4. Deterrence and coercion

Coercion simply means compelling adversaries to do something, while deterrence is dissuading opponents from doing something. Together, these strategies constitute the fundamental dynamic driving most peacetime and wartime situations, at the highest echelons of diplomacy as well as the lowest levels of tactics. From the standpoint of military strategy, it is rarely sufficient to compel one’s foes to do something; usually one must also deter them from doing something else. Both strategies require similar conditions for success: reliable knowledge of one’s opponent, credible military power, active monitoring, and some shared communications and expectations. Without the latter two especially, both deterrence and coercion are vulnerable to unanticipated events.

7. Cyber power and military strategy

‘Cyber power and military strategy’ discusses the role of cyber power in reducing a rival power’s physical capacity and willingness to fight. This issue is important for contemporary military strategists because cyber power—the ability to operate within cyberspace with relative security—is comparatively new and has political advantages in that it rarely causes human casualties. The difference between cyber war and cyber power is explained before discussing cyber power’s indispensability to military strategy. It is difficult to imagine any exercise of military force today that would not also involve an attendant use of cyber power.