Strategy as a Political Phenomenon and Concept

Abstract

Modern science doesn’t sufficiently disclose the essence and content of strategy (political strategy), even though the term and its derivatives actively circulate in theoretical and political discourse. This highlights the necessity to establish terminological clarity regarding the understanding of strategy. This article reveals the genesis of strategy as a practical management activity and as a science, as well as shows its connection with the military sphere. For a long time, the development of strategy as a science was closely connected to military affairs. The political component in strategy appeared in the 19th century, and has been gradually expanding. To separate political strategy from military and give it an independent scientific status, various authors have attempted to develop such concepts as higher strategy, grand strategy, and state strategy. Throughout time two approaches to understanding strategy emerged: the first focuses mainly on goal-setting, and the second - on coordinating goals with the ways and resources required to achieve them. According to the author, strategy in politics means a purposeful and long-term action program implemented to achieve a designed result. Military strategy acts not only as the highest level of military art, but also as an integral component of state strategy. At the turn of the 2010s attempts were made to conceptualize political strategy, but they did not find further development. The generation of a full-fledged concept of political strategy seems to be heuristic and promising in both theoretical and practical domains.