Manging the Barbarians

[SteveMetz]

Doug MacGregor's interview below led me to just have an interesting discussion with Ray Millen (one of the perks of working in a think tank). Thought I'd float my admittedly half formed (and perhaps half baked) ideas here.

I've felt for a long time that what American strategy today is about is "managing the barbarians." States and empires have done this for thousands of years. Thus we could learn a lot by looking at the techniques our forebears have used to do it.

Basically, managing the barbarians was done through a range of methods: 1) assimilation; 2) raids and campaigns of punishment; 3) establishing settler communities; 4) cultivating and maintaining buffer states; 5) dividing the threat; 6) defensive measures, and, 7) co-opting/paying off the threat.

But current American strategy does not use this full range of techniques. Instead, we seek to make the barbarians like us (a variant of assimilation). Perhaps we would be more effective if we did, in fact, use the full range.

This has a very profound implication: I think most historic states and empires lost their ability to manage the barbarians less because of military weakness than because economic weakness eroded their ability to pay off buffer states, proxies, and enemies. This may mean that America's economic problems--decline of the dollar, declining competitiveness, etc.--will ultimately effect our ability to sustain our security more than anything that may or may not happen within the military and the security services.

OK, that's it. This is hereby declared a free flame zone (NOT a flame free zone. That would be wussie).