Strategic Studies Institute
United States Army War College
Recent Publications
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Added May 10, 2012
Disjointed Ways, Disunified Means: Learning from America's Struggle to Build an Afghan Nation
Authored by Colonel Lewis G. Irwin.
Remarkably ambitious in its audacity and scope, NATO’s irregular warfare and nation-building mission in Afghanistan has struggled to meet its nonmilitary objectives by most tangible measures. This book explores shortfalls in the U.S. Government’s strategic planning processes and the mechanisms for interagency coordination of effort that have contributed to this situation, as well as reforms needed to meet emerging 21st century national security challenges. -
Added May 01, 2012
Lessons of the Iraqi De-Ba'athification Program for Iraq's Future and the Arab Revolutions
Authored by Dr. W. Andrew Terrill.
This monograph considers both the future of Iraq and the differences and similarities between events in Iraq and the Arab Spring states. Serious and expanding mistakes by new governments are possible in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolutions, and any lessons that can be gleaned from earlier conflicts will be of considerable value to those nations. Moreover, U.S. Army officers and senior noncommissioned officers (NCOs) may often have unique opportunities and unique credibility to offer advice on the lessons of Iraq to their counterparts in some of the Arab Spring nations. -
Added April 27, 2012
Ambassador Stephen Krasner's Orienting Principle for Foreign Policy (and Military Management)—Responsible Sovereignty
Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.
This monograph takes the logic of the contemporary security dilemma to another level. The intent is to operationalize and elaborate Ambassador Stephen Krasner’s "Responsible Sovereignty" orienting principle for foreign policy and military management. -
Added April 25, 2012
Enabling Unity of Effort in Homeland Response Operations
Authored by Lieutenant General (Ret.) H Steven Blum, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Kerry McIntyre.
The authors assert that attaining unity of effort is the fundamental prerequisite for effective homeland response operations. They conclude that the best way to improve unity of effort is to create a dynamic system for producing, validating, and updating a unifying national homeland response doctrine. -
Added April 19, 2012
Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability
Authored by Dr. Phil Williams, Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown.
The world of armed groups has changed and is continuing to change. What impact will these changes have on the threats and challenges to national and global security in the world today? This monograph focuses on the complex relationship between human security, crime, illicit economies, and law enforcement. It also seeks to disentangle the linkages between insurgency on the one hand and drug trafficking and organized crime on the other, suggesting that criminal activities help sustain an insurgency, but also carry certain risks for the insurgency. -
Added April 17, 2012
Conflict Management and "Whole of Government": Useful Tools for U.S. National Security Strategy?
Edited by Dr. Volker C. Franke, Dr. Robert H. Dorff.
Intended to facilitate dialogue between academic experts, military leaders, policymakers, and civilian practitioners, this edited volume provides a state of the art analysis of current whole of government (WoG) approaches and their effectiveness for coordinating stabilization and peacebuilding efforts. It explores the question: Can “smart power”—using the right tool for each operational context—successfully shift the burden of stability operations to civilian actors and enable the timely scaling-down of military deployments? -
Added April 12, 2012
Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO
Edited by Dr. Tom Nichols, Dr. Douglas Stuart, Dr. Jeffrey D. McCausland.
What is the role that tactical or non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs) play in NATO defense policy and strategy? This book examines the key issues surrounding this question as the Alliance seeks to redefine itself in the 21st century and meet the requirements in the Defense and Deterrence Policy Review. -
Added March 29, 2012
Project on National Security Reform - Vol. 2: Case Studies Working Group Report
Authored by Dr. Richard Weitz.
The case studies in this volume confirm that flawed responses recur in issue areas as diverse as biodefense, public diplomacy, and military intervention as well as across presidential administrations. The piecemeal national security organizational reforms enacted to date have not fostered improved policy outcomes or decisionmaking, while capability building, especially in the civilian national security agencies, remains less than optimal. -
Added March 14, 2012
Delegitimizing Al-Qaeda: A Jihad-Realist Approach
Authored by Dr. Paul Kamolnick.
