The Chessboard and the Web Strategies of Connection in a Networked World [Paperback]

From a renowned foreign-policy expert, a new paradigm for strategy in the twenty-first century

In 1961, Thomas Schelling’sThe Strategy of Conflictused game theory to radically reenvision the U.S.-Soviet relationship and establish the basis of international relations for the rest of the Cold War. Now, Anne-Marie Slaughter—one ofForeign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers from 2009 to 2012, and the first woman to serve as director of the State Department Office of Policy Planning—applies network theory to develop a new set of strategies for the post-Cold War world. While chessboard-style competitive relationships still exist—U.S.-Iranian relations, for example—many other situations demand that we look not at individual entities but at their links to one another. We must learn to understand, shape, and build on those connections.
 
Concise and accessible, based on real-world situations, on a lucid understanding of network science, and on a clear taxonomy of strategies, this will be a go-to resource for anyone looking for a new way to think about strategy in politics or business.

"In happier times, The Chessboard and the Webmight have been taken as extended application letters for senior posts under either Hillary Clinton or a mainstream Republican. . . . Where Slaughter is fundamentally at odds with the new Washington is in her belief that foreign policy is not a zero­-sum game. For her, politics is more than a bilateral tussle over trade or security. . . . She argues her case from both an extensive review of the literature and her own experience in government, citing examples such as the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change."—Mark Malloch-Brown,Financial Times