Lamont Colucci addresses U.S. grand strategy in published articles

“American Doctrine: The Foundation of Grand Strategy,” an article by Lamont Colucci, associate professor of politics and government, has been published by Sage Journals.

The article “examines the definition of Grand Strategy, why Grand Strategy is often ignored, how Grand Strategy relates to national security doctrines, how national security doctrines are created and implemented, what have been the common themes in American Grand Strategy and doctrines, and what the future holds for American Grand Strategy. It postulates the return to an organic American doctrine that can engage the current national security threats.”

Colucci’s introduction to the article reads: “There is an organic American grand strategy, expressed over three centuries in multiple presidential doctrines. Through an examination of grand strategy and doctrines, a clear pattern of success and failure can be demonstrated.

“Doctrines and grand strategy continue to vanish from policy and public discourse. Often the concept of American Grand Strategy has nearly vanished from any discussion of national security and foreign policy. There is an assumption that expressions such as national security, foreign policy, national security doctrines, grand strategy, vital, national, and peripheral interests are the same concept; they are not.

“There are many definitions of Grand Strategy; they range along the spectrum from the simple to the complex. Grand Strategy is put into practice with the adoption of national security doctrines. These doctrines should be the highest form of statecraft, but they are often ignored or misunderstood.”

Colucci also addressed the topic in “Right thinking on grand strategy,” published Aug. 22 in The Washington Times.

He writes about “the recent decision by the American government to resurrect two concepts from the Cold War and proactively push NATO into the 21st century with a new benchmark”: the reactivation of the United States Navy’s Second Fleet and the creation of NATO Joint Force Command for the Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia.

It is important to note that these are “commands that should never have been deactivated,” Colucci writes. “It was the short-sighted attitude of administration’s that failed to understand the very basics of international affairs and foreign policy.

“Although we are now on the cusp of taking strategic naval thinking into space, a delayed move, it is heartening to know that sound decisions to counter potential great power aggression is going beyond rhetoric and into action.”

Posted August 31, 2018 in Faculty, Political Publications.

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