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Strategy and Politics
Laure Paquette
Lakehead University
This article proposes strategy as a unit of analysis for the study of political science. It proposes a new definition of strategy and a methodology for a new form of strategic analysis. The article then reviews pilot case studies of strategic analysis of political actors of various types operating in at a variety of levels within political systems. The article then moves to a discussion of the remaining pilot studies to be conducted to present the full range of types of political actors analyzed in the manner introduced.
Strategy and Politics
Centuries ago, Aristotle explicitly excluded from philosophical discourse mètis, the way of thinking of women and the vanquished (Detienne and Venant, 1972). Various Aristotelian revivals have encouraged that exclusion since. It has had many consequences, but for the study of strategy, it has meant that its theory and practice quickly became restricted first to the study of victors, and eventually to military applications. (A few business applications emerged in the late 20th century.) However, the practice of mètis, the strategy of the weak and powerless did not disappear, nor did non-military applications, and this article argues in favour of it returning to scholarly discourse. Strategy ought to be studied more in political science because it solves some epistemological problems, and it applies to a wide range of phenomena. This article reviews the criteria, method and theory that restore mètis. It then discusses the epistemological advantages of strategy in that restored definition. Then in explores its polyvalence by reviewing how mètis-strategy studies connect with existing literature.
First, we need to understand where a restored strategy would fit in with existing theory and definitions. This is a question for strategic theory, rather than strategic analysis. Strategic analysis is the process of examining problems with the ultimate aim of solving them. Strategic analysts have developed a wide range of techniques, including trend extrapolation, simulation modeling, cross-impact matrix analysis, the Delphi technique, scenario building, expert judgment and genius forecasting (Stewart, 1987). Strategic theory, on the other hand, characteristically uses higher degrees of abstraction, encompassing philosophical research into the phenomenon of strategy (Torelli, Garigue, Beaufre). The bulk of strategic theory concerned itself with the impact of new weapons.
There are military and civilian strategists, who believe that nuclear weapons are so powerful they are qualitatively different from other weapons, and as a result that nuclear strategy is a completely new form of strategy. Military strategists include Yehoshafat Harkaby (1977), Lucien Poirier (1983), and Pierre Gallois (1960). Civilian strategists include Bernard Brodie (1948), Lawrence Freedman (1986), Arnold Wolfers (1962), Albert Wohlstetter (1983), and Colin Gray (1971, 1981 and 1982). There are also social scientists interested in strategy because "A continuum -- intermittent and dialectical though it may be -- runs from the strategies before 1945 to the strategies ...since then." (Peter Paret, 1986:7). The quantitative difference between pre-nuclear and post-nuclear strategy, they argue, also applies to the advent of the Iron Age, the invention of gunpowder, earthwork fortification or the breech-loading rifle. Social scientists include Julian Lider (1981), Knute Midgaard (1970), and myself.
One group of scholars study nuclear strategy and the others explore non-nuclear strategy. The questions for the first group include the role of nuclear weapons as guarantor of peace, how to determine whether nuclear arsenals are equivalent, NATO's nuclear credibility, and the relative merits of first versus second strike. This strand of nuclear strategy, chronicled in detail by Lawrence Freedman (1981), originated with Bernard Brodie’s Strategy in the Missile Age (1959). After the Cold War, the question is how little, not how much, nuclear firepower is enough to deter the opponent. The non-nuclear strand of strategic theory has been pursued by several independent schools of strategic thought (usually national schools like France's or Israel's), preoccupied by their own most pressing problems. There are also individual strategic thinkers interested in revolution, such as Mao (1961) or Giap (1962), low-intensity warfare, or in recent years, by counterterrorism and counterinsurgency (Enders and Sandler, 2006; Durodie, 2006; Rees and Aldrich, 2005; Crenshaw, 2005; Stanley, 2006; Ray and Schaape , 2003; Pillar, 2001; Gareau, 2004; many others). The low-intensity warfare thinkers are, for historical reasons, largely Hispanophone (Broadhurst, 1992).
For military strategists, strategy is the use of military power to achieve a particular goal. For civilian strategists and other military strategists, strategy is the means used by a state to win a contest with another state. Social scientists use ‘strategy’ to label patterns of action to achieve goals. They argue that there need be no conflict, no threat and no government, only a challenge and a pattern of action in response to it. Other scholars often reject this position as much too vague. The definition of strategy that fits mètis also accommodates the other strategists: an imaginative idea which orchestrates and/or inspires sets of actions (tactics, policies, programs or plans) in response to a given problem. This broader definition of strategy makes the strategic theory more broadly applicable.
