Some Remarks on the Dynamics of Strong Actor / Weak Actor Interaction

The emergence of weak actors on global scale is one among the many undesired consequences of the post Cold War period. In a globalized world, weak actors increasingly possess the capability and will to challenge the existing status quo set earlier by strong actors. The complexity of the international theatre provides weak actors with an abundance of opportunities to become successful over a long period. From a military point of view strong actor / weak actor interaction becomes manifest when the latter prosecutes a special type of war. This war is asymmetric, irregular and of low intensity. It poses a significant challenge to the strong actor and can bog him down into confusing and ambiguous military actions. In these actions the strong actor often finds himself in messy situations he can mostly master by improvisation. To better understand the strong actor / weak actor interaction and the resulting special type of war the authors suggest to reject the classical theorizing of war and advocate a different sort of thinking instead.