Searching for Stable Peace in the Persian Gulf Dr Kenneth Katzman, Dr Stephen C Pelletiere Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "America's dual containment policy for the Persian Gulf faces difficult challenges. Key allies of the United States withhold support for military action against Iraq, despite evidence that the Iraqis are clandestinely producing weapons of mass destruction. Similarly, U.S. allies have concluded potentially lucrative deals with Iran to exploit central Asian oil resources, despite Washington's opposition to them."

Joint U.S. Army-Navy War Planning on the Eve of the First World War COL Adolf Carlson Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The paper which follows suggests that as we reflect on the challenges ahead, we may gain some insight by casting light on the challenges of the past. It is written in the spirit of the wisdom of Patrick Henry, who in 1775 said, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.” For like the turn of the coming century, the turn of the last century was characterized by a strategic pause as well."

Shadow Politics: The Russian State in the 21st Century Dr Peter J Stavrakis Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Assessments of Russia's future possess a lamentable tendency to oscillate between enthusiastic optimism about the development of free market democracy or brooding pessimism concerning the vitality of Russia's absolutist heritage, without providing many durable insights. The goal of this essay is to undertake a more penetrating analysis of a paradox of state power that lies at the heart of future Russian politics."

The CINCs' Strategies: The Combatant Command Process COL William W Mendel, Dr Graham H Turbiville Jr Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This study asserts that a formal, written strategy is critically important for setting the primary themes of unified action within a Commander-in-Chief's (CINC's) mission area. The study describes the methods used by the unified commands to develop strategy documents and places particular emphasis on the planning processes employed by combatant commands. Overall, this monograph provides an appraisal of the strategy development process that readers can use to make their own judgements about the status of U.S. planning for unified action of the armed forces some 10 years after Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act."

Multinational Land Formations and NATO: Reforming Practices and Structures Dr Thomas-Durell Young Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In yet another incisive and detailed work focused on the changing face of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Dr. Thomas Young provided a unique perspective on a very timely issue—that of bi-/multi-national land formations within the Alliance. I say timely because, with recent Council agreement on the new command structure, implementation work on this structure will no doubt, in due course, result in a review of the NATO force structure. In this regard, Dr. Young's research and study provide an invaluable source of essential background reading for this subsequent phase of work."

NATO Enlargement and the Baltic States: What Can the Great Powers Do? Dr Stephen J Blank Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "As NATO enlarges and approaches the borders of the Baltic states, it faces one of the most difficult and complex security challenges in contemporary Europe. While the Baltic states crave membership in NATO, Russia deems that outcome as unacceptable, threatens to break cooperation with the West in such an event, and NATO allies themselves remain divided over the wisdom of Baltic membership..."

"Enhancing" the Australian-U.S. Defense Relationship: A Guide to U.S. Policy Dr Thomas-Durell Young Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Out from the shadow of the Cold War, most Pacific nations are reassessing their defense postures. Australia is no exception. Among the closest of U.S. allies, Australia shares a number of concerns about potential change in the western Pacific balance. It is thus natural that the two countries look to their own cooperative defense relationship for hedges against an uncertain future. That is the genesis of the current study by Dr. Thomas-Durrell Young. Based on his extensive knowledge of Australian security affairs and recent in-country field work, he examines prospects for enhancing existing bilateral security ties. He does so with a sense for the feasible, offering both guiding principles and practicable approaches that take careful account of the interests of both nations."

The United States and Russia into the 21st Century Dr Michael McFaul, Dr R Craig Nation Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Russia can be counted as a European great power from the battle of Poltava in 1709, several generations prior to the American Declaration of Independence. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the Americas were of only modest interest to the huge, autocratic Eurasian land power, and relative neglect was fully reciprocated by the New World's rising maritime republic. A sensitive 19th century observer like Alexis de Toqueville was able to discern the seeds of future rivalry, but his insights were only hypothetical. Russia was pleased to sell all of Alaska to the Yankees for a pittance in the 1860s."

Force Planning in an Era of Uncertainty: Two MRCs as a Force Sizing Framework Prof John F Troxell Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States has been struggling with the issue of how to redefine its defense requirements. Although the Cold War competition with the former Soviet Union was perilous and extremely costly in human and material resources, this competition did represent an agreed and certain framework around which to focus U.S. defense strategy and structure U.S. armed forces. The uncertainty of the post-Cold War world has left defense planners and analysts debating the proper force planning methodology to pursue, and opened a broader debate concerning the size and purpose of the U.S. military establishment. Four separate reviews have been conducted in the past 7 years: the Base Force, the Bottom Up Review, the Commission on Roles and Missions, and, most recently, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). These reviews have generated only a moderate degree of consensus within the Defense Department and much less agreement in the broader national security community."