News - Category Parameters

The Combat Path: Sustaining Mental Readiness in Ukrainian Soldiers
May 29, 2024 — In Ukraine, soldiers’ psychological resilience is of paramount concern. Therefore, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have developed a new intervention, Combat Path Debriefing, designed to address combat stress and promote unit readiness for soldiers returning to combat. This article outlines the components of Combat Path Debriefing and discusses how it is rooted in principles of combat and operational stress control and the unique characteristics of Ukrainian military life. This perspective offers US and allied leaders real-world experience that can inform future efforts to support soldiers’ mental health and combat performance... MORE

What American Policymakers Misunderstand about the Belt and Road Initiative
May 29, 2024 — American accounts of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) contend that it is a coherent grand strategy that reflects Beijing’s geopolitical ambitions. These accounts ignore the BRI’s fragmented nature, whereby Chinese provinces have been pivotal actors in its development and implementation. Furthermore, these accounts disregard the agency of participant countries and their capacity to shape the BRI. This article illustrates this fragmentation and agency by studying the Yunnan province and its domestic and international neighbors. It contends that these dynamics indicate that the BRI lacks coherence and that Beijing’s capacity to extract geopolitical benefits will remain limited. ... MORE

In Memoriam
May 29, 2024 — US Army Pacific (USARPAC) is grateful for the enduring relationship it has with the folks at the US Army War College and the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI). We were all shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the sudden death of Dr. Carol Evans, the director of SSI. I considered Carol both a terrific colleague and a close friend... MORE

From the Editor in Chief
May 29, 2024 — Welcome to the Summer 2024 issue of Parameters. We open this issue with a special “In Memoriam” by General Charles A. Flynn, Commander US Army Pacific, honoring the life and legacies of our director and consummate colleague, Carol V. Evans. We dedicate this issue to her. General Flynn’s memoriam is followed by an In Focus commentary entitled “What American Policymakers Misunderstand about the Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), by Zenel Garcia and Phillip Guerreiro; they argue the grand-strategic and geopolitical framing American policymakers typically use to interpret the BRI ignores the origin of the program and its fragmented nature... MORE

Book Reviews - Spring 2024
March 7, 2024 — Hybrid Warriors: Proxies, Freelancers and Moscow’s Struggle for Ukraine and Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine by David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts... MORE

Emerging Technologies in Terrorism: A Report from NATO’s COE Defence Against Terrorism
March 7, 2024 — For the last several years, the Army’s focus has turned increasingly toward competition and large-scale combat operations (LSCO)—and rightfully so. The global threat landscape as articulated in the most recent National Security Strategy clearly highlights China and Russia as the most pressing strategic challenges. The pervasive threat of terrorism still exists in earnest, however, and we must not lose sight of how this threat is evolving, particularly through advanced and readily available technologies... MORE

Building a Purposeful Research Agenda
March 7, 2024 — In this second installment of the CLSC Director’s Corner, Joshua Arostegui, the Center’s research director and chair of China studies, and I discuss the Center’s research agenda. Previously, I outlined the center’s mission and how the research agenda answers large campaign questions across the perspectives of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the United States, and US allies and partners... MORE

The Art of Avoiding Strategic Miscalculation
March 7, 2024 — This examination of British War Secretary George Cornewall Lewis and the gold standard memorandum he penned in 1862 (that proved instrumental in preventing British intervention in the American Civil War) offers insights for modern leaders on how to avoid institutional barriers to effective strategic thinking and political-strategic miscalculation through insightful analysis of potential liabilities and policy assumptions. It shows how outstanding strategic thinkers possess an informed and reflective filter to evaluate past, present, and anticipated events— developed through a good education, diverse practical experience, lifelong intellectual curiosity, empowerment, and access to senior leadership... MORE

Strategy as Problem-Solving
March 7, 2024 — This article proposes a new definition of strategy as problem-solving that challenges the focus on goals and assumptions of order within many post–Cold War approaches to strategy. It argues that the military needs strategy to diagnose the complex problems of the twenty-first century before they can be solved. Inspired by practitioners such as Andrew Marshall and George F. Kennan, this new definition clarifies what strategists do and offers a logic for distinguishing the use of the term strategy. Practitioners will also find problem-solving tools and pedagogies they can adopt today... MORE

Rethinking the Relevance of Self-Deterrence
March 7, 2024 — Self-deterrence is critically understudied in deterrence theory. Similarly, deterrence practitioners prefer to focus on adversaries’ threats rather than seeking to account for the full scope of fears influencing the decision calculus of policymakers. Through historical case studies, this article identifies where self-deterrence has occurred, highlights the benefits of incorporating the concept in future strategic planning and intelligence assessments, and recommends that policymakers, strategists, and analysts acknowledge self-deterrence as an important factor when preparing for future wars... MORE