In the 1980s, the Reagan national security team pursued goals that emanated from the beliefs of the president himself. The team used a variety of tools to achieve the goals. In “Planning Reagan’s War,” author Francis Marlo describes Ronald Reagan’s plan for winning the Cold War as a “grand strategy.” He doesn’t see it as hyperbole, but as a term of art. His definition is, “The planned use of all available tools of statecraft to achieve first-order national goals based on a given understanding regarding the nature of the international system.” In a word, it is comprehensive. The author writes that there are three central parts to a grand strategy: beliefs, goals and tools.
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