Recent Articles

Dealing with Political Ferment in Latin America: The Populist Revival, the Emergence of the Center, and Implications for U.S. Policy Dr Hal Brands Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Over the past decade, Latin America has experienced considerable political upheaval. Persistent poverty, corruption, and public insecurity have produced profound popular dissatisfaction and caused widespread ideological ferment. While the electoral results of this ferment are frequently described as a “lurch to the left,” such descriptions are misleading. Latin America is not experiencing a uniform shift to the left; it is witnessing a competition between two very different political trends. "

Toward Making Practice More Perfect in Stability Operations COL George P McDonnell Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "The U.S. Army’s history is replete with an aversion to stability operations regardless of the name, e.g., “operations other than war,” “peacekeeping,” or “small wars.” However, the publication of Army Field Manual 3-07, Stability Operations, in October 2008 signaled that a large category of missions – those characterized as neither strictly offensive or defensive operations – are not only part of the Army’s charter to engage in, but to win decisively and efficiently. In particular, Appendix F, Provincial Reconstruction Teams, in FM 3-07 is a significant step forward to codify an initiative from Operation ENDURING FREEDOM that the military now considers a best practice in stability operations..."

Should Military Governance Guidance Return to its Roots COL Hugh C Van Roosen II Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "A comparison of the 1943 United States Army and Navy Manual of Military Government and Civil Affairs with the most recent (2006) United States Army Civil Affairs Field Manual reveals major changes in doctrine in the intervening sixty three years. While to some degree changing national and international conditions make many of those changes understandable, after reading the two manuals one can argue a need to recapture the ‘military government’ essentials found in the 1943 document."

Preparing for NATO Missions: Integrated Force Planning in the Albanian Armed Forces Prof Bernard F Griffard, Dr R Craig Nation, Prof James W Shufelt Jr Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "Albania’s reintegration into the European community began immediately after the fall of the communist dictatorship in 1990. Following the 1992 elections, which marked the emergence of a multi-party political system, the government’s long-term goals were membership in the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). To this end, on January 26, 1994, the Albanian Parliament approved the country’s participation in the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. Subsequently, Albania participated in NATO and EU peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and supported allied efforts to respond to Serbian action in Kosovo and resolve Kosovo’s political status. Following the attacks on the United States in September 2001, Albania joined the “Coalition of the Willing,” providing military forces for coalition and NATO operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Albania’s demonstrated commitment to the alliance was rewarded on April 1, 2009, with full NATO membership"

Enhancing Professional Military Education in the Horn of Africa Prof Bernard F Griffard, Prof John F Troxell Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "Strategic planning is a way of thinking. It is a process of defining a national strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating resources (capital and people) to pursue this strategy. In today’s challenging economic environment, employing the strategic planning process is critical for a nation to fully evaluate the impacts of its identified strategic ends, ways and means."

Toward a Risk Management Defense Strategy Mister Nathan P Freier PKSOI Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "Current fiscal and operational realities no doubt constrain the defense decision space. It is realistic to view the coming era as one of general defense and national security evolution, complemented by some targeted revolution within the Department of Defense (DoD). Toward that end, the current Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR 10) must rationalize competing visions about the certainty of future unconventional threats and lingering uncertainty about evolving traditional challenges. Doing so requires adoption of a new risk management defense strategy."

The Role of Cuban Paramilitary Organizations (People's Militias) in the Post-Castro Era Dr Max G Manwaring Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Armed nonstate groups all over the world are directly challenging targeted governments’ physical and moral right and ability to govern. This almost chronic chaos is exacerbated by traditional nationstate actors using nonstate popular militias, youth leagues, gangs, or their equivalents to help the take control, maintain control, or regain control of a given political-economic-social entity. It is in this context that popular militias have been organized, trained, and nurtured in Cuba."

Collins Center Update, Volume 11, Issue 3 (Summer 2009) Professor James Kievit, Mr. John Auger, Dennis M. Murphy, Professor Bernard F. Griffard, Major (P) John A. Mowchan, Mr. William O. Waddell, Mr. Kevin J. Cogan. Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership

United States and Mongolia Conduct Exercise Gobi Wolf Arthur L Bradshaw Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "Cooperation between the United States and Mongolia has developed dynamically since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1987. Today Mongolia and the United States share a growing and strong cooperative partnership based on shared values, a commitment to democracy and free-market economy, and the global war against terrorism. To that end the two nations are partnering in several areas to expand expertise and training to Mongolia as it reconfigures its government from a Soviet-style bureaucracy to a more western, interagency-based structure."