Strategy in Politics Plotting Victory in a Democracy

Political managers--public office holders, legislative staff, campaign managers, policy advocates, and partisan communicators--are united by a common language, a set of shared skills, a strategic mindset, and, we can hope, an appreciation of their professional responsibilities to the institutions of democracy. While political managers are divided by vision and purpose, the best among them are simultaneously visionaries and manipulators, and they balance themselves precariously between these values as they develop and implement strategy. Campaigns often more closely resemble war and sports than the world of commercial business, and in the political arena, achieving victory requires calculated strategy.

In Strategy in Politics, F. Christopher Arterton seeks to clarify the meaning of strategy through four perspectives: the dynamics of strategic planning, the conduct of warfare, the theories of persuasive political communications, and the logic of interpersonal competition. Drawing on classic texts of statesmanship and warfare by Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, and Clausewitz, and complementing those with contemporary understandings of strategic planning, communications, game theory, and military tactics, Arterton delineates a defensible method of pursuing victory in politics. Recognizing that unbridled pursuit of power can be corrupting, Arterton advocates certain guardrails that political managers should live by in their strategic maneuvers and their employment of power. In turn, Arterton shows those engaged with the institutions of democratic politics how to be adroit in their strategic thinking, so that they may enter this battlefield better prepared for the conflict of ideas. Strategy in Politics will help readers to understand the dilemmas inherent in democratic politics, between power and purpose, between strategy and leadership, and between empowerment and manipulation.

F. Christopher Arterton is Professor Emeritus of Political Management at George Washington University. He is also the founding Dean of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, the first school for professional politics in the United States. In addition to his academic positions, Arterton served as a pollster for numerous campaigns, as a public opinion consultant to Newsweek magazine, and as leader of the George Washington University Battleground Poll. Arterton also served on three commissions for the Democratic National Committee and on the boards of the American Association of Political Consultants and the Campaign Finance Institute.

Preface
Acknowledgments

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGY

1. Politics: The Quest for Power
2. A First Look at Strategic Thinking

PART II: ARENAS OF STRATEGY

3. War and Democratic Conflict
4. Strategic Planning
5. Strategic Political Communications
6. Managing Strategic Interaction
7. Guidelines to Effective Strategy

PART III: PLACING STRATEGY IN PERSPECTIVE

8. Strategy and Negotiations in Politics
9. Political Leadership

Notes
Index