Grand Strategy (DHP-D252)

Spring 2024 · DHP D252 · Tufts University · 3 credits · Undergraduate

This course seeks to introduce students to grand strategy. Definitions of that art vary---and we will discuss those variations---but we can start by understanding it as the weaving together of different categories of power to achieve overarching objectives. The best way of understanding grand strategy is to study it in action. This course, therefore, takes us through a series of case studies in grand strategy. Some of these are studies in success, others in failure; most have elements of both (part of the challenge you will face in the course, as well as in real life, will be figuring out what constitutes success or failure). Grappling with them all will hone students’ skills in grand strategic thinking: that is, in formulating a policy that is all-encompassing, looks to the long-term, and is sufficiently flexible to survive the real world. Though the course is rooted firmly in security studies and history, the principles of grand strategy are relevant to virtually all aspects of the policymaking world and can be usefully applied to business, activism, and other realms of life.

Course codes: DHP-D252

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