In (qualified) praise of fads and fashions

ABSTRACT

Given the size of the community and the constant flow of new issues and potential security challenges, strategic studies can lend itself to surges of interest in particular topics that then fade into irrelevance, speculative investigations that lead nowhere, or intensive research projects that produce banal conclusions. The durability of much of the research may turn out to be short yet there is still enough that is of value, including insights into the behaviour of organisations and states, concepts that help structure thinking on a range of issues, as well as timely and well-judged policy guidance.

KEYWORDS:

• Strategic studies
• fads
• fashions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Lawrence Freedman, Strategy: A History (New York: NY, Oxford University Press 2013), p. 561.

² Ibid.

³ Ibid.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lawrence Freedman

Lawrence Freedman is Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London. He was Professor of War studies from 1982 to 2014 and Vice-Prinicapl of the College from 2003-2013. He was official historian of the Falklands campaign and a member of the Inquiry into the UK's conduct of the Iraq Waer