Recent Publications

New NATO Members: Security Consumers or Producers?
April 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Joel R Hillison This monograph examines the burden-sharing of new members in NATO. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to test the hypothesis that new NATO members are burden-sharing at a greater rate than older NATO members. An analysis of the burden-sharing behavior of NATO’s 1999 wave of new members reveals that new NATO... MORE

Drug Trafficking, Violence, and the State in Mexico
April 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Phil Williams Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the April 2009 newsletter. Read Now MORE

Russia and Arms Control: Are There Opportunities for the Obama Administration?
March 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Russo-American relations are generally acknowledged to be at an impasse. Arms control issues feature prominently in that conflicted agenda. Indeed, as of September 2008, the Bush administration was contemplating not just a break in arms talks but actual sanctions, and allowed the bilateral civil nuclear treaty with Russia... MORE

Training for the “Political” War
March 1, 2009 — Author: COL Louis H Jordan Jr Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the March 2009 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Beyond the Strait: PLA Missions other than Taiwan
March 1, 2009 — Author: Mr Roy Kamphausen, Dr David Lai, Dr Andrew Scobell SSI and NBR conducted a book launch event for this book. Audio is available on the NBR site.While preventing independence likely remains the central aim of the PLA vis-a-vis Taiwan, Chinese foreign policy objectives worldwide are rapidly growing and diversifying. This volume analyzes the... MORE

Prospects for U.S.-Russian Security Cooperation
March 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Russia, despite claims made for and against its importance, remains, by any objective standard, a key player in world affairs. Russia is an important barometer of trends in world politics, e.g., the course of democratization in the world. Furthermore, Russia, if it were so disposed, could be the abettor and/or supporter... MORE

Provincial Reconstruction Teams: How Do We Know They Work?
March 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Carter Malkasian, Dr Gerald Meyerle Over the past 6 years, provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) have played a growing role in the U.S. counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan. PRTs are one of several organizations working on reconstruction there, along with civilian development agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International... MORE

Kazakhstan’s Defense Policy: An Assessment of the Trends
February 9, 2009 — Author: Mr Roger N McDermott Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, since its independence, has successfully avoided favoring any one country based on what Astana styles as a “multi-vectored” approach to foreign policy. Yet, in terms of its conduct of defense and security policies, this paradigm simply does not fit with how the regime makes policy in its... MORE

Japan’s Decision for War in 1941: Some Enduring Lessons
February 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Jeffrey Record The author takes a fresh look at Japan’s decision for war in 1941, and concludes that it was dictated by Japanese pride and the threatened economic destruction of Japan by the United States. He believes that Japanese aggression in East Asia was the root cause of the Pacific War, but argues that the road to war in 1941 was... MORE

Russia, China, and the United States in Central Asia: Prospects for Great Power Competition and Cooperation in the Shadow of the Georgian Crisis
February 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Elizabeth Wishnick Russia and China have been reacting to the pressures of changing U.S.-Central Asia policy over the past 5 years as has the United States. In response to the “color” revolutions, they achieved broad agreement on the priority of regime security and the need to limit the long-term military presence of the United States in... MORE

Kiss the Embargo Goodbye
February 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Alex Crowther Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the February 2009 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Building Partner Capacity/Security Force Assistance: A New Structural Paradigm
February 1, 2009 — Author: COL Scott G Wuestner The Civil Response Corps (CRC) would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing the hiring of civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. The CRC is a product of the efforts of State Department’s Coordinator for Reconstruction... MORE