The Grand Strategic Thought of Colin S. Gray

Abstract

: Colin S. Gray distinguished himself from other scholars in the field of strategic studies with his belief that grand strategy is indispensable, complex, and inherently agential. This article identifies key themes, continuities, conceptual relationships, and potential discontinuities from his decades of grand strategic thought. Gray’s statement that “all strategy is grand strategy” remains highly relevant today, emphasizing the importance of agential context in military environments—a point often neglected in strategic practice. as subordinate military and of than Strategic theory complexity, diversity, contingency, the influence of the efforts, and so primary existential significance of an actual story arc to the course of strategic history.