Papers by Pedro Valdés Guía
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Universidad de Navarra, 2020
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Global strategy reports, 2020
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Defence Studies, 2020
ABSTRACT At the origin of every war is an existential conflict and a recourse to violence that op... more ABSTRACT At the origin of every war is an existential conflict and a recourse to violence that opens the “ontic” door of the enemy to transform him. Judgement corresponds to political logic, and violent existential transformation to the logic of war, which is engendered in that political matrix throughout the duration of hostilities. The objective nature of that logic structures the rationale of the theatre in terms of “performative” praxis, with two inseparable aspects: a violence that while destroying one order imposes an alternative one. The subjective nature of that logic is generated in its political matrix throughout the duration of the conflict, determining, in a dynamic way, its most basic formalization. Since war is engendered in politics, it adopts its character, a subjective nature that leads it to seek a peace treaty or a victory. In short, when the war begins, the political totality of each one of the belligerents starts to incorporate a new situation and, therefore, two logics coexist: one engendered in the other, and both conditioning each other. The symbiotic relationship between these two rationalities does not allow politics to dominate it according to the parameters of an instrumental reason.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
It is necessary to understand different logics that support any operations planning process. Ther... more It is necessary to understand different logics that support any operations planning process. There are different logics because there are different kinds of complexity, and each kind of complexity requires a specific logic to deal with it. I will postulate that most of the contemporary military thought can be grouped around three logics: “outcome logic” associated to the structural complexity, “dialectic logic” linked to the interactive complexity and “design logic” that is behind the ways of thinking associated to the chaotic complexity. Although I am aware that each of these logics has been historically presented as a closed and complete theory for the conduct of operations, I am convinced that most of “operational” problems demand a balanced use of these three logics. Therefore, my proposal is that understanding that balance, with a clear view of what logic should be stressed in each moment, is a key element to any operations planning process.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
101 Resumen: Partiendo de las dispares manifestaciones de la praxis guerrera y de su raíz común e... more 101 Resumen: Partiendo de las dispares manifestaciones de la praxis guerrera y de su raíz común en la enemistad, el autor trata de mostrar cómo lo bélico no tiene otra lógica que la política, de la que constituye una manifestación límite, su gramática más extrema. Las diversas combinaciones de las leyes y formas de esa lógica política determinan cómo debe resolverse el duelo en que consiste la confrontación bélica: la guerra en busca del pacto o la Victoria. La intención de acotar y limitar esta gramática extrema sólo puede hacerse efectiva a través de una lógica política que prime el pacto sobre la Victoria, y que circunscriba esta última a un espacio de legitimidad.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The capacity of the grammar of the war to transform antagonistic positions into these acts of sov... more The capacity of the grammar of the war to transform antagonistic positions into these acts of sovereignty that are the agreement or the victory takes root in the integration of two forces in its violence: the one that is opposed to the enemy force, the acts of a duel, and the one that is opposed to the disorder, the force of an order
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by Pedro Valdés Guía
It begins by analysing Clausewitz's work, at the core of which is a new level of leadership, baptised a century later as "operational", responsible for conducting military operations in a given theatre as a whole. It then addresses the evolution of this concept in contemporary military thought: from the founding Soviet theories of operational art, through the systems analysis of the Vietnam War, the theory of the "air-land battle" and the revolution in military affairs, among others, to the most current theories of asymmetric warfare.
This analysis shows that the more authentic the complexity that challenges operational warfare, the closer it comes to an autonomous rationality that incorporates its own ends. Conflict is not a "continuum"; the "outbreak of hostilities" introduces a new logic, of an instituting nature. This new logic makes it desirable to replace the "instrumental paradigm" of political-military relations with another of "symbiotic" nature. A new paradigm in which political logic does not "dictate", but "dominates" through strategic "intermediation".
Theories such as John Boyd's "OODA loop" or Warden's "Five Rings" are put into context and linked to result in a work that could be considered a Handbook on the Direction and Conduct of Military Operations. The author illustrates the necessity of the "power" that the commander must receive from political power to achieve victory, the importance of understanding the systems in theatre in order to adapt the war effort to what those systems demand, the link between spatio-temporal depth and operational shaping, as well as the inevitable tension between "political logic" and "operational logic" in their "unequal dialogue".
This is a very interesting book for those who wish to learn about the gestation of the levels of operational conduct, and can serve as a starting point for further exploration of those theories that the reader later finds most interesting.