Strategic studies

Strategic studies is an interdisciplinary academic field centered on the study of conflict and peace strategies, often devoting special attention to the relationship between international politics, geostrategy, international diplomacy, international economics, and military power. In the scope of the studies are also subjects such as the role of intelligence, diplomacy, and international cooperation for security and defense. The subject is normally taught at the post-graduate academic or professional, usually strategic-political and strategic-military levels.

The academic foundations of the subject began with classic texts initially from the Orient such as Sun Tzu’s Art of War and went on to gain a European focus with Clausewitz’s On War. In recent times, the major conflicts of the nineteenth century and the two World Wars have spurred strategic thinkers such as Mahan, Giulio Douhet, Liddell Hart and, later, Andre Beaufre.

The subject is taught in Europe at Aberystwyth University, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Exeter, the University of Reading, the University of Hull, King's College London, and the University of Leeds (all in the United Kingdom), University of Rome III and Università degli Studi di Milano (both in Italy), the University of Granada (in Spain), the National Defence University (in Finland), the Charles University in Prague, Netherlands Defence College Breda (the Netherlands), and the Université Paris 13 Nord SciencesPo (in France), and National Defence University (Pakistan)