Publisher's Synopsis
Strategy, the unifying and guiding idea behind complex series of actions aiming to change the distribution of power, seemed to explain the unusual successes of Franklin Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, or Winston Churchill, to name a few. However, strategy as an idea was only mentioned explicitly in military literature. The pursuit of this concept and its great possibilities led to a series of overlaps. Strategy was within strategic studies, strategic studies was within international security, international security was within international relations, international relations were inside political science. It was sociology of action, a fundamental approach to the social sciences that guided this long investigation of strategy. The literature on strategy is silent on anything pertaining to the individual unless that individual is a soldier. Strategic analysis, the more widely used concept, is the process of examining problems with the ultimate aim of solving them. Strategic thought, on the other hand, is a field with more breadth and more depth. It is more theoretical, using higher degrees of abstraction and encompassing research into strategy. Unlike strategic analysis, however, there are no established methods of theory-building. This book is about how certain extraordinary individuals came to make changes and meet great challenges, to show how their methods are available to any of us.
