcaster and Content creator for over a decade, and teaches others how to grow a business in the same way. The final purpose of strategy, too often overlooked, is the development of either missing capacity or the inadequate capability of an instrument of national power. Colin Gray —who shaped strategic studies as much as anyone— died last week. Gender and Security. In terms of strategic wisdom, it is overflowing. graph, Dr. Colin S. Gray explains that the only sources of empirical evidence accessible to us are the past and the present. In an age of postmodernism, Colin’s traditional and often strident approach to matters of war, especially his earlier work in nuclear strategy, ruffled feathers. Colin Gray is Professor of International Politics and Director of the Centre for Security Studies at the University of Hull. March 2, 2020. Rather, strategy’s natural spawning grounds are the confluence of politics, complexity, uncertainty, and constraints. The essence of strategy is the resolution of choices, tradeoffs, and risks produced by uncertainty. Military people similar to or like Colin Falkland Gray. War, Peace and International Relations by Colin S. Gray, 9780415594875, available at Book Depository with free delivery worldwide. In total, Gray puts forth 13 features that characterize the enduring traditional, and cultural, American military conduct in warfare. He once stressed that “strategies are theories, which is to say they are purported explanations of how desired effects can be achieved by selected causes of threat and action applied in a particular sequence.” This is not the only occurrence discovered belatedly. It was quite a thrill to watch one of the great strategic thinkers grapple with the core of his subject. Since strategy is an evolving contact sport, one should avoid what Lord Salisbury called the most common error, “sticking to the carcass of dead policy.” Thus, strategies should be thought of as adaptive in nature. Finally, Colin once said that the best ideas are in the pen, waiting to be released in the process of writing. Expressed most stridently in two journal articles, “Victory Is Possible” (1980) and “Nuclear Strategy: The Case for a Theory of Victory” (1979), Colin helped develop the nuclear strategy debate beyond the confines of deterrence theory and assured destruction. The gray zone might sit uncomfortably between war and peace, but that is due to our narrowly defined constructs of war and peace; our competitors are more flexible. He has shaped policy on nuclear strategy, arms control and special forces. Not that Colin would disagree with the difficulty of strategy, or American shortfalls: “In war after war,” he noted, “America demonstrates an acute strategy deficit.” There is plenty of evidence over the past two decades to suggest that a deficiency in conceptualizing and conducting national strategy afflicts the United States. These meetings were a lively forum where we discussed the strategic topics of the day, but also aspects of the academic profession. But in exploring the literature, it became apparent to me that the “black hole,” or missing element in strategy, was also missing from my own set of fundamental considerations. Professor Williamson Murray has taught at a number of academic and military institutions, including the Air War College, the United States Military Academy, and the Naval War College. While taking note of Clausewitz’s emphasis on focused aims, Gray grasped that “the practicing strategist has to be ready to adapt as the unique and unpredictable, though not necessarily unanticipateable, course of a war unfolds.”. Rethinking the Past Francis J. Gavin. Relations: An Introduction to Strategic History. doi: 10.1080/ Despite his substantial workload, Colin willingly ran weekly Ph.D. seminars and brown-bag lunches. Colin Falkland Gray. Colin Gray's opening essay "The American Way of War: Critique and Implications" provides a state of the question perspective. Before publishing my putative discovery, I did some further research and found that I had overlooked this central element in Gray’s body of work. Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX of Colin Gray - camouflage created by Aotea | Download here Born on 9th November 1914, the twin brothers Colin and Ken, grew up in Wellington and Christchurch, New Zealand. Rather less adequate, Dr. Gray suggests, is the traditional American way of war. I knew Colin for 25 years, studying under him and working with him at both Hull and Reading universities. Strategy relies upon intelligence and knowledge of the other side, but as Colin stressed, the future is not foreseeable and strategy is laid on a foundation of assumption, guesses, and genius. Ultimately, policymakers “must weigh imponderables through structured debates that pare away personal, organizational, and national illusions and conceits.” They must squarely face the parochial interests of bureaucracy, accurately discern strategic options, and make choices with imperfect information. It exists at all levels, and