There are no criteria specific to strategy but there are criteria for the theory of International Relations, proposed by Kenneth Waltz: clarity, accuracy, elegance, parsimony, and the ability to predict and/or explain phenomena; the sixth, that theory take into account the forces of the international system, applies only to theories of the entire international system.(Waltz, 1979). The method outlined below is geared to meet those five requirements.
Clarity requires solid definitions and consistent terminology. It is easier to be consistent than it is to use rigorous definitions, because definitions rarely inspire consensus in social science. Moreover, the meaning of each statement making up the theory has to stand on its own merits as well as in the context created by other statements. Steps 2 and 5 of the method, as outlined in Table 1, Method, ensure clarity.
Accuracy is almost impossible for a theorist to check. A consistent process is best, as is provided by the questions which follow. Is it possible to deduce propositions that contradict each other, from an identical set of statements? Is it possible to deduce propositions that are patently untrue (like reversing the law of gravity or the cycles of the moon)? For a theory to be accurate, it also has to be complete: this theory is complete (1) if it can generate plausible empirical hypotheses from the statements included, and (2) if each and every proposition is supported by other statements. Constructing the template, or schematic representation of the theory, answers those requirements also makes unnecessary statements obvious, which in turn ensures parsimony.
Elegance is the least tangible of Waltz's requirements, and in some ways, it is the most important. Few scholars will be interested in the theory unless it is elegant. Classics of strategy provide some models, but no real guidance. André Beaufre's work has an elegant simplicity that allows the reader an economy of effort. Raymond Aron (1966) or Zeev Maoz’s theories are not simple, but they are elegant (Maoz, 1982). What all three have in common is a balance between the images in the eye of the reader and the sound in his ear, as well as harmony with intuition (Frey, 1957). The theory can then be understood with a minimum of effort – the mind glides easily from idea to idea.
The method requires intuition. “We listen to a lecture on one of the newer theories or we read about them -- games and bargaining theory, simulation techniques, decision-making theory, communications and integration theory, conflict theory, systems theory, and so on -- and we incorporate into our thinking whatever appeals to us, discarding the rest as irrelevant for our particular purposes” (Dougherty and Pfaltzgraff, 1981, 38). It also requires tedious technical work that paves the way to rigorous, tightly argued theory -- establishing definitions, setting assumptions and conditions, refining and clarifying the propositions, checking for internal consistency.
The method, summarized in Table 1, Method, is non-linear, yet it has to be represented with words and two dimensional figures. “True strategic thinking thus contrasts sharply with the conventional mechanical systems approach based on linear thinking. But it also contrasts with the approach that stakes everything on intuition, reaching conclusions without any real breakdown or analysis.” (Ohmae, 1982:13)
Table 1 Method
Definition
Identify primary‚ secondary and methodological terms; delineate, express essence; review using Aristotelian criteria
Brainstorm
Produce flood of suggestions‚ statements and relationships
Distillation
Break complex/compound statements down; differentiate by type; check accuracy; choose central statements
Ordering
Create set of statements by (i) ordering by type; (ii) establishing genealogy
Backward test
Check completion and parsimony
Operationalization
Make hypothesis observable operation; apply to a case
Table 2, Key Definitions, provides the meaning of the four most important ideas in strategic analysis.
Table 2 Key Definitions
Strategy
Imaginative idea which orchestrates and/or inspires sets of actions (tactics) in response to a given situation
Actor
Person or persons capable of action and decision; may be a state, non-governmental organization, group, or individual
Benefits
(1) Unit of analysis
Political science has historically taken the actor as unit of analysis. However, the theory developed here shows that the analyst can forecast developments and actions much more accurately by using action as the unit of analysis rather than the actor. If the analyst uses patterns of actions, like strategy, it is even better. It is a little like playing chess. A player begins by observing the opponent’s moves. If these seem to be uncoordinated or going in a variety of different directions‚ so much the better. It means that the opponent is not thinking strategically‚ and will be that much easier to defeat. On the other hand‚ it may not be in the player’s best interest to make assumptions about an opponent’s confused state of mind or ineffective planning. Instead, the player has information about that opponent and can use it to predict the kind of strategy the opponent is most likely to use, based on that information. At that point‚ it is much easier to determine which strategy the opponent is actually using. Once the strategy is known‚ then the rate of success in predicting the tactical decisions will increase exponentially‚ whatever the circumstances. The main drawback is that strategic analysis based on the new definition of strategy provides insight only into the specific scope or level of the analysis, neither above nor below it. It means, in practical terms, that the analysis of national health policy will not provide guidance in the reform of radiology services in a hospital or private clinic, for example. It also means that the analysis will provide probabilities rather than certainties in its predictions.
