When David Usually Wins*

Ivan Arreguín-Toft is a post doctoral fellow at The Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He recently wrote “How the Weak Win Wars” where he states that in asymmetrical conflicts, where one side is significantly stronger than the other, the stronger side wins about seventy percent of the time. What’s fascinating is that when he looked at the conflicts where the weaker side used unconventional strategies the win loss rates were reversed. It turns out that David usually beats Goliath, if he uses unconventional strategies. Related Article by Malcolm Gladwell