thus Colin Gray’s emphasis on the need for prudence in risk-taking and for adaptability in strategic thinking cannot be overestimated. Dr. Colin Gray subjects hard and soft power to close critical scrutiny and finds that the latter is sig-nificantly misunderstood and, as a consequence, mis-assessed as a substitute for the threat or use of mili-tary force. he author of 22 books, his most recent (published in 2007) are Fighting Talk: Forty Maxims on War, Peace, and Strategy; and . READ PAPER. The monograph And as difficult as it is to know he’s gone, he left us with a body of work that will live on in the minds of strategic practitioners for generations to come. I first met Colin in fall 1995, when I enrolled in his security studies program as an M.A. Gray was educated at the University of Manchester and the University of Oxford. There is nothing extraordinary about current Russian-American dislike, distrust, and antagonism. In works such as Nuclear Strategy and National Style (1986), Colin was instrumental in the first generation of cultural theorists in strategy. In this monograph, Dr. Colin S. Gray considers irregular warfare in the light of the general theory of strategy and finds that that theory is fully adequate to explain the phenomenon. He was acutely aware of the methodological challenges of cultural analysis, and revealed conceptual nuance through his understanding that strategic actors contained multiple cultures; that other influences were at play in strategic choices and action; that events could overawe cultural preferences; and that identifying cause and effect between culture and strategic behavior was fraught with difficulty. His work focuses on the theory and practice of strategy, the dialogue between policy and military force, and in the utilization of historical experience for the education of policymakers. For a while I thought I had found a critical element in strategic planning and grand strategy that even the giants like Colin Gray had overlooked. He was the teacher of two generations of U.S. and British defense experts. Personnel Director at Unilever. This is evident in the 40 maxims in Fighting Talk (2009), the 21 dicta in The Strategy Bridge, and the 23 principles in Theory of Strategy. He was my friend and mentor. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Behind the japery, there was a serious point: We were convinced of the need to keep the strategic flame burning. Moreover, whatever the subject at hand, Colin was forever mindful of the Clausewitzian nature of war, in all its rational, non-rational, competitive, and uncertain glory. The council table is also where policy aims and operational options are integrated. However, less well-known is the fact that he was an incredibly supportive mentor of future strategic scholars. Moreover, he expressed concern that too much focus on the operational level could impede cooperation between the tactical and strategic levels. big idea of the post-Cold War Era began to secure trac - tion—cyber. In contrast, Colin was steadfastly dedicated to understanding the theoretical foundations of grand and military strategy. Practically, for those doing strategy, one can regard the dimensions as a sort of checklist to ensure that all bases are covered, all issues have been addressed. It is only when we intellectually struggle with a subject, and especially when we try to present it in a concise and intelligible manner, that we really begin to understand it ourselves. During my studies, Colin proffered a piece of advice that had a significant influence on me: “Never be afraid to challenge the orthodoxy.” It was, perhaps, this willingness to take on established ideas that partly explains Colin’s development of nuclear warfighting theory in the 1970s and 1980s. Sound strategy is not an illusion or hubristic; it is simply the best antidote for strategic poverty and the best insurance any polity has against catastrophe. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. When faced with a historic battle, new technology, or operational choice, the strategic analyst should always ask “so what?”; what were, are, or will be the consequences for politics? For Colin, it was axiomatic that strategy was a cultural activity. Gray, Colin S. “The American Way of War: Critique and Implications” in Rethinking the Principles of War by Anthony D. McIvor ed., Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005. As the military strategist Colin Gray has written (not, thankfully, in response to Tom’s blog posts), "Many people confuse the nature of war with its character. Still, for some, Colin was a controversial figure. Missile Defense Is Compatible with Arms Control Professor Williamson Murray has taught at a number of academic and military institutions, including the Air War College, the United States Military Academy, and the Naval War College. Retired … The discourse required to create and refine strategies is rarely the product of a single master strategist. 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