(2) Mid-Level Theory
When David Easton (1990) outlined the three major levels of theory in political science, he discussed grand theory and low-level theory in the most detail. Most difficult of all to grasp and to discuss was mid-level theory. Theories in International Relations or in public administration, for example, oscillated between grand and low-level theory. The potential contribution of a general theory of strategy and mètis, built around an old concept broadened out to apply to more than business or war is significant. At that time, strategy, to the extent it was studied at all, was considered to be within strategic studies, which was within international relations, which was within political science. If studied theoretically, then it had the potential to change the context easily – but there were few general theories of strategy at the mid-level, as Easton predicted, and none which were useable for non-military application.
Strategy presents two advantages as the starting point for mid-level theory. First, it is integrative: it takes as its units of analysis action or patterns of action, rather than actors as does most other theory of political science. Second, it generates both high theory and practical applications, because strategy as a concept lies as the meeting place between thought and action. A student of strategy can therefore easily more towards the more abstract or the more practical, depending on his/her goals in research. This is what the theory and method has allowed.
Polyvalence
As a phenomenon, strategy presents considerable theoretical and practical interest. From a theoretical standpoint, it presents the advantage of being applicable to a wide range of situations. Because it analyses action rather than the actor, it can be applied to any actor. Developing a general theory for strategy also frees its validity from any regional or thematic context. Strategy can therefore be applied to any context. From a practical standpoint, a strategy generates a number of polyvalent tools and training programs, intelligible to the strategist, but more importantly to the non-strategist lay person as well. These methodologies present the advantage of allowing learning from a book and a set of theoretical exercises, or by experiential pedagogy. They can be broken down into components requiring as little as one hour’s training for proficiency, as experience shows. These methodologies have been proposed as valid irrespective of the goals, aspirations, values, socio-economic circumstances, or worldviews of the individuals, groups, or institutions involved.
The polyvalence should be assed on the basis of three strands of research. The first strand focuses on methodological and theoretical development of this new theory of strategy. The second strand presents several structured sets of case studies focusing on the various types of actors in political science, broadly defined. The main advantage to this process of analysis is economy of effort in achieving the goal, once the training phase is completed, and it ensures greater effectiveness. This process can assess various proposals for choosing between interactions among the various actors, and it can generate sound advice for leaders at whatever level. What it cannot do is guarantee that this good advice will be taken, no matter what pains you go through to provide it. The self-interests of others often preclude them recognizing the worth of the advice, and that has often been true of politicians. So, admirably, strategy is at its best when used for altruistic purposes. It requires too much intellectual and personal honesty on the strategist’s part for it to be otherwise, except in cases of life and death. The third strand presents a series of exercises and worksheets which pertain either to particular applications of strategy or which spans the intellectual development of a good strategist. The studies already completed can be found in Table 3, Summary of Completed Studies, by Strand.
Table 3: Summary of Completed Studies, by Strand
Strands
Published
Cases
NATO and Eastern Europe After 2000, Security for the Pacific Century, Strategy and Ethnic Conflict, Strategy for Individuals, Bioterrorism and Medical and Health Services Administration
Theory, Methodology
Strategy and Ethnic Conflict
Applications
Political Strategy and Tactics, Strategic Activism, Political Strategy and Tactics Workbook, More Strategic Activism Analyzing National and International Policy, Path to Peace, Prescription for Change, Campaign Strategy
First Strand
The construction of a theory produces a methodology, a template and a subsidiary method for adapting the theory to more specific problems. The template is of interest to the serious student of strategic theory only, interested in sustained abstract work. Strategy and Ethnic Conflict (2002) develops a methodology specific to issues of international security and ethnic considerations. It proposes a cogent theory of how strategy and national values interact, and how this determines the international posture of states with respect to not only defense, but also foreign policy and international trade. It provides a detailed historical case study of France’s decision to develop and maintain a nuclear arsenal. From a theoretical standpoint, the closest book is Charnay’s, Stratégie générative (1990) and Maoz’s National Choices and International Processes (1986). There is no shortage of books on culture and strategy, usually edited collections like Krause (1999). There have been a few theoretical investigations like Snyder (1997) and Booth (1998). Although all are germane, none of them propose the fundamental research of our study. There are two or three studies yet to be done to complete the first strand, discussed below.
