Recent Articles

Political Warfare in Sub-Saharan Africa: U.S. Capabilities and Chinese Operations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa Dr Donovan C Chau Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In this monograph, Dr. Donovan Chau considers one nonviolent instrument of grand strategy in particular, political warfare. Retracing the origins and mischaracterizations of political warfare, Dr. Chau suggests that the PRC has used political warfare as its leading grand strategic instrument in Africa. The monograph offers a concise, detailed overview of U.S. capabilities to conduct political warfare in Africa. It then examines PRC political warfare operations in four regional “anchor” states—Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa."

In Defense of Rational Risk Assessment Mr Nathan P Freier Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Risk in Webster’s is “the possibility of suffering harm or loss.”1 Risk accompanies both action and inaction. To strategists, it is accounted for and mitigated, but not always or even commonly avoided. To the national security strategist, risk—to paraphrase the current defense strategy—is the likelihood of failure or prohibitive cost in pursuit of key objectives. In this view, some goals are beyond reach. Others are within reach, but the cost of achieving them puts more important ambitions in some jeopardy. Unfortunately, those familiar with contemporary strategic-level military decisionmaking know that rational consideration of even the prospect of failure is absent. In high-level policy discussions, success is assumed."

The Other Special Relationship: The United States and Australia at the Start of the 21st Century Dr Jeffrey D McCausland, Dr Douglas Stuart, Prof William T Tow, Prof Michael Wesley Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Many of the contributors to this volume agree with Michael Evans’ conclusion that “in the first decade of the new millennium, the Australian-American Alliance is at its strongest since the height of the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s.” But if there is one overarching theme to be found in this book, it is that such an intimate alliance relationship cannot be taken for granted."

Colombia and the United States--The Partnership: But What Is the Endgame? AMB Myles R R Frechette Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The American-Colombian strategic partnership has made significant progress since the inception of Plan Colombia. The United States has provided a considerable amount of economic, police, judicial, and military assistance. But much work looms ahead to eliminate the threats to state authority—the terrorism and the drug trafficking that nurture so much violence and corruption. Drug production and trafficking continue as the producers have learned how to outwit government counternarcotics efforts."

Exploring the "Right Size" for China's Military: PLA Missions, Functions, and Organizations Mr Justin B Liang, Dr Sarah K Snyder Colloquium Brief by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, with the National Bureau of Asian Research "On October 6, 2006, more than 60 leading experts on China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) convened at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, for a two-day discussion of the drivers of PLA force modernization. The 2006 PLA Conference was co-sponsored by National Bureau of Asian Research and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. Entitled “Exploring the ‘Right Size’ for China’s Military: PLA Missions, Functions, and Organization,” the conference explored continuities and discontinuities in the forces driving PLA force modernization, assessed how current modernization efforts are linked to national requirements, and examined what such development reveals about China’s national defense strategies."

Understanding Indian Insurgencies: Implications for Counterinsurgency Operations in the Third World Deputy Inspector General Durga Madhab (John) Mitra Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph analyzes the susceptibility of Third World countries to insurgency and develops a theoretical perspective to illuminate some of the factors contributing to insurgency in these countries. The term insurgency has been used broadly to include all violent struggles against the state by any group or section of population of an area trying to establish its independent political control over that area and its population. A simple linear model for India, having both static as well as dynamic aspects, has been developed to demonstrate how the degree of inaccessibility of an area, the strength of separate social identity of its population, and the amount of external influence on the area determine the propensity of that area for insurgency..."

The Iraq War: Learning from the Past, Adapting to the Present, and Planning for the Future Dr Thomas R Mockaitis Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Iraq confronts the U.S. military with one of the most complex internal security operations in history. It must occupy, pacify, secure, and rebuild a country of 26 million people with fewer than 150,000 troops organized and trained as a conventional force in predominantly heavy armored divisions. They occupy a land divided into two broad ethnic and three religious groups crisscrossed by hundreds of regional, local, and family loyalties. For the past 3 years, Iraq has been wracked by a Sunni insurgency augmented by foreign mujahedeen terrorists and complicated by general lawlessness. Growing intercommunal violence between Sunni and Shiite militias has taken the country to the brink of civil war."

Globalization and Its Implications for the Defense Industrial Base Dr Terrence R Guay Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In this monograph, Dr. Terrence Guay explores how key elements of globalization have transformed national defense industries around the world, and how these changes will affect the U.S. defense industrial base in the coming years. He focuses on elements of globalization that are relevant especially to the defense industry: the globalization of capital (finance), production, trade, technology and labor; and the changes in global governance that structure the forces of globalization. He concludes by offering ten recommendations for policymakers who have the difficult task of maximizing U.S. economic competitiveness without compromising national security."

Georgia After the Rose Revolution: Geopolitical Predicament and Implications for U.S. Policy Dr Svante E Cornell Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Since its independence, Georgia has been the most vocally independent-minded country in the former Soviet Union. Russia countered Georgia’s independence by strong support for secessionist minorities such as those in Abkhazia and south Ossetia. Since President Vladimir Putin’s coming to power, Russian pressure on Georgia to reverse its pro-Western course has grown measurably. Following the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia, relations with Russia turned sour as the new government proved both democratic and single-mindedly focused on rebuilding the Georgian state, resolving the secessionist conflicts, and seeking NATO membership—all anathema to Moscow."