Preventing radicalization and recruitment to al-Qaeda’s terrorism is vital to U.S. national security. This monograph suggests a distinct “jihad-realist” approach for partially accomplishing this elusive strategic objective. -
Added February 24, 2012
Categorical Confusion? The Strategic Implications of Recognizing Challenges Either as Irregular or Traditional
Authored by Dr. Colin S. Gray.
"First, do no harm" is a golden rule for both medicine and strategic theory. Challenges to national security are simply challenges, they are neither irregular nor traditional. -
Added February 08, 2012
Once Again, the Challenge to the U.S. Army During a Defense Reduction: To Remain a Military Profession
Authored by Dr. Don M. Snider.
The exact shape of the recently initiated Department of Defense reductions and the defense strategy that our down-sized land forces are to execute in the future are only now becoming clear. How can the U.S. Army best meet these challenges? -
Added December 23, 2011
Organizational Change in the Russian Airborne Forces: The Lessons of the Georgian Conflict
Authored by Dr. Rod Thornton.
Russia’s best troops are to be found in the Airborne Forces. These were the only Russian troops to emerge with their reputation intact after the conflict with Georgia in 2008. They can represent a formidable foe. This monograph examines the current state of the Airborne Forces and why they might be seen as "formidable." -
Added December 19, 2011
The United States and China in Power Transition
Authored by Dr. David Lai.
Historically, systematic power transitions were settled in war. Can China and the United States avoid a deadly contest and spare the world another catastrophe? What can we expect from China and the United States with respect to the future of international relations? -
Added December 16, 2011
Real Leadership and the U.S. Army: Overcoming a Failure of Imagination to Conduct Adaptive Work
Authored by Colonel John B. Richardson, IV.
This is a case study of a cavalry squadron struggling with operational adaptability. Through this struggle, the study provides a means for analyzing the complexity of organizational leadership in the contemporary security environment. The case study provides an example where hard fought lessons learned resulted in a more holistic approach to leadership, because the leader transcended that of simply being an authority figure, and instead, become a real leader who provided a safe and creative learning environment where the organization was able to tackle and solve complex problems. -
Added December 08, 2011
The Saudi-Iranian Rivalry and the Future of Middle East Security
Authored by Dr. W. Andrew Terrill.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have often behaved as serious rivals for influence in the Middle East and especially the Gulf area since at least Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. While both nations define themselves as Islamic, the differences between their foreign policies could hardly be more dramatic. Recently, the rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran has intensified and been reflected in their policies involving a number of regional states including Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and others. -
Added December 01, 2011
The Strategic Logic of the Contemporary Security Dilemma
Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.
This monograph is part of a continuing effort to inform the contemporary transnational security debate, move it to the strategic level, and support the best interests of the United States Government and peoples, and also those of the Western Hemisphere and the rest of the world. -
Added November 25, 2011
Forecasting Zero: U.S. Nuclear History and the Low Probability of Disarmament
Authored by Jonathan Pearl.
Should the United States relinquish its nuclear weapons? This monograph discusses both the technical and political factors related to the future of American nuclear weapons. -
Added November 22, 2011
Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future
Edited by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.
A new work by leading Russian, European, and U.S. experts analyzing the multiple issues of force structure, doctrine, strategy, and Russian national security policy connected with Russia’s reliance on nuclear weapons as the main deterrent of threats to its security. -
Added November 17, 2011
Chinese Lessons from Other Peoples' Wars
Edited by Dr. Andrew Scobell, Dr. David Lai, Mr. Roy Kamphausen.
The 2010 People's Liberation Army (PLA) conference focused on the lessons learned by the PLA from the military actions and experiences of non-Chinese armed forces over the past 30 years, which the PLA can apply to its own strategic planning. -
Added October 31, 2011
Arms Control and Proliferation Challenges to the Reset Policy
Authored by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.
What are the prospects for further progress in the reset policy with Russia regarding arms control and nuclear proliferation by North Korea and Iran? This monograph attempts to postulate where we are, and possibly where we should be going, or will be going, with respect to these issues. -
Added October 21, 2011
The Afghanistan Question and the Reset in U.S.-Russian Relations
Authored by Dr. Richard J. Krickus.
