Introduction to Military Theory

Abstract

Lider, J. Introduction to Military Theory. Cooperation and Conflict, XV, 1980, 151-168.

This article is an introduction to a comprehensive study on the concept of military theory, its scope, structure, and main problems. The author assumes that military theory should and could be treated as a scientific discipline and uses the term 'theory' as including both the study of military affairs and its findings in a generalized form. Military theory answers three questions: What is war and military force; how is military force successfully to be used; and how should one prepare military force for such a successful use. An interrelated question is how war is to be prevented, or, to put it in a military framework, how one should use military force for the prevention of war.