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Military Strategy

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RAND research on military strategy has ranged from issues related to the tactics that lead to success in armed engagements, to work that describes how the size and deployment of one nation's military affects its political relationships with others.

Report
How China Understands and Assesses Military Balance
China sees itself as the weaker side in the overall military balance with the United States, largely because it has made only limited progress in the key areas that will define future warfare. Those include informatization and system-of-systems–based operations.
Mar 1, 2023
Commentary
America's Dangerous Short War Fixation
Americans have long been fixated on the idea of the short, decisive war. And the United States' adversaries bank on Washington's strategic impatience. If the United States' objective is to win, the only thing worse than fighting a long war may be thinking it's possible to avoid one.
Mar 31, 2023

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Report
Designing A Strange Game: A Nuclear Wargame for the 21st Century
This report details the theoretical motivation and design of a wargame meant to address the lack of serious games that consider nuclear weapon employment and tools available to teach stakeholders about the challenges of nuclear weapon employment.
Nov 28, 2023
Commentary
Deterrence of North Korean Limited Nuclear Attacks
No single action is likely to deter North Korean nuclear weapon use. But a combination of efforts may convince Kim Jong-un that any use of nuclear weapons for coercion would be very dangerous to his future, and could be a powerful approach to deterring North Korea.
Nov 27, 2023
Report
Revisiting RAND's Russia Wargames After the Invasion of Ukraine: Summary and Implications
This report summarizes reexamined RAND tabletop exercises involving Russia from the past eight years in a review of wargaming methods and analysis and presents implications for future potential conflicts involving major powers.
Nov 21, 2023
Visualization
Logic Model for Non-Lethal Weapons in the U.S. Department of Defense
This logic model is intended to help characterize the impact of Non-Lethal Weapons (NLWs) within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and is based on a RAND project that assessed the impact of diverse Intermediate Force Capabilities (IFCs).
Nov 20, 2023
Blog
'Israel's 9/11,' Promoting the 988 Hotline, the Future of Space: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on why the Oct. 7 attack wasn't Israel's 9/11, humanity's future approach to space, the pressing need to ensure more people know about the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and more.
Nov 17, 2023
Commentary
The West's Incoherent Critique of Israel's Gaza Strategy
The battlefield geography of Gaza means that any operation there would turn into a bloody, highly destructive ground operation, with a lot of civilians caught in the crossfire. While Israel can mitigate some of these effects, neither Israel nor any other military can prevent them entirely. In this war, there is no happy medium.
Nov 16, 2023
Commentary
Chinese Strategists Evaluate the Use of 'Kamikaze' Drones in the Russia-Ukraine War
Both Russia and Ukraine have used loitering munitions successfully in the current war, and China is watching closely. Chinese strategists are likely already considering how to refine offensive tactics and improve defensive countermeasures in the context of a Taiwan scenario.
Nov 7, 2023
Commentary
NATO Needs a Plan for Military and Nonmilitary Instruments of Power to Work Together
To adapt to changes in warfighting, NATO is developing a multi-domain operations warfighting concept. But for this concept to be successful, it must include a plan to manage military operations' increasing reliance on and interaction with nonmilitary instruments of power.
Nov 6, 2023
Commentary
Winning the Irregular World War
If the United States hopes to prevail in an asymmetrical world war, it must upgrade its abilities to provide self-defense and resistance support to its allies and partners, and better coordinate its disparate efforts to counter Russia and China across departments and agencies.
Nov 6, 2023
Commentary
Inflection Point: How to Reverse the Erosion of U.S. and Allied Military Power and Influence
U.S. military forces no longer enjoy the kind of comprehensive superiority that was the foundation of victories over adversary states. Re-establishing a credible posture against aggression by highly capable adversaries will call for sustained, coordinated efforts by the United States, its allies, and its key partners to rethink their approaches to defeating aggression and to recast important elements of their military forces and postures.
Nov 3, 2023
Blog
Disinformation Amid the Israel-Hamas War, U.S. Gun Policy, Cannabis: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on how the information war may play out between Israel and Hamas, what the evidence says (and doesn't say) about U.S. gun policy, supply models for recreational cannabis, and more.
Nov 3, 2023
News Release
U.S. Armed Forces Capabilities in Arctic Region Pose National Security Risks, Need Strengthening
The United States needs to strengthen its ability to protect its Arctic interests as the region becomes a more active security environment. Key areas for improvement include communications, infrastructure, training, equipment, tactics and the ability to scale presence.
Nov 1, 2023
Report
Arctic Capabilities of the U.S. Armed Forces
The United States has considerable interests in the Arctic and is one of just eight countries with territory in the region. How do U.S. armed forces' capabilities differ from those of other countries operating there, including Russia, China, and allies?
Nov 1, 2023
Commentary
The Black Sea and the Changing Face of Naval Warfare
Uncrewed surface vessel and uncrewed underwater vessel technologies will continue to mature and be employed for an ever-wider range of missions. Today's struggles in the Black Sea may herald a changing face of naval warfare, in which large warships are increasingly vulnerable even to nations that lack substantial navies.
Oct 31, 2023
Commentary
Japan's Play for Today: Too Much? Just Right? Or Never Enough?
Japan is pushing ahead on a broad array of initiatives meant to strengthen the Self-Defense Forces' deterrent power across multiple domains. But there are bound to be limits in manpower, resources, capacity, or capabilities that will place limits on what the end point of Japan's buildup ultimately looks like.
Oct 31, 2023
Report
U.S.-China Competition for Digital Infrastructure
Digital infrastructure (DI) appears significant for future military operations and long-term strategic competition. How might global DI evolve by 2050? And what could the military implications be for the United States and China?
Oct 30, 2023
Journal Article
How to Assess the Impact of Non-Lethal Weapons
A RAND team used a structure called a "logic model" to assess the tactical, operational, and strategic impact of non-lethal weapons. This article characterizes what these systems and operations are intended to achieve and how they do so.
Oct 30, 2023
Report
South Korea Needs Greater Nuclear Assurance
With growing nuclear threats from North Korea and China, there has been considerable interest in South Korea in developing its own nuclear weapons. But doing so could become a major disaster. The United States should bring greater strategic clarity to its nuclear umbrella commitment to South Korea.
Oct 29, 2023
Blog
Israel-Hamas War, AI and Gene Editing, Social Media Regulation: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the Israel-Hamas war, the convergence of machine learning and gene editing, regulating social media while protecting free speech, and more.
Oct 27, 2023
Commentary
Lessons from the Chinese Conquest of Taiwan
As Chinese political and military leaders envision conquering Taiwan, their predecessors' earlier seizure of the island is likely to inform their thoughts. Deriving lessons from the prior conquest of Taiwan can contribute to anticipation of possible threats and effective responses to them.
Oct 26, 2023

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RAND Topic:
Military Strategy

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Ann Marie Dailey

Policy Researcher

Ann Dailey is a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She is a geopolitical strategist with expertise in Russia, Europe, and Eurasia. Dailey has developed an extensive knowledge of the political, military, and economic drivers underpinning security over two decades of study and experience…
Fiona Quimbre

Senior Analyst

Fiona Quimbre (she/her) is a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation. Working primarily within RAND Europe, she leads the China portfolio. Her work focuses on the non-military dimensions of competition with China and their national security implications for European decision-makers. This includes…

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