From Deterrence to Strategic Morality: A Proposed Paradigm Revolution Addressing the Reintroduction of Aggressive War into the Strategic Environment

This article argues that the strategic community has failed to perceive and identify the failure of the deterrence paradigm as illustrated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israeli-Hamas war. The article uses philosophy of science literature and historical documents to identify the characteristics of a paradigmatic revolution and explain how the deterrence paradigm was formed and now has failed. It then proposes a new paradigm grounded in the strategic theory of the American military theorist John R. Boyd to replace the materialism of rationality for the strategic decision criterion of strategic morality. This original approach would equip the U.S. military and public with a victory-focused strategic grammar, potentially making the U.S. military more effective in its long-term strategic response to the reintroduction of aggressive war into the strategic environment.