Challenging Orthodoxy in Strategic Competition: Introduction to Volume 2, Number 1

Authors

Keywords:

Strategic Competiton, Copenhagen School, security studies, security strategy, strategic studies, international relations

Abstract

Challenging orthodoxy in scholarship involves temptation, satisfaction, and above all: Danger. Scholars are often tempted to connect their narrow areas of expertise to adjacent issues, because doing so can produce new and valuable insights. However, if they push that integration too far, the analysis can become so broad and interconnected that it loses focus and rigor; a phenomenon we call the “everything is nothing” problem at the Irregular Warfare Initiative. In other words, when everything connects to everything else, meaningful and disciplined analysis becomes difficult. The key is finding the right balance between innovation and analytical discipline. That tension is what this issue (volume 2, number 1) intends to explore.

Author Biography

  • Tom Johansmeyer, Irregular Warfare Initiative, Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS)

    Tom Johansmeyer is co-lead of the economic and legal warfare project at the Irregular Warfare Institute, an early research member of the Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS), and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he is researching the nexus of economic and cyber security with regard to cyber war. Based in Bermuda and also working in the reinsurance industry, he previously led Property Claim Services at Verisk, estimating the cost of disasters worldwide. Tom also has an M.A. in global diplomacy from SOAS, University of London; an M.B.A. in accounting from Suffolk University (Boston), and an A.B. in philosophy and history from Ripon College (Wisconsin). He is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

Downloads

Published

02/22/2026

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2026): Strategic Competition

Section

Editorial

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Strategic Competition

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

All articles published in the Journal of Strategic Competition are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This permits anyone to share, adapt, and build upon the work for any purpose, even commercially, as long as proper attribution is provided to the original author(s) and the journal.

How to Cite

Challenging Orthodoxy in Strategic Competition: Introduction to Volume 2, Number 1. (2026). Journal of Strategic Competition, 2(1). https://www.strategiccompetition.org/index.php/josc/article/view/25