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The Use of Force as Strategic Failure
What is the central argument of “The Use of Force as Strategic Failure”, and why does it matter for European defence and dual-use markets?
The Use of Force as Strategic Failure: The West tends to measure power on the battlefield. Defence-finance analysis; 11-page sourced DFM PDF report.
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Original DFM publication · DFM Analysis report · 2026-06-29
The West tends to measure power on the battlefield. War is the moment of truth, the clash that reveals who is stronger and consecrates that supremacy; and so, where there is no open war, we are inclined to read stability, or at most a rivalry that has not yet reached its breaking point.
It is a long-standing habit of mind, rooted in the European strategic tradition and in its greatest classic, Clausewitz, for whom the destruction of the enemy’s forces is the end toward which all military action tends. Yet there exists a strategic tradition — the classical Chinese one — that reverses this criterion entirely.
This analysis answers: What is the central argument of “The Use of Force as Strategic Failure”, and why does it matter for European defence and dual-use markets? What does this mean for European defence funding, procurement and investment decisions? How mature and defensible is the position described in “The Use of Force as Strategic Failure”? Which European actors, programmes and funding instruments are most exposed?
Key takeaways
- Yet there exists a strategic tradition — the classical Chinese one — that reverses this criterion entirely.
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Original DFM analysis
The Use of Force as Strategic Failure
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FAQ
What is The Use of Force as Strategic Failure?
War is the moment of truth, the clash that reveals who is stronger and consecrates that supremacy; and so, where there is no open war, we are inclined to read stability…
Why does The Use of Force as Strategic Failure matter for European defence?
It is a long-standing habit of mind, rooted in the European strategic tradition and in its greatest classic, Clausewitz, for whom the destruction of the enemy’s forces is the end toward which all military action tends.
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