The New Rules of War: How America Can Win--Against Russia, China, and Other Threats

"Stunning. Sean McFate is a new Sun Tzu." -Admiral James Stavridis (retired), former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO

An Economist Book of the Year 2019

Some of the principles of warfare are ancient, others are new, but all described in The New Rules of War will permanently shape conflict now and in the future. By following them Sean McFate argues, we can prevail in this era of unconventional warfare. But if we do not, terrorists, rogue states, and others who do not fight conventionally will succeed—and rule the world.

The New Rules of War is an urgent, fascinating exploration of war—past, present and future—and what we must do if we want to win today from an 82nd Airborne veteran, former private military contractor, and professor of war studies at the National Defense University.

War is timeless. Some things change—weapons, tactics, technology, leadership, objectives—but our desire to go into battle does not. We are living in the age of Durable Disorder—a period of unrest created by numerous factors: China’s rise, Russia’s resurgence, America’s retreat, global terrorism, international criminal empires, climate change, dwindling natural resources, and bloody civil wars. A master of military strategy, Sean McFate has been on the front lines of deep state conflicts and has studied and taught the history and practice of war. He’s seen firsthand the horrors of battle and understands the depth and complexity of the current global military situation.

This devastating turmoil has given rise to difficult questions. What is the future of war? How can we survive? If Americans are drawn into major armed conflict, can we win? McFate calls upon the legends of military study Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and others, as well as his own experience, and carefully constructs the new rules for the future of military engagement, the ways we can fight and win in an age of entropy: one where corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power and ‘nation states’ have less. With examples from military history including the Roman conquest, World War II, Vietnam, and Afghanistan, he tackles the differences between conventional and future war, the danger in believing that technology will save us, the genuine leverage of psychological and ‘shadow’ warfare, and much more. McFate’s new rules distill the essence of war today, describing what it is in the real world, not what we believe or wish it to be.

The New Rules of War deconstructs the strategic atrophyplaguing Western armies and provides a playbook for victory in this new era of global threats:

• Conventional War is Dead: Learn why World War II-style warfare is obsolete and how clinging to it guarantees defeat against today’s unconventional enemies, from rogue states to terrorist organizations.
• The Return of Mercenaries: Explore the rise of private military contractors and for-profit warriors, a booming industry that is changing the business of war and creating new kinds of superpowers.
• Shadow Warfare: Understand how modern conflicts are won not with firepower, but with plausible deniability, weaponized information, and strategic subversion designed to manipulate an enemy’s perception of reality.
• A New Grand Strategy: Move beyond battlefield tactics to grasp the new political nature of war, where victory is fungible and the most effective weapons may not fire bullets at all.

Sean McFate is a professor of strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think tank. He served as a paratrooper in the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and then worked for a major private military corporation, where he ran operations similar to those in this book. He is the author of The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order, and holds a BA from Brown University, a MA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He lives with his wife in Washington, DC.