Monographs

Latin America's New Security Reality: Irregular Asymmetric Conflict and Hugo Chavez Dr Max G Manwaring Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Since his election as President of Venezuela in 1998, Hugo Chavez has encouraged and continues to encourage his Venezuelan and other Latin American followers to pursue a confrontational “defensive,” populist, and nationalistic agenda that will supposedly liberate Latin America from the economic dependency and the political imperialism of the North American “Colossus” (the United States). Chavez argues that liberation, New Socialism, and Bolivarianismo (the dream of a Latin American Liberation Movement against U.S. hegemony) will only be achieved by (1) radically changing the traditional politics of the Venezuelan state to that of “direct” (totalitarian) democracy; (2) destroying North American hegemony throughout all of Latin America by (3) conducting an irregular and asymmetric “Super Insurgency,” or “Fourth-Generation Warfare” to depose the illegitimate external enemy; and, 4) building a new Bolivarian state, beginning with Venezuela and extending to the whole of Latin America."

The Implications of Preemptive and Preventive War Doctrines: A Reconsideration Dr Colin S Gray Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In this monograph, Dr. Colin S. Gray draws a sharp distinction between preemption and prevention, and explains that the political, military, moral, and strategic arguments have really all been about the latter, not the former. Dr. Gray provides definitions, reviews the history of the preventive war option, and considers the merit, or lack thereof, in the principal charges laid against the concept when it is proclaimed to be policy."

Rethinking Insurgency Dr Steven Metz Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The U.S. military and national security community lost interest in insurgency after the end of the Cold War. Other defense issues such as multinational peacekeeping and transformation seemed more pressing and thus attracted the most attention. But with the onset of the Global War on Terror in 2001 and the ensuing involvement of the U.S. military in counterinsurgency support in Iraq and Afghanistan, insurgency experienced renewed concern in both the defense and intelligence communities."

Political Trends in the New Eastern Europe: Ukraine and Belarus Dr Arkady Moshes, Dr Vitali Silitski Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "These two papers, presented at the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI)-Ellison Center conference on Russia in 2006, open the way to this kind of informed understanding of important issues in European security and enable readers to begin to make sense of the complex issues involved in each country. In both cases, the interplay of domestic and foreign factors of security is critical to any grasp of the issues in Belarus and Ukraine and thus to sound policy analysis and policymaking in regard to them. This interplay is one of the defining features of the international security agenda that the U.S. Army, U.S. Government, and to a lesser degree, SSI grapple with on a daily basis and which SSI seeks to present to its audiences."

China's Nuclear Forces: Operations, Training, Doctrine, Command, Control and Campaign Planning Dr Larry M Wortzel Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Dr. Larry M. Wortzel’s monograph sheds new light on the operations, training, and doctrine of the Second Artillery Corps. The PLA is adding modernized mobile missile forces to the older silo-based strategic forces. At the same time, China is experimenting with multiple reentry vehicles, maneuverable reentry vehicles, and other penetration aids or countermeasures on its warheads as measures to respond to potential missile defenses. A nation-wide network of redundant command and control systems is now deployed around China to ensure retaliatory capabilities are available and responsive to the orders of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission. The PLA has generated new doctrine on how to integrate missile forces into its military campaigns at the operational level of war while still maintaining the strategic nuclear deterrent."

Ukraine's Military Between East and West Prof Marybeth Peterson Ulrich Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "America’s new allies in Central and Eastern Europe have been struggling with defense reform since the end of the Cold War. Only recently, since the Orange Revolution, has Ukraine’s national political and military leadership seriously engaged the process of radical and comprehensive defense reform. Dr. Marybeth Ulrich applies the various roadmaps for reform developed in the post-communist states of Central European states to the emerging Ukrainian case. She draws upon this mixed picture to suggest a framework focused on key areas in need of reform, as well as key conditions that will facilitate the achievement of reform objectives. The result is a richly developed case study revealing Ukraine’s main strengths as well as obstacles limiting the improvement of its military capabilities."

Strategic Competition and Resistance in the 21st Century: Irregular, Catastrophic, Traditional, and Hybrid Challenges in Context Mr Nathan P Freier Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The 2005 National Defense Strategy (NDS 05) introduced the concept of the four challenges—traditional, irregular, catastrophic, and disruptive. However, since the strategy’s publication in March 2005, little has emerged in the way of specific amplification of these concepts. Reference to the challenges is prolific in both formal and informal defense deliberations. Yet, there has always been some need for greater richness and granularity in their description and application in defense strategy and policymaking. For three of the four challenges, the wait is over. This monograph describes the foundational substance of the traditional, irregular, and catastrophic challenges as they were conceived at the working-level during development of NDS 05."

The Politics of Identity: History, Nationalism, and the Prospect for Peace in Post-Cold War East Asia Dr Sheila Miyoshi Jager Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Both the Taiwan Strait and the Korean peninsula harbor real dangers for the Northeast Asian region. The clash between an increasingly divergent nationalist identity in China and in Taiwan represents a new challenge for U.S. policy in the region. Similarly, the rise of pan-Korean nationalism in South Korea, and an unpredictable North Korean regime that has succeeded in driving a wedge between Seoul and Washington, has created another highly combustible zone of potential conflict. This monograph, by Dr. Sheila Miyoshi Jager, explores how the United States might respond to the emerging new nationalism in the region in order to promote stability and peace. Offering a constructivist approach which highlights the central role that memory, history, and identity play in international relations, the monograph has wide-ranging implications for U.S. foreign policy."

North Korea's Military Threat: Pyongyang's Conventional Forces, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Ballistic Missiles Capt (USN) John M Sanford, Dr Andrew Scobell Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Since the inception of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 1948, the Pyongyang regime has had two national strategic objectives: (1) the perpetuation of the regime; and (2) reunification of the Korean Peninsula under North Korea’s control. Militarism has remained an essential aspect of the DPRK throughout its existence, and the armed forces constitute a central element of the regime. The Korean People’s Army (KPA), the name given to all services of North Korea’s military, is the core element for the realization of North Korea's national strategy. This strategy calls for giving priority to military issues over everything else and the DPRK constitutes the most militarized state on earth measured by a variety of indicators."