Recent Publications

China’s Strategic Modernization: Implications for the United States
September 1, 1999 — Author: Major Mark A Stokes Conventional wisdom portrays the People's Republic of China (PRC) People's Liberation Army (PLA) as a backward continental force that will not pose a military challenge to its neighbors or to the United States well into the 21st century. PLA writings that demonstrate interest in exploiting the revolution in military... MORE

America’s Army in Transition: Preparing for War in the Precision Age
September 1, 1999 — Author: Maj Gen Robert H Scales The following two articles were written during and immediately after the war in Kosovo. The first is an adaptation of an earlier work written after a trip to Asia in 1998. In that essay, I suggested that foreign militaries were beginning to perceive our fixation on a firepower-centered way of war as an exploitable... MORE

Mediterranean Security into the Coming Millennium
August 1, 1999 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank The papers included in this volume represent just such an effort to lay a firmer foundation for this continuing dialogue and to bring together different points of view. In October 1998, the Strategic Studies Institute, assisted by Pepperdine University, assembled a distinguished group of analysts from the United States,... MORE

Transnational Threats from the Middle East: Crying Wolf or Crying Havoc?
May 31, 1999 — Author: Prof Anthony H Cordesman There is no doubt that the Middle East can present significant potential threats to the West. The author of this monograph examines these threats in order to put them into perspective--to distinguish between "crying wolf" and "crying havoc." After thorough analysis, he contends that the problems caused by narcotics... MORE

Future Warfare
May 1, 1999 — Author: Maj Gen Robert H Scales Throughout U.S. history, the American military services have had an unfortunate penchant for not being ready for the next war. Part of the problem has had to do with factors beyond their control: the American policy has been notoriously slow to respond to the challenges posed by dangerous enemies. On the other hand,... MORE

The Future U.S. Military Presence in Asia: Landpower and the Geostrategy of American Commitment
April 6, 1999 — Authors: Maj Gen Robert H Scales, Dr Larry M Wortzel The United States strategic framework in the Pacific has three parts: peacetime engagement, as described above, which includes a forward presence; crisis response, which builds on forward-stationed forces, the "boots-on-the ground" and, if necessary, fighting and winning any conflict that might... MORE

Pacific Security Today: Overcoming the Hurdles
March 24, 1999 — Author: Mr Thomas M Molino In November 1998, Science Applications International Corporation's (SAIC) Center for Global Security and Cooperation, in conjunction with the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), cosponsored its first Asia security conference at the NPS in Monterey, California... MORE

Landpower and Ambiguous Warfare: The Challenge of Colombia in the 21st Century
March 10, 1999 — Author: Dr Richard Downes On December 10 and 11, 1998, over 100 scholars, civilian government officials, and military officers from the United States, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama and Mexico gathered at the U.S. Army War College to discuss "Landpower and Ambiguous Warfare: The Challenge of Colombia in the 21st Century." While the conference... MORE

Colombia’s Three Wars: U.S. Strategy at the Crossroads
March 5, 1999 — Authors: Dr Gabriel Marcella, Dr Donald E Schulz Colombia is the most troubled country in the Western Hemisphere. Drug criminals, guerrillas, and paramilitary groups are feeding a spiral of violence that makes "colombianization" a metaphor for a failing state. The authors address the strategic dimensions of the crisis. It argues that Colombia's... MORE

East Asia in Crisis: The Security Implications of the Collapse of Economic Institutions
February 5, 1999 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank The challenges to the United States and to its armed forces are numerous and highly significant. Moreover, we must begin to address them now even if other institutions cannot or will not do so with us. Those crises comprise ASEAN's decline as a meaningful security provider, Russia's collapse, Japan's stagnation, South... MORE

Warriors in Peace Operations
January 25, 1999 — Author: Dr Douglas V Johnson II This collection of monographs has been assembled from the 42 Personal Experience Monographs written by the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) Class of 1998. The Personal Experience Monograph program was instituted immediately after the Gulf War with the original purpose of capturing first-person histories of various... MORE

Technology and the 21st Century Battlefield: Recomplicating Moral Life for the Statesman and the Soldier
January 15, 1999 — Author: COL Charles J Dunlap Jr The author starts from the traditional American notion that technology might offer a way to decrease the horror and suffering of warfare. He points out that historically this assumption is flawed in that past technological advances, from gunpowder weapons to bombers, have only made warfare more--not less--bloody... MORE