This chapter outlines material sources of grand strategy, such as the relative power of a state, the polarity of the international system, the regional balance of power, geography, and technology. It argues that these material factors, reflecting the material environment within which states interact, set the table for grand strategy construction and, therefore, have a profound impact on grand strategy, although they do not completely determine grand strategy. The material setting sets the parameters within which national leaders make decisions and prioritize goals within a given set of national institutions and in a particular cultural context. Furthermore, we provide concrete empirical examples of the mechanisms through which these factors impact state grand strategy.
Bitcoin transaction strategy construction based on deep reinforcement learning
