A Theory of Strategy: an Investigation into Strategy As the Pursuit of Higher Utility - and Its Role in Game Theory, Rational Choice Theory, and Empirical Decision Theory

The term strategy if often found describing military, political, and business manoeuvrings. But the term strategy - while ever present - seems to elude concise definition. There is a sense in which acting strategically requires additional cognitive virtue beyond that of rationality alone. But is it not just rational to act strategically? Or even strategic not to act rationally?..... It remains unclear as to what makes a choice truly strategic?In this book, Lune investigates the cognitive virtues that separate strategic reasoning from rational justification. By identifying the virtues that characterise strategic thinking, Lune validates the term strategic as an unambiguous and practical descriptor. The book provides the key elements for the strategist: an overview of the literature on strategy, a contextualized theoretical analysis, and a theory of strategy that plays out in the historically evidenced behaviours of Napoleon, Machiavelli, von Clauswitz, nuclear strategists, and business forecasting strategists.