The Who, What, and Why of Wargaming

Plugging my recent article for the US-China Perception Monitor

Recent wargames by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Center for a New American Security (CNAS) have captured the attention of the general public and China-watchers. Interest grew further as China began conducting large-scale military drills around Taiwan early in August in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Although such attention is warranted, it has also resulted in a variety of misleading commentaries about wargames that confuse more than clarify. 

While some of these commentaries are critiques in bad faith, it appears the vast majority simply misunderstand what wargames are, how they work, and why they are employed.

This is how my recent article with Elliot Ji begins. In it, we provide a general introduction to wargames, explain their strengths and weaknesses, and discuss how one should interpret the recent wargames conducted by CSIS and CNAS. If you don’t have much of a wargaming background and want to become a smarter consumer of defense analysis, this article is a perfect place to begin! And if you’re eager to learn more about wargaming as a method, check out Sebastian Bae’s Forging Wargamers, Peter Perla’s The Art of Wargaming, and Pat Harrigan’s Zones of Control.