Sub-Saharan Africa

Peace & Stability Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2 Mister Robert C Browne Peace and Stability Journal by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "The Joint communities need to clearly articulate the practice and integration of stability operations in order for the Army to optimize efficiencies in applying the war-fighting functions across the range of military operations (ROMO) in support of Unified Action. Specifically, stability operations, as part of the Army’s decisive action, lack the clarity of a definitive relationship within the mosaic of building partner capacity, security cooperation, irregular warfare, counterinsurgency, security assistance, security force assistance and foreign internal defense."

How Nation-States Craft National Security Strategy Documents Dr Alan G Stolberg Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In some manner, shape, or form, every nation state in the international system has a national security strategy or strategies. These strategies are intended to guide the state as it makes its way through the labyrinth of challenges that every nation state faces in the 21st century. The strategy could represent the nation’s overall grand strategy or it could be a national security-related strategy for one particular issue, like force structure development for the armed forces. Strategy making is an art; not a science. Sometimes these strategies work and sometimes they do not. Some are effective and efficient as desired and others are less so..."

Environmental Security in Botswana Mr Brent C Bankus Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "The continent of Africa is important to U.S. national security interests. Long known for its influence over critical choke points and sea lines of communication, Africa is increasingly known as a land of vast stretches of under-governed spaces, burgeoning terrorist groups, world-class deposits of strategic minerals and petroleum, and the continent most affected by climate change. It is also known for high population growth rates and troubled governments struggling to maintain legitimacy. Many of the challenges to these governments originate with environmental change and a resource base eroded by high population growth rates, bad governmental policy, and environmental degradation. To maintain legitimacy, and preserve political stability, governments must satisfy demands placed on the political system by the population. In Africa, state security increasingly depends upon human security. One country in southern Africa that has succeeded in addressing this paradigm with a whole of government concept is dry and landlocked Botswana."

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."

Mass Atrocity: Prevention and Response Workshop Report Professor Dwight Raymond Workshop Report by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute In December 2010, the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy co-hosted a workshop on Mass Atrocity Response Operations (MARO). The event followed the earlier publication of the MARO Military Planning Handbook, and was attended by 85 people from a diverse range of organizations."

Civilian Skills for African Military Officers to Resolve the Infrastructure, Economic Development, and Stability Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa Ms Diane E Chido Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In the United States, we often think of the military as an alternative to college, as a professional training ground, for a wide variety of skills that may include computer science, electronics, cooking, or medicine. We have comprehensive job placement and support programs for separating service members. Our military training includes discipline, teaming concepts, and a respect for civil society, traits expected to remain with a military member for life. Through U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) partnership programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, many officers are currently benefitting from military-to-military training opportunities to learn aspects of military science and other basic training. A small number of officers will gain valuable skills they can use throughout their military careers or even in civilian life."

Somalia: Line in the Sand--Identification of MYM Vulnerabilities LTC Eloy E Cuevas, Ms Madeleine Wells Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Continuing instability in Somalia has increased concern that terrorists who seek to establish a foothold in Africa may use such insecure places as a safe haven and launching pad. Several attempts have been made to establish lawful governments in Somalia; however, warlord and clan interests have managed to take center stage among the population. The Somali-based al-Shabaab (also known as the Mujahidin Youth Movement [MYM]) is a militant organization born out of both successive regional turmoil and international salafi-jihadi ideology, which continues to actively undermine the United Nations (UN)-supported African Union (AU) peacekeeping force, the fledging Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), and all UN efforts to support Somalis in creating a stable state. "

Sufism in Northern Nigeria: A Force for Counter-Radicalization? Dr Jonathan N C Hill Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In light of the ongoing threats issued by Al Qaeda against the United States and its allies, the need to prevent the radicalization of young Muslim men and women remains as pressing as ever. Perhaps nowhere is this task more urgent than in the countries of West Africa. The global expanse of the ongoing war on terror places these territories in the frontline. With large Muslim populations that have hitherto remained mostly impervious to the advances of Islamism, the challenge now confronting the Nigerian government and the international community is ensuring that this remains the case. But in recent years, Islamist groups have been highly active in the region. The aim of this monograph is to assess the potential of Nigeria’s Sufi Brotherhoods to act, both individually and collectively, as a force for counter-radicalization, to prevent young people from joining Islamist groups."

The Construction of Liberal Democracy: The Role of Civil-Military Institutions in State and Nation-Building in West Germany and South Africa Dr Jack J Porter Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph analyzes the decisionmaking process behind the construction of German and South African armed forces in their transition to democracy. Dr. Jack Porter begins the study by outlining the central theoretical and practical challenges associated with designing democratic armed forces and civil-military institutions. In essence, the overriding goal for these communities is two-fold: the creation of military institutions that are capable of both defending the fledgling democracy from internal and external threats, while also proactively contributing to the consolidation of liberal democracy. Building on the civil-military classics of Samuel Huntington and Morris Janowitz, Dr. Porter then reviews recent case studies that focus on the efforts of post-communist states to democratize their armed forces. A brief discussion of the relatively new policy field of security sector reform (SSR) concludes the introduction."