ABSTRACT
The Powell Doctrine is used as shorthand to describe a series of tests for the use of US Military force laid down by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell, shortly before his retirement. The Powell Doctrine does not spontaneously emerge in Powell's 1992 Foreign Affairs article. Indeed, in the early 1990s, Powell's standing was such that a Presidential bid was seen as a real possibility. The ideas that come to be known as the Powell Doctrine are first mentioned in a body of literature created between the late 1970s and the mid-1980s which attempted to learn the overall strategic lessons of the Vietnam War. In particular, the work of Colonel Harry G. Summers, who was a classmate of Powell's at the Command and General Staff College, proved extremely influential. The Powell Doctrine may deserve the title "doctrine", but it is also something with implications that go beyond the realms of military doctrine.
