Department of Strategy
The Department of Strategy has existed since the formation of the military education in Serbia. The famous Serbian Voivode Živojin Mišić, in addition to a rich military career, taught strategy at the Higher School of the Military Academy from 1898 to 1904, and he prepared and published his lectures in 1907 in the book Strategy - The Art of Warfare. In the introduction to his book, discussing the essence of Strategy, which according to him appears sometimes as a science and sometimes as a skill, Mišić states that the goal of Strategy as a theory is to explain the basic principles that lead to maintaining victory over the enemy.
Today, the Department of Strategy is an organisational unit of the School of National Defence "Vojvoda Radomir Putnik" of the University of Defence, which provides cadets, students and participants of all forms of career development courses for officers of the Serbian Armed Forces with modern academic and professional knowledge in the field of strategy, military strategy, national security and defence, preparing them for the efficient performance of basic and highest command and other officer duties in the Serbian Armed Forces and in the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia.
The goal of studying subjects within the competence of the Department of Strategy is the acquisition of knowledge, and theoretical and methodological foundations for the understanding of the strategic environment and the logic behind strategic thinking, the analysis of modern security phenomena and processes, as well as the acquisition of the basic knowledge and expansion of the previous knowledge in the field of military strategy and doctrine necessary for the implementation of the Defence Strategy of the Republic of Serbia and doctrinal documents of the Serbian Armed Forces.
The Department of Strategy is responsible for teaching at:
- undergraduate, master and doctoral academic studies of the Military Academy, University of Defence,
- Command and Staff Course at the School of National Defence,
- General Staff Course at the School of National Defence and
- Advanced Security and Defence Studies at the School of National Defence.
- lectures, seminars, exercises and study visits,
- visits and familiarisation with the institutions important for the security and defence of the Republic of Serbia, and
- visits to institutions abroad and collective security systems, which are important for improving regional security.
The Department of Strategy organises numerous scientific meetings in the country.
The Department is currently running a scientific research project of the School of National Defence - "Vojvoda Radomir Putnik" of the University of Defence, entitled "Neutrality and Strategic Deterrence".
The Head of the Department of Strategy is Colonel Vangel Milkovski, Professor of Military Skills.