The ability of the United States and Russia to cooperate in Afghanistan represents a solid test of their reset in relations. Skeptics in Washington cite the value gap that separates the two sides as well as compelling evidence that the Kremlin is bent on a course of confrontation and not cooperation with the West. Russian critics claim that there is no justification for Moscow to help Washington in what many Kremlin overlords believe is a losing cause. -
Added October 18, 2011
Natural Gas as an Instrument of Russian State Power
Authored by Alexander Ghaleb.
This monograph supports Robert Gates's recent assessment that NATO could face a dim if not dismal future; not because of funding considerations, but because NATO decisions are made by consensus, and many members will be unlikely to side against Russia in the future because of their heavy dependency on Russian Natural Gas. -
Added October 03, 2011
Mexico's "Narco-Refugees": The Looming Challenge for U.S. National Security
Authored by Dr. Paul Rexton Kan.
Due to the ongoing and brutal drug cartel violence that has gripped portions of Mexico, there has been a rise in the number of Mexican nationals seeking political asylum in the United States to escape the ongoing drug cartel violence in their home country. This monograph focuses on the asylum claims of these "narco-refugees" who are unwillingly leaving Mexico, and it reviews the special challenges that these asylum seekers pose to U.S. national security interests and public safety. -
Added September 30, 2011
Presidential Succession Scenarios in Egypt and Their Impact on U.S.-Egyptian Strategic Relations
Authored by Gregory Aftandilian.
This monograph explores the critical question of who might succeed President Hosni Mubarak by examining various succession scenarios in Egypt. Given the extensive political, security, and economic ties between the United States and Egypt, the monograph also examines the policy implications of each of these scenarios and makes recommendations for U.S. policymakers. -
Added September 22, 2011
Puncturing the Counterinsurgency Myth: Britain and Irregular Warfare in the Past, Present, and Future
Authored by Dr. Andrew Mumford.
Far from being the counterinsurgency exemplars that history has benevolently cast them, this monograph posits 10 myths of British counterinsurgency that debunk key elements of British performance in irregular warfare from Malaya to Iraq. -
Added September 15, 2011
Threat Posed by Mounting Vigilantism in Mexico
Authored by Dr. George W. Grayson.
In recent years, the Mexican media has highlighted brutal acts of vigilantism, known as linchamientos or citizen violence, against suspected wrongdoers in their communities. Mobs have torched presumed pedophiles; average citizens have beaten suspected home invaders; and passengers on buses have hit, kicked, and tortured men who have tried to rob them. Is this behavior related to the nation’s bloody drug war? Does it spring from the indifference of police to poor areas? Or is a means for members of an anonymous crowd to release frustrations over persistent unemployment, acute poverty, and ubiquitous corruption? -
Added September 09, 2011
Adapting, Transforming, and Modernizing Under Fire: The Mexican Military 2006-11
Authored by Inigo Guevara Moyano.
Over the past 5 years, the Mexican armed forces have been used as the main tools of the government’s national security policy. They have endured attacks from organized crime and criticism from the media and civil society, forcing them to transform, modernize, and adapt to better fulfil their responsibility of protecting the Mexican state and its people. -
Added August 31, 2011
National Security Reform 2010: A Midterm Assessment
Edited by Dr. Joseph R. Cerami, Dr. Robert H. Dorff, Matthew Harber.
This book includes a summary report of three panels, along with selected papers, from an April 22, 2010, colloquium in Washington, DC, on “2010: Preparing for a Mid-Term Assessment of Leadership and National Security Reform in the Obama Administration.” -
Added August 25, 2011
China-Latin America Military Engagement: Good Will, Good Business, and Strategic Position
Authored by Dr. R Evan Ellis.
This monograph examines Chinese military engagement with Latin America, finding that the level of such activity is higher than is generally recognized, and has expanded in important ways, with high-level trips by Latin American defense and security personnel, officer exchange programs, growing arms sales, military-relevant space, aviation, and telecommunications collaboration, and a small but important physical presence in the region. -
Added July 21, 2011
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union's Common Security and Defense Policy: Intersecting Trajectories
Authored by Mr. Sarwar A. Kashmeri.
The author concludes that NATO is increasingly dysfunctional. Unless it is grafted in a supporting role to the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP), NATO will soon become irrelevant to transatlantic security needs.