Strategic Relationships, Risk, and Proxy War

Proxy wars dominate modern war fighting. Despite the frequency of proxy wars on today's battle field, the strategic studies community lacks sufficient models and strategic theories to frame proxy wars from the strategic level. This works seeks to build on the limited amount of preexisting theoretical work on proxy war by introducing five models of proxy relation - coerced, transactional, cultural, exploitative, and contractual. This models help policymakers, strategists, and practitioners understand and navigate through the strategic workings of today's proxy wars.

Persuasive or Pipe Dream? The Potential Influence of the Feminist Judgments Project on Future Judical Decision Making

The Feminist Judgments Project (“FJP” or the “Project”) rewrites existing judicial opinions from a feminist perspective. This article explores whether and how the FJP's alternative jurisprudence can influence future legal decisions. The FJP seeks to change the law by revealing unconscious bias and opening judicial minds to previously unknown perspectives - a method that draws on psychological theories of decision making such as cultural cognition. This article takes a different approach and evaluates the FJP using theories from political science. In light of the increasingly conservative judiciary and the Republican administration, the attitudinal and strategic theories of decision making would give the FJP little prospect of actually influencing the law. Thus, this article focuses on historical institutionalism to present a theoretical explanation for why and how the FJP's re-envisioned law could possibly persuade the judiciary. Specifically, the article examines the degree to which the FJP draws on social facts highlighted by the #MeToo and LGBTQ rights movements and whether the Project thereby creates the conditions for social construction and resultant legal change. It also uses theories on displacement to present a critique of the FJP's more radical re-writes and points to the more moderate approach of ideational salience amplification as effective. Ultimately, it concludes that the FJP's path of persuasion is somewhat narrow and limited, but possible.

La comunicación organizacional en las Entidades Deportivas Náuticas. Propuesta de modelo estratégico y relacional (Organizational communication in nautical sports entities. Proposal of a strategic and relational model)

Se realiza un análisis descriptivo de la gestión de la comunicación en las organizaciones deportivas náuticas en España desde los parámetros de las teorías estratégicas de la comunicación alineadas en la perspectiva relacional. El objetivo es doble: la realización de dicho análisis descriptivo en estas entidades y proporcionar un modelo de gestión de la comunicación válido para las mismas. Se toma como universo de estudio la totalidad de entidades náuticas deportivas inscritas en la Real Federación Española de Vela. La metodología supone la elaboración de un cuestionario como herramienta para el análisis. Los resultados muestran que no se lleva a cabo una planificación estratégica de la comunicación con respecto a sus públicos, una gestión anclada en modelos bidireccionales y pocos recursos humanos destinados a la planificación y gestión de la comunicación. En definitiva, este tipo de organización deportiva no se ha adaptado a las necesidades actuales. El artículo propone un modelo estratégico de gestión de la comunicación para este tipo de entidades.Abstract. A descriptive analysis of the management of communication in nautical sports organizations in Spain is carried out. This is done using the parameters of the strategic theories of communication aligned with the relational perspective. The objective is twofold: to carry out a descriptive analysis in these organisations, and to provide a valid communication management model for them. The population universe comprised all nautical sports entities registered in the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation. The methodology includes the development of a questionnaire as a tool for the analysis. The results show that there is no strategic planning of communications regarding targets, as well as their management is deeply rooted in bidirectional models. Moreover, few human resources are destined to the planning and management of communication. In conclusion, this type of sports organizations have not adapted to what their needs are nowadays. The article proposes a strategic communication management model for this type of entities.

British Thinking about Tactical Nuclear Weapons

Chapter 1 examines how British policy-makers viewed the arrival of tactical nuclear weapons, employing as a vehicle in the 1950s debate on the relative merits of the opposing strategic theories of ‘graduated deterrence’ and ‘massive retaliation’. It shows how the British government rejected any suggestion to draw distinctions in peacetime between strategic and tactical nuclear weapons because of a strong belief that such an announcement would undermine the overall deterrent effect of nuclear weapons. Gripped by a ‘deterrence habit of mind’, civilian leaders viewed tactical nuclear weapons not as meaningful military tools, but as weapons of escalation whose use would trigger a strategic nuclear exchange between the superpowers. The rejection of any kind of graduated deterrence through the use of tactical nuclear weapons set a precedent in how British policy-makers conceived the utility of tactical nuclear weapons, which would have important consequences in the following debates about NATO strategy.

