Strategic Studies and its Critics

This chapter introduces readers to the main criticisms that have been levelled at strategic studies from the ‘Golden Age’ of nuclear strategy through to contemporary critiques. It begins by outlining and reviewing prominent critiques of deterrence theory in the 1960’s, a period during which several fundamental criticisms of strategic studies were made. The chapter then goes on to show how some of these criticisms were addressed, indirectly, by a ‘second wave’ of strategic theorists. However as strategic studies has evolved and changed, so too has the variety of criticisms directed at it. Numerous ‘critical’ approaches to strategic studies have developed multi-faceted critiques that encompass issues ranging from the use of gendered terminology within strategic studies to its alleged Western-centric bias. Reviewing these critical approaches, the chapter assesses the current status of the relationship between strategic studies and its critics and its prospective importance for the future development of strategic studies.