Strategic Studies. Outline the Evolution

Strategic studies.

Outline the evolution of strategic studies as an academic field

Strategic studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the interrelated nature of politics, military power, economy, and culture. While these factors have often impacted the study of international relations as an academic discipline, most credit the theorist Jack Snyder for creating the phrase 'strategic culture' during a RAND study of Soviet political elites and nuclear weapons in the 1970s (Burns 2010). Aberystwyth University was one of the first universities to develop a research program in strategic studies that interjected an important cultural as well as military component into the field. Harvard's Alastair Johnston attempted to merge both foci by defining strategic culture "as an integrated system of symbols (i.e. argumentation structures, languages, analogies, metaphors, etc.) that acts to establish persuasive and long-lasting grand strategic preferences by formulating concepts of the role and efficacy of military force in interstate political affairs, and by clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the strategic preferences seem uniquely realistic and efficacious" (Burns 2010). In other words, strategy is produced by governments due to a merging of the personal self-interests of leaders, institutional and national cultures, and economic concerns, and is then justified under the guide of rationality.

Q2. Nigeria's strategic domestic national interest

This merging of economic and political concerns when setting military policy for a nation is perhaps most obviously embodied in the nation-state of Nigeria. Nigeria has great oil wealth, and after winning its independence it joined OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in 1971 and also formed the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) to address Africa's regional economic concerns. Nigeria's foreign policy is specifically delineated in the constitution. The law states that promoting Nigeria's personal self-interest, African unity, and international cooperation to promote peace are the nation's primary external objectives. Some analysts believe that Nigeria's emphasis on Pan-Africanism has come at the expense of its own self-interest and its interest in building bridges with the wider international community. Every state has core, middle-range, and long-range objectives. Nigeria's core objectives are promoting its political and economic health, its middle-range objectives include promoting its immediate political interest and its long-range objectives include improving its status within the international community (Agreen 2010).

Nigeria has defined its policy by a 'concentric circle' model. The core is "the economic viability and full mobilization of the resources of the country [of Nigeria], in which the internal security forms the foundation for a realistic diplomacy" (Agreen 2010).When the core is taken care of, then Nigeria can take into consideration the economic viability of its people. "The second circle takes into consideration the strategic interest of the states in the West African sub-region. The third circle involves Nigeria's foreign policy involvement in the African continent" (Agreen 2010). However, one of the problems with such an approach is that it can be difficult to create a coherent national policy when Nigeria's personal interests clash with those of another African state's or when two states have competing interests and Nigeria must 'take sides.'

Q3. A failed state in Africa