Where Strategy Meets Operations
Our department’s coursework is designed to sharpen your analytical and critical thinking skills while deepening your understanding of the relationship between war’s purpose, objective, and means.
We take an interdisciplinary approach to teaching strategy and policy, drawing on history, political science, international relations, and economics—and blending these academic areas with critical military factors, such as doctrine, weaponry, training, technology, and logistics.
Coursework: What to Expect
Our curriculum comprises two core components:
Strategic Theory
Click to Open You’ll study the work of classic and contemporary strategic thinkers such as Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, Mao Tse-tung and Alfred Thayer Mahan.
Case Studies
Click to Open You’ll analyze and discuss how political leaders and strategic planners from around the world have successfully—or unsuccessfully—grappled with the challenges of force.
Additionally, the Strategy and Policy course requires you to write two graduate-level papers, allowing you to demonstrate your knowledge of theory and your critical analysis skills. It is our hope that your written work will inspire innovative thinking and provoke discussion.
Goals and Objectives
Upon completing the strategy and policy course, you will be prepared for positions of strategic leadership. You’ll leave the course with:
- proficiency in strategic decision-making and problem-solving involving maritime, joint, interagency, and multinational sea power
- the ability to evaluate alternative courses of action, and to write clearly and speak articulately about the relationship between strategy, policy, and operations
- the skills to serve as effective maritime spokespersons who understand warfare at sea
See Strategy and Policy Faculty
Our experienced and renowned faculty have years of earned expertise across a wide range of naval and educational topics. To learn more, please use the link below to access the online directory.
Visit Faculty