Second Strand
The new theory was then illustrated with a set of case studies involving states as actors: the analysis of a single state, in Strategy and Ethnic Conflict, the analysis of bilateral relations between states, the analysis of multilateral relations among states, and the analysis of bilateral and multilateral relations between an international organization of states and both member and non-member states. NATO and Eastern Europe After 2000 (2001) looked at NATO’s future relations with two new member states, Poland and the Czech Republic, and two aspiring member states, Bulgaria and Romania. Specifically, it looked at how NATO’s new defense concept affected those future relations, and how the culture of each country affected future relations with NATO. The book also examined in less detail how the four countries interacted with each other. In the last ten years, there have been about 100 books published on NATO after the Cold War. The bulk of these books have addressed (1) NATO-US relations, (2) NATO relations with Western Europe, and (3) NATO’s response to the Yugoslav crisis and the Balkans. The books about NATO and Eastern or Central Europe are actually very few: the most important ones considered whether NATO should enlarge (Bebler, 1999). Since enlargement has occurred, there have been edited collections on specialized topics (Smith and Timmins, 2000; Grayson, 1999; Michta, 1999). None of them propose the fundamental theory proposed here, or provided a comprehensive set of case studies.
Security for the Pacific Century (2002) examines the relations among the East Pacific 2 + 4: China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and the US and Russia. In addition to these, Taiwan is considered. It examines the future relations, both bi- and multilateral, of the countries. There is no shortage of books on the Pacific. There have been a few theoretical investigations like Snyder and Booth, as already mentioned.
The third phase of my proposal of a general theory of strategy. Here, I applied strategy to groups operating in a national or sub-national system, in this latest case within the Canadian health care system. Strategy is a suitable foundation for managing and controlling change in health services. The process of strategic analysis can be applied to the management and control of change in health services in at least four ways. It can be used to analyze only a single actor's strategy or tactics. It can be used to develop a proposal to promote a single actor's more positive working relations or strategic interactions with other actors. It can be used to analyze and improve the relations between two actors, should that be one of the objectives. And it can be used to examine the pattern of relations among a group of actors germane for some practical reasons. It is also possible to apply the analysis to the domestic politics of a government (local, state, or national) or to the relations of actors outside the hospital, clinic, or practice. It can be used in the same four ways to forecast any actor’s behavior. It can be used in the same four ways to propose a course of action, to prescribe change. It can also be used to analyze non-volitional actors, i.e. events or phenomena outside anyone’s control. Strategy and tactics can also be used on the wide variety of issues in health services: the allocation of resources, changes to primary care, financing, the rationing of health services, the expanding technological costs, the concentration of power in physicians’ hands, equity (either geographical or equity of outcome), issues of cost-sharing, of resource allocation to hospitals and community care versus practitioners, etc. Individuals or groups within the health care system can use strategic analysis of actors and events to develop a sound course of action, no matter what the scope of the issue. Strategic interactions and strategic interventions are good forecasters, and therefore let individuals or organizations foster change within health services. Strategic interactions in particular forecast the type of working relationship between various actors in health care (individuals, groups, non-governmental organizations, governments at various levels who regulate or fund, professional colleges or associations, hospital or clinic administrators, and finally policy makers, etc.). Strategic interactions make it possible to manage those relationships, even if they are tense or difficult. Finally, strategy can be taught to anyone involved in health service using a set of simple exercises, and it can be applied using a set of simple worksheets. This training and application provides everyone involved with a set of common ideas and words to use in managing and controlling change, no matter what the background or training of that person.
Every year, a number of books about health administration are published. The output is significant, but there are considerable limitations as well. Dowding and Barr (2001), for example, developed their work primarily for nurses and midwives in their work in the UK, rather than to a wider audience of health professionals. Couto and Eken (2002) provide case studies of community health services in the US in ethnically diverse circumstances, but not any broader information. Leebov and Scott guide managers through the highly competitive health care management environment.
[1] It offers, for example, self-assessment devices for helping a manager determine how s/he may benefit. Edited collections focus on cases or issues. Rosemary Rushmer and Tavakili and Malke include papers on cooperative working arrangements and how to use them to encourage cooperation.
[2] There are a number of essays on specialized subjects, like McSherry, Pearce and Tingle.
[3] Stewart Gabel is perhaps closest to the present book: it describes the stages organizations go through as they move rapidly to adopt new and often unwanted changes.
[4] Lee Craven reviews a recent reform and draws lessons from it.
[5] There are also publications which are specifically about strategy and health. There are articles on particular types of clinical interventions for specific illnesses or conditions, articles on planning and management of health services and organizations, and chapters in books on health administration. Journal articles on clinical interventions use the word ‘strategy’ where, by the definitions given above, we would use the word ‘tactics.’
[6] These articles describe the success and impact that a series of actions have on particular illnesses or conditions. The fact that they use a different definition has no bearing on the quality of the research itself. However, they are of limited interest here. Journal articles on planning and management of health services or organizations either propose the use of a particular technique or report on its use in specific situations.
[7] Chapters in books on health administration usually provide an overview of the different techniques or approaches available to the average hospital or clinic manager.
