What do we mean by strategic or strategy? How does strategy relate to war? What is the purpose of strategy? Why may strategies fail? Why is strategy important regardless? This course explores strategy from a range of angles. To start, the course discusses the meaning of strategy and introduces arguments on strategic theory. Still by way of scene setting, the course then turns to war, especially its evolving characteristics. In what follows, we will then look at the particular contributions of two important strategic thinkers who have closely studied war: Carl von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu (Sunzi). The course is concerned with different domains of warfare and their interconnections and will also consider the impact of technological change on strategy. In relation to maritime and naval strategy for instance, we will compare the arguments of Alfred Thayer Mahan and Julian Stafford Corbett. With the continuous and now rapid advance of new technologies there will also be sessions on air power, nuclear strategy, and the warfighting domains of cyber and space. Strategy is interested in both state and non-state actors, covering debates about how to effectively wage insurgency as well as counterinsurgency campaigns. Moreover, strategy often throws up moral and legal questions which will allow us to briefly cast the spotlight on military ethics. In the context of growing great power competition, the course then focuses on geopolitics and geostrategy as well as evolving military strategy and strategic planning. Related empirical illustrations deal with Russia, the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean region, and US-China strategic competition. At the end, we zoom in on the UK and its strategizing with reference to recent security and defence reviews.