Tactical level nuances between COIN by an external and an internal actor are barely distinguishable. The successful COIN practices for an external actor listed in FM 3-24 COIN manual of US Army include maintaining a constant, forward presence with...
A systems perspective is beginning to permeate doctrine. This perspective calls for an analysis of the key systems of an adversary. PMESII is an acronym that stands for political, military, economic, social, infrastructure, and information systems....
There is no shortage of people who disagree with the current state of world affairs and who are prepared to use violence to change them. Are they mindless fanatics, doomed to fail? Or do they have a clever and covert plan with reasonable chance of...
The purpose of this monograph is to provide operational commanders and staff with a glimpse of the potential of non-lethal power of culture. This monograph suggests that it maybe possible to weaponize culture, specifically through the use of...
How might military practitioners incorporate social science concepts within the intelligence analytical framework to better define and understand the human dimension of an area of operation? Current military intelligence doctrine vaguely prescribes...
This monograph investigates the reasons for the lack of coordination and combined effort between political leadership, military engagement and humanitarian activity during a humanitarian intervention. It analyses basic principles to successfully...
Coercion theory centers on an actor's ability to influence the decision making of an opponent. This monograph examines military operations in Libya 2011, Operations Unified Protector and Odyssey Dawn, through the lens of coercion theory. It seeks...
Irregular wars generate significant internal political debate over appropriate strategy and resource allocation, a function of the relative complexity and ambiguity of irregular wars. This study examines whether operational commanders in the...
What caused the agricultural manpower shortage in World War II? Historians have proffered a variety of explanations that attribute linear causality to a handful of independent variables. No scholar, however, has attempted to study the manpower...
Since 1925, Iranian governments purposefully shaped the Iranian national identity in an attempt to socially prioritize membership in nationalist and religious social groups, over others such as ethnicity or profession. Further, successive Iranian...
This paper examines theories and models of decision-making processes from an interdisciplinary perspective, with a view toward deriving means by which the behavior of a given actor in the national security arena might be systematically fitted to an...
Founded in 1954, the WEU soon lapsed into obscurity in the shadow of NATO. In 1984 it was reactivated. The WEU is the only Western European organization mandated to treat security problems outside NATO. This study uses the US Command and General...
This study compares the United States use of military power to achieve political aims in Lebanon 1958 and the Dominican Republic 1965. The study uses the Strategic Analysis Model, developed at the Command and General Staff College, to integrate...
Hybrid threat actors seek to master unrestricted operational art in order to reconcile overmatch and protect or advance their interests. As interest-based rational actors, hybrid threats translate strategic intent into unrestricted distributed...
Improvements in technology worldwide have amplified the impact strategic lieutenants and strategic corporals have on strategic matters. These Strategic Soldiers and their respective leaders must not only be aware of their potential influence in a...
This study investigates the operational aspects of counter-narcotics operations in the maritime domain. Research utilizes design methodology to assess the current and desired operating environments, as well as identify operational gaps. Research...
The premise of this monograph is that the Elements of Operational Design are incapable of linking the tactical employment of forces to strategic objectives and that Systemic Operational Design is a viable alternative. This monograph introduces the...
The Arab Spring has demonstrated the power and potential of social mobilization and collective action as a form of political warfare in support of unconventional warfare strategies. This power and potential is not isolated to the Arab Spring or to...
This monograph addresses the fact that most writing on strategy is descriptive rather than explanatory. Describing strategy in terms of categories such as "grand strategy," or "theater strategy," or by various analogies, does not illuminate what...
Causal claims are unavoidable in military affairs. However, causal claims are also insufficient when attempting to understand and intervene in complex environments. Hence, notions of conventional causality must be supplemented with an understanding...