[8] Both of these share the business and management definition of strategy, and as a result tend to confuse strategy and tactics. That makes successful strategic planning unlikely. Successful use of strategic planning and management is actually rare, often falling “prey to the unplanned external or internal forces at work in health care.”
[9] The only time a similar definition of strategy is used is when academic medical centers try to use their clout in dealing with the university.
[10]There has been other research which uses the same techniques for data collection and analysis. The most important has been the development of a completely new model for quality assurance by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), in 1988. It developed a self-assessment instrument for all levels of a health care organization, based on a new theoretical framework that was brought from the drawing board to the clinician’s office within ten years. It is now used in the European Union as a framework for quality management, as a conceptualization for organizational excellence, as a guide for improvement projects and as standards for the peer review of professional practices, accreditation, and certification.
[11] Although the range of issues it addresses is narrower than strategy does, the EFQM did develop its own theory, methodology, and training protocols. Strategy, at least, already has an established theory, method, and process. It can work with and enhance existing decision-making processes by restoring the context, the complexity and the empirical findings to those decisions.
[12] Strategy can also bring the population’s preferences into consideration, and it copes well with uncertainty.
[13]Strategy can be used by everyone involved in the health care system, and they can use it to achieve any objective. Governments can use strategy to design, reform, or deliver health and public health programs, policies, or regulations. They can also use it to look at funding issues. Organization delivering services like hospitals, long term care facilities, laboratories, community care organizations, clinics, and public health units can use it to deliver health services, to deal with its personnel, design a fund-raising campaign, or lobby the government. The medical, nursing, managerial, administrative, support staff and others can use strategy to provide professional and other services to maximum effectiveness, to get more resources allocated to them, or to get better working conditions. Companies who provide medications, medical sundries, supplies, equipment, or maintain the physical plant can use strategies to improve the profit, compete more successfully for contracts, or to ensure quality. Anyone in health services’ broader environment can use strategy to affect the political climate, economic growth, social values. In particular, lobby groups for professional associations or the health industry can use strategy. Researchers can use strategy to analyze health characteristics of population and demographic trends. Managers can use strategy to pursue quality assurance, cost control, productivity and efficiency, human resource management, and manage technological innovations. Finally, strategy help develop programs for professional personnel training and development, the development of technology, and forecasting of demand- and supply-side issues. As a result of this investigation, Prescription for Change (Nova, 2004) and Bioterrorism and Medical and Health Services Administration (Dekker, 2004) were undertaken.
Prescription for Change examines how to identify which events have significance, how to assess their potential consequences and how to craft a response, in the context of health management and administration. It provides the detailed theory and a step-by-step process so that even the layperson can use the method effectively. It could be used by students of health administration, students in the regulated health professions, health administrators, health professionals, hospital and clinic managers, patient and other pressure groups. This study has the additional advantage of providing tools for change that can be used by anyone, inside or outside the health care system, at any level and in a unit of any size. It also provides everyone in a particular organization with a common set of ideas and a common vocabulary.
Bioterrorism and Health and Medical Services Administration examines how to manage and control changes in health services to cope with an increased threat of bioterrorism. It provides all the details of the method, including a template for adapting or refining the theory and a step-by-step process so that even the layperson can use the method effectively. It also provides a full set of semi-fictional case studies showing how to cope with bioterrorism at various levels. It enters the field along with a number of distinguished works. Tushar K. Ghosh et al. discuss the technological innovations in biological, chemical and nuclear terrorism. Henderson, Thomas and O'Toole address themselves primarily issues for physicians. Roland Moreau discusses the protection against nuclear, biological and chemical terrorism. Alexander and Hoenig are equally broad. Klaus Urban covers more the radioactive waste disposal during the Cold War. The studies already completed present the advantage of providing tools for change and a common set of ideas and a common vocabulary.
There are other books which were written to address units of analysis that had been neglected in the broader sequence of studies. These include Campaign Strategy and Strategy for Individuals.
[14] Campaign Strategy focuses on a methodology allowing political operatives, candidates, party members and campaign team members to craft their own strategies, to analyze the significance of events during an election campaign, and to design their tactical or strategic responses to them. It examines how to identify which events have significance, how to assess their potential consequences and how to craft a response, in the context of an electoral campaign in a liberal democracy. It provides all the details of the method, including a template for adapting or refining the theory and a step-by-step process so that even the layperson can use the method effectively. It provides an analysis of Clinton’s first campaign for the presidential nomination as an illustration. It joins a field which already includes Bowler and Farrell, which is already ten years old, and Marjorie Hershey and Gary Mauser (Praeger, 1983), which are also over thirty and twenty years old respectively.
