Strategic Studies and the Military. Insights from a Quarter Century of Teaching

This essay reflects the author’s quarter-century experience of teaching Strategic Studies at Greek higher military colleges. His former officer-students number in the thousands, ranging from former NCOs who rose to Second Lieutenants and Midshipmen, to high-flying Colonels and Navy Captains who rose to Chiefs of General Staff. The curriculum is firmly grounded within the Realist paradigm of International Relations and pays due respect to classical strategic theorists such as Thucydides, Sun Tzu, and Clausewitz. The lectures are steeped in illustrative historical examples, but are always juxtaposed with contemporary strategic issues, hence are practical in character. All in all, the essay offers a blueprint for teaching Strategic Studies to (Western) military officers.