Strategic studies

Strategic studies is an interdisciplinary academic field centered on the study of the conduct of war, whether as an independent or a dependent variable. It has often devoted special attention to the relationship between politics, geography and natural resources, economics, and military power, such as the role of intelligence, diplomacy and threats in the preparation and use of force. The subject is normally taught at the post-graduate academic or professional, usually military and private security, levels.

The academic foundations of the subject began with classic texts initially from the Orient such as Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Kautilya’s Arthashastra, went onto a European focus with Von Clausewitz’s On War and Machiavelli’s The Prince. In recent times, the major conflicts of the nineteenth century and the two World Wars have spurred strategic thinkers such as Mahan, Giulio Douhet, Liddell Hart, and later, Andre Beaufre. The Cold War led to a host of American thinkers contributing to the basic theory.^{[citation needed]}

The subject is taught at the University of Aberdeen, University of Reading, University of Hull, King's College London, University of Leeds, University of Rome III, Università degli Studi di Milano, and Aberystwyth University in Europe; in Johns Hopkins University, Missouri State University, Temple University, the U.S. Army War College, Air War College, U.S. Naval War College and the National Defense University in the United States. Other institutions teaching strategic studies include the Australian National University, University of Calgary and the Royal Military College in Canada, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and Universidade Federal Fluminense in Brazil, the Université Paris 13 Nord in France, and the University of Granada in Spain. Turkish War Academy has also Strategic Research Institute (SAREN) in which the subject is taught at both masters and doctoral levels.