The Ministry vs. Dumbledore’s Army (Strategies vs. Tactics)

According to de Certeau’s “Making Do”: Uses and Tactics, “strategies pin their hopes on the resistance that the establishment of place offers to the erosion of time; tactics on a clever utilization of time, of the opportunities that presents and also of the play that introduces into the foundations of power” (p. 39). This differentiation between strategies and tactics can easily translate into large scale comparisons: British Government vs. the Colonists, the US Military vs. Vietnam Gorilla Warfare, the European Colonizers vs. the Native Americans, Wall Street vs. The 99 Percent. It also lends itself to the world of fiction bringing to mind a number of fantasy, utopian, or dystopian novels that feature a secured government that operated on strategy going up against another power group. To name a few I thought of The Hunger Games, Divergent, 1984, and Harry Potter.

As a class of Harry Potter fans I found it only fitting that I use Harry Potter to bring de Certeau’s definition of strategy and tactic, specifically as it is seen in The Order of the Phoenix.

Strategy: In The Order of the Phoenix The Ministry and Umbridge establishes power over the Wizarding Qorld, including Umbridge’s control over Hogwarts. (This satisfies the requirement that a strategy is born out of an established place.) From the Ministry, the Minister and his cronies are able to control all of the witches and wizards in England as well as exert his control on the school, Hogwarts, and the Muggle World (to an extent). With this control and power we see strategy start to work as Umbridge is placed at Hogwarts to control Dumbledore’s power and quench the belief that Voldemort had returned. You also see the strategy of using the media, The Daily Prophet, as a PR source to spread the Ministry’s messages to the wizarding population. Namely, these messages were a way to discredit the Minister’s “enemies” and a way to call in to question any stories that were not in the Ministry’s favor. It is through these strategies that the Minister exerts his control around his territory and beyond.

Tactic: Dumbledore’s Army is one of the best examples of tactics that I can think to use. They are not able to have power over a place because they must work within the realm of Umbridge and Filch’s watch. They also do not have any strong numbers or power over others outside of their group. They remain a secret and stealthily meet to practice and make plans. Many of the tactics they use are simply teaching methods and ways to prepare for the rise of Voldemort. However, another tactic was the way they were able to ultimately get rid of Umbridge. It was created on the spot, and was a complete gorilla move (one that Umbridge clearly did not see coming). These instances of working against the system in place to further their own learning and agenda shows the use of tactics in an otherwise controlled environment.