title: Strategic underperformance
abstract: This chapter aims to paradox, starting with a sketch of the recent Western strategic history. While in light of these factors criticism of Western politicians and military commanders must be nuanced, the costly insights and traumas of the three decades of war should not go unheeded as they aided our understanding of contemporary war. War is, alas, a constant in international affairs. A single look at the news reminds us daily of various conflicts and wars around the world, often persisting for d