The Strategy of Publishing

The emergence and wide acceptance of strategic theories in the years after 1945 helped transform the book publishing industry. Companies were able to craft strategies, and the structures needed to implement and execute strategies, to grow domestically and globally. This chapter outlines some of the individuals who played a substantive role in the development of strategies as well as some of the publishers able to use these strategies. But some authors argued that strategies alone will not always work since people and markets are not always predictable; they do not always follow the strategies developed by publishers. In the end, there is always room for managers to use their judgement when confronted with randomness or chaos in the marketplace.

A critical review of theoretical aspects of strategic planning and firm performance

In this paper we examine the reasons and justify the striking interest being taken by researchers and managers on strategic planning, but also the limits of those principles, some intrinsic others that can be overcome by an integration with tradition. A framework which attempts to relate the constituent elements that distinguish the two main strategic theories and shows that both must be considered for strategic planning and performance management is provided

Economic Expectations for Turkey, Central Asia and Caucasus Beyond 2050

In this study main international strategic theories will be shortly discussed under the time and space dimension. Almost all of the Turkic republics do have common historical and cultural ties with Turkey compared to the other European countries. Even though common values have simply forgotten during the time frame under different regimes spatial history and ties had never disappeared. Thus, the citizens of those countries preserve common spatial memory so they shared same land in history. So it is expected that those people would reach the idea of economic and political integration if certain social grounds were initiated. This is basically the idea of economic integration between those republics and Turkey for better economic standards. So, in final part of the study, author will provide his humble opinions for future expectations for 2050 and beyond.

Improving performance in project-based management: synthesizing strategic theories

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore benefits and issues of integrating the theory of constraints (TOC), resource-based view (RBV) and resource-dependence theory (RDT) with conventional project-based management frameworks. Design/methodology/approach – Extant literature is used to develop a conceptual framework of an integrated model that will be tested for applied robustness. The model has been applied to published projects to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Findings – The work shows important implications for improved success of projects from the use of TOC, RBV and RDT. Research limitations/implications – While TOC, RBV and RDT are well established in the context of organization theory, there is limited application in project management. Moreover, the model has yet to be applied in the field. The hypotheses identified in this research are currently being tested using empirical investigation. Practical implications – The research falls short in addressing some resources, e.g. innovation, tacit knowledge and decision-making methods in traditional project management context. Therefore, identifying these critical resources in future work and exploiting them as the means of improving project performance would enhance the success of project-based management. Social implications – Project management is an emergent discipline and a project is temporary in nature. Therefore, new ideas and development of theories for project management practices are required. This innovative research, for example, may change the way projects are executed in future. Originality/value – This paper examines the components of a successful project according to the iron triangle, i.e. scope, quality, time and cost. However, through the application of TOC, RBV and RDT into an integrated project-based management framework gives new insights to resources management.

Strategy in the 20th Century: Explanations from History

In this essay, we argue that an historical perspective helps to understand some of the strategic choices made by organizations. More specifically, the purpose here is to describe the great influence of historical events (related to economy, politics, technological advancement etc.) on the creation, acceptance, spreading and / or establishment of the strategic theories and tools developed since the beginning of the 20th century. Texts that usually discuss management and history outline only the Industrial Revolution or the transition from feudalism to capitalism, underestimating other historical forces that offer additional explanations to the evolution of strategic thinking. As a result of an extensive bibliographical research, we were able to identify four periods where the strategic theories developed reveal suitable responses to the challenges created by the environment: in the first one (1900-1938), strategy is concerned with organization and control of business activities, resembling the ideas developed by Scientific Administration; in the second period (1939-1964), strategic planning is formalized and the area is broadly recognized; the next decades (1965-1989) are characterized by competition and uncertainty, making strategy focus on problems emerged from the outside; finally, on the turn of the century (1990-2010), the unlimited information availability enhances the need for strategists’ conceptual and practical knowledge. Also, as a final contribution, we suggest two possible trends to the future of strategy.