In A New Art of War, Jean-François Phelizon focuses on certain perennial aspects of strategy that are too often overlooked: the art of organizing and motivating a social group, of transmitting a vision, and of providing the group with a direction to move towards. More significantly, he explores what has changed since the end of the great “industrial” wars, with the emergence of the asymmetrical situations that characterize most modern confrontations.
The author delineates the two paradigms of war that exist today, and which call for radically different types of strategic action. He describes the interactions that, at a conceptual level, now bring the military and economic spheres closer together. He underlines the importance of public opinion, the “invisible hand” that is felt by every strategist and that can alter power relations in a matter of moments. Bringing all these threads together, the author makes it clear why certain commercial or military victories, unquestionable on the ground, can lead to bitter failure in both the media and politics.
Already published in French and translated into Chinese, A New Art of War is a particularly dense and innovative book. It should be read and carefully considered by all politicians, military officials and business leaders who are concerned with strategy.
While pursuing his career in industry and finance, Jean-François Phelizon, PhD, has published a number of books on strategy in general, including Trente-six Stratagèmes, Introduction à la Stratégie (in cooperation with General Vincent Desportes), an annotated French translation of Sun Tzu’s Art of War (in cooperation with Keyin Phelizon), Chess and the Art of Negotiation (in cooperation with Chess champion Anatoli Karpov), and L’Action stratégique (translated into Chinese).
A New Art of War
Jean-François Phelizon