ABSTRACT
The outrage traditional scholars exhibit at the work done by war game strategists, be they of civilian or military affiliation, is closer to the anguish of men concerned with professional status than to that of men compromised by poor social science. This chapter attempts to redress this set of concerns. It also attempts to understand the most general relations between national policy and military behavior by testing a specific theory about the influence of strategy expertise in policy matters, using deterrence theory as a model and testing it against the Cuban missile crisis. In its specifics, this is an attempt to understand some of the general relations between politics and militarism through a test of a specific theory about the influence of war game theory on United States foreign policy. The chapter examines the social structural components entailed in war game strategies that facilitate its use by military leaders.
