Non-Western operational art of coercion: Comparing Russia, Israel, and Iran

This article examines coercion strategies outside the Western intellectual tradition. It introduces the concept of the ‘operational art of coercion’ and scrutinizes how Russia, Israel, and Iran translate political intent into campaigns of deterrence and compellence. The study argues that strategic culture shapes how actors define credibility, manage escalation, integrate domains, and learn. In all three cases, operational art of coercion is iterative, cross-domain, and often diverges from the classical Western model of stable, prewar strategic influence. Even if competitive military learning accelerates worldwide, coercive practices are likely to stay culturally distinct rather converging toward a universal template.