"Dreamers of the Day": The Civilian Thinkers

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."

        - T E Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

I recently asked the question who are today's military thinkers? In a previous post I listed the military officers that readers nominated. Below I set out the civilian thinkers.

Professor Mary Kaldor: British academic. Key concepts include that of human security: "human security means the protection of individuals and communities as opposed to states and borders".

Professor Martin van Creveld: Israeli historian and war theorist. Has written prolifically about the decline of the state, future warfare, strategy, and key aspects of war like logistics, technology, and manoeuvre warfare.

Dr Thomas P M Barnett: influential thinker on globalization and future warfare. Divides the world into the "Functioning Core" (globalized countries) and the "Non-integrating Gap" (insular countries that are disconnected from the rest of the world).

William S Lind: American analyst, a pioneer of 4GW ("fourth generation warfare). This article outlines Lind's thinking on the generations of war concept and the nature of the enemies that western militaries face today.

Dr Colin S Gray: British academic and strategic theorist who wrote pioneering and controversial studies about nuclear strategy, arms control, maritime strategy and geopolitics.

Dr John Arquilla: American academic who with David Ronfeldt pioneered the concepts of 'netwar' (low intensity conflict fought by networks of autonomous groups), 'swarming attacks' and 'cyberwar'. Best known for Networks and Netwars (2001) (written with Ronfeldt) . 

Major John Robb: former US Air Force officer, blogger and thinker on future warfare, terrorism and security. In Brave New War Robb talks about "global guerrillas" and the methods they use to challenge the west's military supremacy, like open source warfare and systems disruption.

Robert Kaplan: American journalist whose dark vision of an anarchic and violent world is bleak but compelling. In Imperial Grunts, Kaplan makes deft observations about the ways that US ground forces could approach "imperial policing" and fighting insurgents and terrorists. 

Dr Steven Metz: American academic at the US Army War College. Widely published author on insurgency, counterinsurgency, US strategy, and future warfare.

Gordon England: US Deputy Secretary of Defense. Shane describes England as "a free thinker who has seen the need to better understand and conduct 'stability operations' by defense professionals".

Robert Work: strategist at think tank CSBA. Key areas of research include naval transformation and future defence challenges (including the changing nature of undersea warfare).

Professor Philip Bobbitt: American academic with interests in strategy, international security and constitutional law. Wrote The Shield of Achilles (2002). Bobbitt believes that the state is becoming more powerful but evolving from nation-state to 'market state'.

Dr Bruce Berkowitz: American think tank research fellow. Wrote The New Face of War (2003), which proposes that technology is overturning many of the basic principles of warfare.

Frank Hoffman: former US Marines officer and and national security consultant. This article outlines his ideas on counterinsurgency, including the need to constrain military force, and establishing 'credibility' before legitimacy. 

Dr Edward Luttwak: American historian and strategist, widely published in books and articles on military history, strategy, and international relations. Noted especially for Coup d'etat: A Practical Handbook (1968) and The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire (1976).

Dr Stephen Biddle: American academic, Senior Fellow for Defense Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Widely published author, particularly on the US involvement in Iraq. Wrote Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle (2004).

Dr Antulio J Echevarria: former US army officer, now academic at the US Army War College, specializing inter alia in the history and theory of warfare, the nature of war, future warfare and European history. Widely published, including After Clausewitz: German Military Thinkers Before the Great War (2001).

Comments

[SethP]

Hey, great list, bt I'm not sure that I'd have Kaplan on the list. A great journalist yes, but a great defense thinker??

[Jeff]

Excellent list. I have read Barnett, van Creveld and Kaplan. And though Kaplan isn't the theorist the other two are, I enjoy his work the most. Probably because he's just the better writer of the three. Warrior Politics is one my all time favorite political strategy books, and will probably be a standard text in future political science courses, if it isn't already.

[Steve Metz]

I'd add: Edward Luttwak, Frank Hoffman, and Antulio Echevarria

[Peter]

Hi Seth - Kaplan is not a theorist as such, but he has a lot of very practical insights into how military affairs are conducted at what you might call the grassroots" level - particularly in terms of the relatonships between US military forces and local populations and militaries. The chapter on Mongolia in 'Imperial Grunts' is worth reading in this regard.

Hi Jeff - yes, I enjoyed 'Warrior Politics' too. I had mixed views about the ideas in 'Imperial Grunts' - but enjoyed reading it - and have not read his latest on the US military.

Hi Steve - thanks for the recommendations. I'll add them to the list once I've done a little research on them. Luttwak I'm familiar with, not Hoffman and Echevarria. This has been a great feature of these posts - I've learnt about a number of very interesting people and their ideas. Considerable food for thought.

[zenpundit]

Nice job - a great list to hand to ppl getting into military strategy as a subject.

[Peter]

Thanks Mark. I think that I'll list all the names on a separate page, so that the entire list - military and civilian - can be easily accessed through the sidebar.

[T.E. Shaw]

Colin S. Grey was an excellent choice, and I know that he has a following among the military brass. I spoke with retired Marine Commandant Michael Hagee last month, and he recommended one of Grey's most recent works, "Fighting Talk".

[Charlie]

I'd definitely add Stephen Biddle to this list - I don't think O'Hanlon was exaggerating when he called him the "best defense analyst" of this generation. Military Power is a must-must read.

[Peter]

Hi T.E. - thanks for your comment, and have linked to your blog.

Hi Charlie - thanks for the recommendation. Right then, have to add Biddle, plus Luttwak, Hoffman, and Echevarria. A task for the weekend!

[Adam]

Just out of curiosity: Why is Robb listed here when he used to be a USAF Maj. ?

[Peter]

Good point. I was trying to distinguish, albeit crudely, between people who made their mark (or are making their mark) as thinkers in the service or as civilians.

[Peter]

Update:

I've created a list on this page of all the names we've come up with. I've moved John to the "military officers - serving and retired" section.