On the need for an avant-garde in strategic studies

Thomas S. Kuhn articulates the vital idea of “paradigm.”  By this idea, which has obvious parallels in the arts, Kuhn refers to certain examples of scientific practice that provide theoretical models for further inquiry: Ptolemaic or Copernican astronomy; Aristotelian dynamics; Newtonian mechanics, and so on.  At any given moment in history, we learn, the prevailing paradigm within a given discipline defines the basic contours of all subsequent investigation.

The transformations of these paradigms, transformations that are occasioned by the essential opposition of new “facts” and empirical findings to the prevailing dominant orthodoxy, are “scientific revolutions.” The transition from one paradigm to another represents the core dynamic in which science is able to progress.

As an intrinsically important (but generally under-recognized) area of political science, strategic studies are no exception.  In the fashion of all other fields of inquiry, this very old area of scholarship can progress only to the extent that new paradigms routinely arise to “excavate” a consistently transforming consciousness of war and peace.  Ironically, however, the emergence of such indispensable new paradigms has been remarkably scant in recent years, creating a genuine ossification of strategic studies. This condition is already precipitating assorted negative intellectual and policy consequences.

What is to be done? .  As a result, the field continues to be dominated by aging and increasingly irrelevant paradigms; hence, by static models of military thinking that are often incapable of shaping any purposeful military policies. More specifically, the absence of avant-garde thinking has had determinable consequences for our problematic strategic policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

One of the major “beat” [ii] poets of the 1950s titled a poem, “This Is Not a Poem.” [iii] In so doing, he sought, through irony and paradox, to confront and eventually to alter the prevailing norms of poetry.  It is in the constant and continuing tension between orthodoxy and avant-garde ?  Let me offer an example from the world of art.  To recognize the origins of modern art, a contemporary expression of which was contained in the “beat” movement, we must look at the revolutionary romanticism of Blake and the revolutionary classicism of David.

The Beat Movement - News


On the need for an avant-garde in strategic studies

To recognize the origins of modern art, a contemporary expression of which was contained in the “beat” movement, we must look at the revolutionary romanticism of Blake and the revolutionary classicism of David. So, too, must we consider the historical



Sen. DeMint: Tea Party is 'great awakening' for GOP
Sen. DeMint: Tea Party is 'great awakening' for GOP

Rubio, with the help of the Tea Party movement, beat Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek to win the Senate election. DeMint writes also about his former GOP Senate colleague, Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, who switched parties and became a Democrat.



Cash fed cattle steady last week during corn's beat-down

Cash fed cattle traded at steady to firmer prices last week with light movement. Cattle in the South traded at $112 to $112.50 per hundredweight, while cattle in the North collected the same money with dressed prices at $178. Boxed beef cutout values



Hitting the open road

Defined as a critical part of the Beat Movement, "On the Road" revolves around Dean Moriarty and the narrator, Sal Paradise, who meet in New York as they travel back and forth across America and the adventures they experiance together and on their own.



Angels beat Dodgers 6-1 in Freeway Series

"He was impressive, not only with his velocity and movement but with his poise," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Chatwood. "Even though he walked in a run, he was still focused in making pitches." Chatwood (5-4) retired the first 10 Dodgers he




poets and Poetry: Beat Movement

The "Beat Movement" in modern literature has become an important period in the history of literature and society in America. Incorporating influences such as jazz, art, literature, philosophy and religion, the beat writers created a new and prophetic vision of modern life and changed the way a generation of people sees the world. That generation is mow aging and its representative voices are becoming lost to eternity, but the message is alive and well. The Beats have forever altered the nature of American consciousness. The Beat Generation of writers offered the world a new attitude. They brought to society a consciousness of life worth living. They offered a method of escape from the stultifying, unimaginative world we live in, through the exploration of one's intellect. Beat has had many different contemporary implications in music, poetry and literature. Literature has been liberated considerably. The poetic form has been changed to inaugurate a new poetic form, an American form. "There was less emphasis on tradition and more emphasis on the individual talent. (www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" One of the most important contributions to contemporary verse was to take poetry out of the classrooms and into non-academic setting—coffee houses, jazz clubs, large public auditoriums and even athletic stadiums. Poetry is more popular and more read than anytime in history, not only spoken poetry but also sung poetry of a high order. "The literature, coordinated by pop music, with a way of dressing, with a way of life, it something that has influenced the youth of the world not only in Western countries but Eastern countries as well. (www.charm.net)" Music has been influenced greatly by Beat writing. The lyrics of many great songs have forever been changed by the writing of the Beat Generation. "Bob Dylan's favorite poet was Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg became one of Dylan's greatest friends. He worked on many projects with Dylan...The band Rage Against the Machine has many of Ginsberg's poems and words show up in their songs. For instance the song 'Bulls on Parade' includes Ginsberg 'Hadda Been Playing on the Jukebox' (www.charm.net)" Generation X writers are compared to the Beat writers. Many people say that the "generation coming to age has the potential to bring a new vision to society. The Beats thumbed their noses at the corporate world just like Generation X does today. (www.altx.com/io/beatgeneration.


Twitter

iRespectAnimeFemales RT : the civil rights movement has gone too far because a black dude beat me up once


J Wayne we the movement!!!!Cant beat us or join us...


Mamanda RT : the civil rights movement has gone too far because a black dude beat me up once


ABBOK the civil rights movement has gone too far because a black dude beat me up once


SebastianPruiti If this isn't enough International flavor for you, here is my post on Poland and how they beat the zone -


The Beat Movement - Bookshelf

The Beat Book, Writings from the Beat Generation

The Beat Book, Writings from the Beat Generation

The Beat Movement that emerged in the early 1950s was not just another literary genre, but a literary and social revolution.

This is the Beat Generation, New York, San Francisco, Paris

This is the Beat Generation, New York, San Francisco, Paris

This book charts the transformation of these experiences into literature, and a literary movement that spread across the globe.

The Facts on File companion to the American short story

The Facts on File companion to the American short story

The poet and University of California professor Thomas Parkinson, who championed the Beat movement, prepared in 1961 A Casebook on the Beat, a popular book ...

The beat generation writers

The beat generation writers

Focuses on some of the most popular writers of the last forty years. One of the few books to explore the role of women and gender in the Beat movement.

Breaking the rule of cool, interviewing and reading women beat writers

Breaking the rule of cool, interviewing and reading women beat writers

Covering writers from the beginning of the movement in the 1950s and extending to the present, this book features interviews with nine of the best-known women ...

Day-by-day Info Directory


Beat Generation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Beat Generation is a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as ... In the 1960s, elements of the expanding Beat movement were ...

Beatnik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948, generalizing from his social ... The Beat Generation (1959) made an association of the movement with crime and violence, ...

A Brief Guide to the Beat Poets- Poets.org - Poetry, Poems ...
Beat poetry evolved during the 1940s in both New York City and on the west coast, although San Francisco became the heart of the movement in the early 1950s. ...

The beat movement
The beat movement. Literature of century XX. Generation. Kerouac. Ginsberg. Burroughs. Poetry ... The phrase Beat Generation was invented by Jack Kerouac in 1948. ...

The Beat Generation | Literary Kicks
Beat Generation. Like the French Impressionist artists of Paris, the Beat writers were a small group of close friends first, and a movement later. ...