[15] Strategy for Individuals provides a full set of case studies of individuals using strategy to achieve their goals; the case studies cover strategies used by individuals dealing with phenomena, another individual, a sub-national group, an international group, a state, and a group of states. The case studies include: Kevin Mitnick, a notorious hacker; a woman combating sexual harassment in her workplace; Bill Clinton’s obtaining the Democratic nomination for President for the first time; Rupert Murdoch’s communications empire; Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign for Indian independence; and Dag Hammarskold’s relations with the United Nations Organization. The most common application of strategy would be in activism or in lobbying. Other books published about activism provide practical advice about how to lobby your congressman, but not examples of how other people have used strategy.
Below is Table 4, Completed Studies by Unit of Analysis, summarizing the research agenda as it relates to monographs. For each strand, there must be a treatment of phenomena, individuals, sub-national groups, supranational groups, states, and groups of states. Also included are studies discussed under the third strand.
Table 4: Completed Studies, By Unit Of Analysis
Level
Theory
Cases
Applications
Phenomenon
Bioterrorism and Medical and Health Services Administration
Bioterrorism and Medical and Health Services Administration
Bioterrorism and Medical and Health Services Administration
Individual
Strategy for individuals
Strategy for individuals
Strategic activism, More Strategic Activism
Infranational group
Campaign Strategy
Campaign Strategy
Political strategy and politics
Supranational group
Systems
Prescription for Change
States
Strategy and Ethnic Conflict
Various articles
Analyzing National and International Policy
Group of states
Strategy for the Pacific Century
NATO and Eastern Europe After 2000
Path to peace
Third Strand
In parallel to these theoretical works is a series of practical guides whose goal is to make available the methodologies produced by strategic theory, but without requiring the abstract theoretical work of the other strand. This strand includes books on organizational political strategy and tactics for individuals and small groups, as well as a book on using strategy in political activism and on how to use strategy to analyze national and international policies established by governments. The objective here is to pull together the various elements of strategic theory and generate a new method of strategic analysis that can be applied by laypersons and scholars alike in widely varying areas. Indeed, strategic theory and analysis are broadly applicable to groups and organizations.
There were immediate applications of strategy, with respect to decision-making: Analyzing and Developing National Policy (Lexington, 2002) and Path to Peace (Nova, 2004). Analyzing and Building National and International Policy presents a theory that allows for the analysis of national policy, followed by four case studies of policy set in a single state (France, nuclear policy, 1955-1970), bilateral context for a policy (North Korea’s juche, South Korea’s Nordpolitik, 1990-2000), the multilateral setting of policy (Canada and the northeast Pacific, 1990-2000), and finally the policy setting of a single state dealing with a group of states (Czech Republic and NATO 1994-2000. This book proposes a method for constructing a framework of analysis for policy, constructs that framework according the criteria and process outlines, and investigates all known types of cases for national policy.
Path to Peace examines how to identify which events have international significance, assess their potential consequences, and craft a response. It provides all the details of the method, including a template for adapting or refining the theory and a step-by step process so that even the layperson can use the method effectively. It enters the lists with other books on the analysis of international relations. The classics include Kenneth Waltz, Snyder and Diesing, and a number of others. None of these, however, provide a step-by-step approach.
It is now possible to move on to other potential users of strategy, individuals and small groups. That gave rise to my second series of books: Political Strategy and Tactics (Nova, 2003) Strategic Activism (Nova, September 2003), and its successor, More Strategic Activism (Nova, forthcoming), Strategy for Individuals (Nova, March 2003), Political Strategy Workbook (Nova, 2003) and a planned CD-ROM, presently in development, Political Strategy Workbook II.
Political Strategy and Tactics (New York: Nova, 2003) presents a model of political strategy in the first chapter, followed by a chapter on each step of political strategy with illustrations drawn from history, empirical research and experience of individuals or groups who have been taught political strategy; there is also a series of worksheets for the reader to strategize as s/he proceeds. Books published more recently have either proposed two or three strategies for very specific situations, like lobbying or campaigning, or have addressed only one step of the strategy process. Political Strategy investigates how strategies are developed and implemented in politics generally, not just in lobbying. It does not use a rational choice approach, where the assumption of constant rationality on the part of decision-makers has been consistently (and correctly) criticized. Examples in the book are drawn from a variety of contexts, applicable to liberal democracies generally. Other books in the same category either address only one aspect of political strategy, or propose a limited number of strategies for lobbyists of a particular branch of government. Books on strategy are usually either military or business. In politics, there are political biographies, books on specific social movements or interest groups, books on specific political parties, and books on international crises and war. In business, they revolve on strategic decision-making and planning.
