total strategy, noun phrase
- Origin:
- Translation of Afrikaans totale strategie.
historical
a. total onslaught sense a.
1973 P.W. Botha in White Paper on Defence (Dept of Defence) 1A country’s policy structure comprises three basic elements — internal policy, foreign policy, and defence policy...These..must..be closely co-ordinated and integrated; and this is of vital importance, particularly in the present international climate which is typified by total strategy and which obliges us to face the onslaughts of monolothic organizations which are in absolute control of all the means available to their states.
1988 T.L. Smith in Frontline May 34They see sanctions as part only of a total strategy (perhaps P W Botha is right, it is a ‘total onslaught’).
b. The co-ordinated plans and efforts, from about 1973 until the late 1980s, of various National Party government departments, public service bodies, quasi-government institutions, and covert organizations to counter this perceived threat. Also attributive.
1975 P.W. Botha in White Paper on Defence (Dept of Defence) 3All countries must muster all their activities — political, economic, diplomatic and military — for their defence. This..is the meaning of ‘total strategy’.
1993 Africa S. & E. July 14The South African economy has a distinct anti-export bias. It is, essentially, inward-looking — an inheritance from the ‘fortress South Africa’ ideology of the Total Strategy period.
The co-ordinated plans and efforts, from about 1973 until the late 1980s, of various National Party government departments, public service bodies, quasi-government institutions, and covert organizations to counter this perceived threat. Also attributive.

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