Strategic Instincts by Dominic D.P. Johnson Book Analysis

The book Strategic Instincts: the Adaptive Advantages of Cognitive Biases in International Politics by Dominic D.P. Johnson endeavors to answer the question with regards to whether or not strategic instincts can serve as a tool of survival for nations in times of crisis and war. Johnson executes a sensational mission by using compelling evidence based from evolutionary biology and psychology to support his argument throughout the book. The author analyzes previous events where strategic instincts could have played a huge role in the outcome and infers a feasible sequel where less damage could have occurred. 

While this book is extremely informative and compelling, it is however, extremely repetitive and fails to keep readers engaged for the first few chapters. The author recurrently mentions the purpose of the book while reforming and rephrasing some of the words. Moreover, throughout the book Johnson continuously mentions the same information and repeats the inference he took away from those events while altering the words. One can also find themselves struggling to focus on the book and retaining the information for the first half of the book as it is extremely repetitive and formatted uncommonly. 

Psychological biases occur every day around the world. If in the hands of the wrong political figure, strategic instincts can be extremely dangerous and can lead to enormous destruction of lives. For example, one can look at the decision of former president George W. Bush and his administration of invading Iraq after the 9/11 attack. A situation where cognitive bias led to a deadly compromised decision that affected thousands to millions of lives. 

The book provides evidence to a topic that is so diverse, one struggles to conclude with a simple yes or no. With compelling evidence based arguments from both sides proves it difficult for one such as myself to side with either spectrum of the argument. Depending on the situation, cognitive bias can either be beneficial or lethal.