DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2014.v02i05.013

Pages: 677-686

This paper explores several applications of underdog strategy in international security. First, there are two applications to show the analytical potential for what were problems with new urgency: identifying characteristics of underdog strategy in an insurgency, and identifying common mistakes of underdog strategy made by terrorists. The paper then considers government responses: the proposal for a strategic intervention, and how a government might deal with an insurgency. There are three benefits to this approach. The analyst can forecast developments and actions much more accurately by using action as the unit of analysis rather than the actor. Strategy presents two advantages as the starting point for mid-level theory. First, it is integrative. Second, it generates both high theory and practical applications, because strategy as a concept lies as the meeting place between thought and action. As a phenomenon, strategy presents considerable theoretical and practical interest. From a theoretical standpoint, it presents the advantage of being applicable to a wide range of situations. From a practical standpoint, a strategy generates a number of polyvalent tools and training programs, intelligible to the strategist, but more importantly to the non-strategist lay person as well.