Strategic Activism (New York: Nova, 2002)
provides a road map for teacher and students engaged in social action, political action and community organizing; provides a full theory of strategy, then moves right through the practical applications of the theory, including: principles of effective strategy, how to select appropriate tactics, method of analyzing formal and informal power structures; how to analyze the decision-makers and the opposition; provides classroom exercises, assignments, grading schemes, list of resources, timetable for a twelve-week course, workshops on strategic planning, instructions for the facilitator of exercises and workshops; list of resources (videos, guests, readings). Books published about activism provide practical advice about how to lobby your congressman, but not whether you should be lobbying a congressman or holding a demonstration. This book would explain how to pick your tactics, and how to develop an effective strategy. Political science tends to be either empirical or theoretical: this book moves from the theory to the practice in a single volume.
More Strategic Activism (New York: Nova, forthcoming)
provides supplementary exercises teachers and students engaged inaction towards getting health care for marginalized groups such as women, remote communities, persons with chronic health problems, minorities and the poor; provides classroom exercises, assignments, grading schemes, list of resources, timetable for a 12 week course, workshops on strategic planning, instructions for the facilitator of exercises and workshops. Books published about activism provide practical advice about how to lobby your congressman, but not whether you should be lobbying a congressman or holding a demonstration. This book would explain how to pick your tactics, and how to develop an effective strategy. Political science tends to be either empirical or theoretical: this book moves from the theory to the practice in a single volume. Other works fall in one of two categories. The first is for books addressing only one aspect of political strategy. Charles Miller addresses the research and analysis necessary to political strategies for lobbying. William Coplin and Michael O’Leary provide worksheets for non-professional lobbyists, but less than a dozen typescript pages of explanatory text. The second is for books which proposed a limited number of strategies for lobbyists of a particular branch of government. Berry’s book, already mentioned, could fall into this category. Princeton University Press published the intriguingly-titled Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest Group Strategies, an edited collection of significant interest but similarly addressing such issues as statistics rather than political strategies themselves.
[16] If lobbying the administrative government, there is David Osborne and Peter Platrik who propose five strategies for ‘reinventing government,’ but do not discuss how to develop strategies.
[17] Willard Richan proposes strategies of argument for lobbyists.
[18] Workbook for Political Strategy (New York: Nova, 2002) provides a full set of forms to accompany the exercises set out in Strategic Activism and other problems the strategic activist may face. Other books published about activism provide practical advice about how to lobby your congressman, but not the forms through which problems and tasks can be handled.
Conclusion
There are several studies needed. For the completion of the first strand, the rounding out of the theoretical framework for tactics, as well as some interactive case studies, are included in Strategic Interaction (drafted). Also intended for the first strand are a summation study and an inventory of strategies. For the completion of the second strand, Systemic Strategy: Case Studies, also fully drafted, provides a full set of case studies of groups operating in systems using strategy to achieve their goals; the case studies cover strategies used by individuals dealing with phenomena, another individual, a sub-national group, an international group, a state, and a group of states. The case studies focus on the heavily regulated health care system and include poverty activists, professional associations working towards health reform or official certification, the disciplinary committees of professional colleges, and national and international humanitarian agencies. For the completion of the third strand, Strategic Research, which is fully drafted, focuses on a methodology allowing research personnel and supervisors, and research oriented organizations such as universities and corporations to craft their own strategies, to analyze the significance of events during a research program or project, and to design their tactical or strategic responses to them. It examines how to identify which events have significance, how to assess their potential consequences and how to craft a response. It provides all the details of the method, including a template for adapting or refining the theory and a step-by-step process so that even the layperson can use the method effectively. This study fits in with Jennifer Mason, who covers problem selection, design, and qualitative methods; John Mason, whose book is geared to education research but would have some broader application for the self-reflective researcher; Tashakkori and Teddlie’s, who focus on a broad spectrum of methods but without any notion of problem selection or analysis; Bruce Berg on the one hand and John Creswell on the other, who address some of the same issues as the study under discussion.
[19] There are a number of others.
Table 5: Summary of Necessary Research, by Strand
Strands
In Progress
Planned
Cases
Strategy and Health, Strategy and the Catholic Church
Theory, Methodology
CD-ROM of Worksheets Strategic Intervention, Inventory of Strategies
Triumph of the Oppressed -- Summa Strategica
Applications
Strategy and Counterinsurgency, Strategic Research
Table 6: Summary of Necessary Research, by Unit Of Analysis
Level
Theory
Cases
Applications
Phenomenon
Strategic Research
Strategic Research
Strategic Research
Supranational group
Strategy and the Catholic Church
Strategy and the Catholic church
Strategy and Counterinsurgency
Systems
Strategy and health cases
Strategy and health
Conclusion
The general theory of strategy on which this book is based has both theoretical and practical significance. If successful in both theory and practice, it has the potential to change the way people understand power and analyze the world around them. At its narrowest, it can help the layperson make a difference. The theory of strategy also generates a complex research agenda in addition to its many practical applications. This research agenda includes research on phenomena, supra-national groups, and supranational systemic applications. If all of this continues to be successful, then it may be possible to propose an integrated theory of the use of power in society.
