Recent Articles

Threat Posed by Mounting Vigilantism in Mexico Dr George W Grayson Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Until the 1980s, Mexico enjoyed relative freedom from violence. Ruthless drug cartels existed, but they usually abided by informal rules of the game hammered out between several capos and representatives of the dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled the country in Tammany Hallfashion from 1929 until the 1990s. Relying on bribes or mordidas, the desperados pursued their illicit activities with the connivance of authorities, frequently through ad hoc pacts that might last days, weeks, or months. "

Puncturing the Counterinsurgency Myth: Britain and Irregular Warfare in the Past, Present, and Future Dr Andrew Mumford Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Britain’s numerous counterinsurgency campaigns in the post-World War II era have resulted in a generally accepted academic assessment that this volume of experience equates to competence in the realm of irregular warfare. However, the British response to the complexities of 21st century insurgencies, particularly in their decentralized and globally networked form, has threatened to expose this competency as a colonial-era myth. Quantity of counterinsurgency combat experience has not equated to outright quality."

National Security Reform 2010: A Midterm Assessment Dr Joseph R Cerami, Dr Robert H Dorff, Mr Matthew Harber Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute

China-Latin America Military Engagement: Good Will, Good Business, and Strategic Position Dr R Evan Ellis Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Over the past several years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has expanded its military ties with Latin America in multiple important ways. High-level trips by Latin American defense and security personnel to the PRC and visits by their Chinese counterparts have become commonplace. The volume and sophistication of Chinese arms sold to the region has increased. Officer exchange programs, institutional visits, and other lower-level ties have also expanded. Chinese military personnel have begun participating in operations in the region in a modest, yet symbolically important manner..."

Collins Center Update Volume 13 Issue 3 Professor Bernard F. Griffard, Colonel Sam White, Jr, LTC Vince Lindenmeyer, Professor Dennis Murphy, Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership

Strategic Minerals: Is China's Consumption a Threat to United States Security? Mr Brent C Bankus, Dr Kent H Butts, LT Adam Norris Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "The vitality of a powerful nation depends upon its ability to secure access to the strategic resources necessary to sustain its economy and produce effective weapons for defense. This is especially true for the world’s two largest economies, those of the United States and China, which are similarly import dependent for around half of their petroleum imports and large quantities of their strategic minerals. Because China’s economy and resource import dependence continue to grow at a high rate it has adopted a geopolitical strategy to secure strategic resources. China’s resulting role in the mineral trade has increased Western security community concern over strategic minerals to its highest point since the end of the Cold War. "

Assessing the Strategic Environment: Developing Critical Thinking Skills at the Ethiopian Defense Command and Staff College Prof Bernard F Griffard Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "A government’s failure to understand the impact of global variables on the domestic environment can result in major destabilizing events. Emperor Tewodros II of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) learned this lesson the hard way. In 1862, after a snub by the British Government, the Emperor took the British Consul and other Europeans hostage to pressure the Crown to meet his request for equipment and training support. Being a somewhat impatient ruler, he also detained the British delegation sent to negotiate the initial hostages’ release. Because Britain’s ruling Liberal Party was reluctant to engage in “imperial adventures,” the hostages were still in loco Abyssinia into 1867."

Peace & Stability Journal, Volume 1, Issue 4 Mister Robert C Browne Peace and Stability Journal by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "Since the end of the Cold War, individual states and the international community have been challenged by an increasing instability resulting from numerous causes: natural disasters, internal conflicts, transnational terrorism and crime, and chronic and seemingly overwhelming societal problems. While not new in human history, the globalized environment of the 21st century make these issues more complex and interrelated. Broad access to information and global mobility informs populations of issues, internationalizes relative social progress, and empowers non-state actors. Informed populations demand more of their governments at home and abroad. Members of the greater international community respond to the plight of troubled states and their populations in various ways."

Understanding the North Korea Problem: Why It Has Become the "Land of Lousy Options" COL William A Boik Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph is intended to draw attention to the challenges faced by the United States in developing a coordinated strategy for dealing with North Korea. Despite the many decades of direct U.S. involvement on the Korean Peninsula, we continue to have little understanding of the North Korean culture or of events inside North Korea. We also do not have a long-term coordinated strategy for North Korea. Over the past decade, the United States has focused much of its attention on the Middle East and the War on Terror, and seems to only focus on North Korea in response to crises when they arise on the peninsula. "