Irreg Warfare and Strat Compet

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

More than 2500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote, “To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill;” irregular warfare is indeed as old as war itself. Today U.S. adversaries use irregular warfare because traditional forms of warfare are too costly. After exploring foundational concepts such as competition and irregular warfare, the course examines the variety of irregular warfare tools and instruments of competitive statecraft including propaganda and information operations, cyber, covert action, and economic coercion and explores ways to measure “success.” Finally, students will look at historical irregular warfare campaigns to analyze under what circumstances were they successful and what tools were most impactful at undermining one’s adversaries and gaining strategic advantage