Borders: Technology and Security--Strategic Responses to New Challenges Dr Douglas V Johnson II Colloquium Brief by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, New Mexico State University "The New Mexico State University Government Department, in cooperation with the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, conducted a 2-day colloquium, “Borders: Technology and Security—Strategic Responses to New Challenges,” on April 1-2, 2008. Approximately 60 invitees attended the event, which took place in Las Cruces, New Mexico. "

U.S. Foreign Policy and Regime Instability Dr James Meernik Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This Letort Paper examines the relationship between U.S. military ties with foreign states and the extent to which the depth of these ties influences the level of political instability and violence in those states. Many pundits and scholars have criticized U.S. foreign policy for its reliance on military means of influence and have argued that other foreign policy tools, such as economic aid, cultural exchanges, and diplomacy can better promote American interests. Yet, few scholars have chosen to evaluate empirically whether the military relationship encourages or discourages political instability and violence in these nations. The author, Dr. James Meernik, analyzes these issues in a systematic and objective fashion and finds that the relationships between a U.S. military presence, U.S. military aid, the use of military force, and other factors are much more complex and subtle than many have believed."

The Evolution of U.S. Turkish Relations in a Transatlantic Context Dr Frances G Burwell Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Since World War II, the relationship between Turkey and the United States has been characterized by complexity and flux; there have been periods of remarkable cooperation, even when significant disagreements existed. Relations between the two countries are never merely bilateral, for the two are also linked to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). The relationship between those two organizations is also complicated because of differing core purposes and somewhat differing memberships. Current Turkey-U.S. diplomatic and military relations are more strained than in recent years, but both countries recognize how vital it is to address issues of mutual importance."

Precision in the Global War on Terror: Inciting Muslims through the War of Ideas Dr Sherifa D Zuhur Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph questions the messages conveyed to Muslims about their religion and extremism in the war of ideas. Why do American strategic messages on this issue play so badly in the region? Why, despite broad Muslim disapproval of extremism as shown in surveys and official utterances by key Muslim leaders, has support for bin Ladin actually increased in Jordan and in Pakistan since some polling suggests bin Ladin’s approval in Jordan suffered a great deal after the hotel bombings? A reason that the United States is winning so few “hearts and minds” in the broader Islamic world is confusion and imprecision in American strategic messages. The grand strategy of defining, isolating, and destroying Islamism or radical Islamism may not be possible if America does not proceed more carefully, and listen to what its allies think, know, and feel about their faith."

Baloch Nationalism and the Geopolitics of Energy Resources: The Changing Context of Separatism in Pakistan Dr Robert J Wirsing Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Today the quest for energy security stands at or near the top of most nations’ foreign policy agendas. For energy-dependent countries lacking sufficient energy resources of their own, achieving energy security is a formidable problem. Pakistan, currently the world’s sixth most heavily populated nation, is one such country. To ensure its energy future, its government is active on several fronts, including efforts to more fully exploit the country’s own energy resources, to negotiate the construction of transstate natural gas pipelines, and to build a new coastal seaport at Gwadar, an ambitious project which its developers hope will enable Pakistan to occupy an important place in the emerging Asian energy refining and distribution system."

The Strategy Deficit Mr Nathan P Freier Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "An honest survey of post-Cold War national security policy exhibits a dangerous strategy deficit. The word “strategy” is overused. The concept, too, is poorly applied. It is many things to contemporary policymakers except, well—strategy. In the current environment, strategic communications and strategy have become synonymous. Strategic communications is the carefully crafted but overly general and widely consumable articulation of key political messages—“assure, deter, dissuade, defeat”; “as they stand up, we’ll stand down”; “clear, hold, build”; “phased strategic redeployment”; etc, etc, etc..."

After Fidel, The Deluge? Dr Alex Crowther Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "As Louis XV allegedly said, “Apres moi, le deluge.” Certainly people have thought that Cuba after Fidel would be the same. How would a Cuban state that revolves around him survive his departure? How would a government where no decision is too small for his attention function? How would the generations who have known no one other than the “Maximo Lider” handle the change? Luckily for the Cuban government, the answer is—there will be almost no change in the near future. No deluge, just a drizzle."

Building for the Future: China's Progress in Space Technology during the Tenth 5-Year Plan and the U.S. Response Mr Kevin Pollpeter Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "China’s space program has achieved spectacular success in recent years. Since 2003 China has launched two human space flight missions, destroyed a satellite with a direct ascent anti-satellite weapon, and launched a moon orbiter. In this monograph, Mr. Kevin Pollpeter assesses China’s rise as a space power and its implications for the United States. He argues that China’s use of space power is part of an integrated approach to increasing its comprehensive national power and achieving great power status. As a result, China’s increasing space power challenges the United States militarily, economically, commercially, and politically."

Projecting Pyongyang: The Future of North Korea's Kim Jong Il Regime Dr Andrew Scobell Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph considers the future trajectory of the Pyongyang regime and explores a range of future scenarios. It does not consider the future of North Korea as a geographic or territorial entity. Some analysts and observers discuss the future without clarifying whether they are discussing the country of North Korea or the Pyongyang regime. In this monograph, the focus is on the fate of the regime dominated by the Kim Dynasty, initially ruled by Kim Il Sung and then led by his son, Kim Jong Il, following the former’s death in 1994. A fundamental assumption is that the regime will collapse. Thus, the key question is not whether the regime will collapse, but when and how it will collapse. The logic behind this assumption is based on this author’s assessment that the Kim regime is a totalitarian one, and that such a regime has a limited life span. However, this collapse may be a long and drawn out process that could very well play out over a period of years or even over the course of a decade or more."