Winning Without Fighting: Irregular Warfare and Strategic Competition in the 21st Century

Authors

• Joseph J. Collins, National War College

Abstract

This book review assesses Winning Without Fighting: Irregular Warfare and Strategic Competition in the 21st Century by Rebecca Patterson and coauthors. The book presents irregular warfare as a broad form of strategic competition that relies on military, economic, informational, diplomatic, and resilience-based tools to advance national objectives short of conventional war. The review highlights the authors’ comparison of U.S. strategic culture with the more integrated approaches to competition employed by authoritarian states, particularly China and Russia, and their use of Cold War political warfare as a historical reference point. It also discusses the book’s treatment of economic statecraft, information activities, security cooperation, resilience, and the measurement of power, influence, and legitimacy. The reviewer concludes that the book makes a valuable contribution to debates over irregular warfare and strategic competition by emphasizing integrated statecraft, stronger alliance resilience, regional expertise, and greater use of nonmilitary instruments of national power.