My own desire is to have strategy used to improve the common good. Nonetheless, strategy can also be used to further the private interest. I cannot help but acknowledge, however, that strategy is an ethically neutral concept. Its application and results depend entirely on the user.
[1] *** Leebov and *** Scott, The Indispensable Health Care Manager (***: Jossey-Bass, 2002).
[2] Rosemary Rushmer’s Organisation Development in Health Care (London: Ashgate, 2002); *** Tavakili and *** Malke, Quality in Health Care (London: Ashgate, 2001).
[3] *** McSherry, *** Pearce and *** Tingle, Clinical Governance (London: Blackwell Science, 2002).
[4] Stewart Gabel, Leaders and Healthcare Organizational Change (London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 2001).
[5] Lee Craven, Transforming the NHS (New York: Prentice Hall, 2002).
[6] Like V. Schmitz, C. Qian, J. Ruiz, B. Sangro, I. Melero, G. Mazzolini, I. Narvaiza and J. Prieto, “Gene Therapy for Liver Diseases: Recent Strategies for Treatment of Viral Hepatitis and Liver Malignancies,” Gut 50:1 (January 2002):130-5.
[7] Like A.R. Cox, “The art of strategic planning. Creating the future path.”, AAOHN Journal. 4:6(June 2001), 280-5, among many other examples.
[8] Lawrence F. Wolper, Health Care Administration/Planning, Implementing and Managing Organized Delivery Systems (Gaithersburg, Maryland: Aspen, 1999,. 3rd. ed.), 125; Roice D. Luke, James W. Begun and Steven Walston, “Strategy Making in Health Care Organizations,” in Stephen M. Shortell and Arnold D. Kaluzny, Health Care Management/Organization Design and Behavior (New York: Thomson, 1999, 4th Ed.), 394-431.
[9] D. Davidson, “Strategic Planning Myth or Reality”, Seminars for Nurse Managers 8:2 (June 2000), 66-9, 6.
[10] W. W. Souba, M.R. Weitekamp and J.F. Mahon, “Political Strategy, Business Strategy and the Academic Medical Center: Linking Theory and Practice”, Journal of Surgical Research 100:1 (September 2001), 1-10.
[11] U. Nabitz, N. Klazinga, J. Waslburg, “The EFQM Excellence Model: European and Dutch Experiences with the EFQM Approach in Health Care,” International Journal for Quality in Health care 12:3 (June 2000): 191-201.
[12] S. Birch, “As a Matter of Fact: Evidence-Based Decision Making Unplugged,” Health Economics 6:6 (November-December 1997), 547-59.
[13] J. Lynn and D. DeGrazia, “An Outcomes Model of Medical Decision Making,” Theoretical Medicine 12:4 (December 1991), 325-43; D.W. Fraser, “Overlooked Opportunities for Investing in Health Research and Development,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78:8 (January 2000): 1054-61.
[14] Laure Paquette, Campaign Strategy (New York: Nova, ****; Laure Paquette, Strategy for Individuals (New York: Nova, 2002).
[15]*** Bowler and *** Farrell, Electoral Strategies And Political Marketing (New York: St. Martin's, 1992); Marjorie Hershey, The Making Of Campaign Strategy (Lexington: Lexington, 1974); Gary Mauser, Political Marketing : An Approach To Campaign Strategy (New York: Praeger, 1983).
[16] Charles Miller, Lobbying: Understanding the Corridors of Power (Blackwell, 1990); William Coplin and Michael O’Leary’s Effective Participation in Government (Policy Associates, 1988); ***, Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest Group Strategies (Princeton: Princeton Universitiy Press, ***).
[17] David Osborne and Peter Platrik, Banishing Bureaucracy (New York: Addison Wesley, 1991)
[18] Willard Richan, Lobbying for Social Change (New York: Haworth, 1996).
[19] Jennifer Mason, Qualitative Researching (New York: Sage, 2002); John Mason, Discipline of Noticing (New York: Routledge Falmer, 2002); *** Tashakkori and *** Teddlie’s Handbook Of Mixed Methods In Social & Behavioral Research (New York: Sage, 2003); Bruce Berg, Qualitative Research Methods For The Social Sciences (New York: Allyn and Bacon, 2001); John Creswell, Research Design (New York: Sage, 2003).
