Recent Publications

Mexico’s Narco-Insurgency and U.S. Counterdrug Policy
May 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Hal Brands In late 2007, the U.S. and Mexican governments unveiled the Merida Initiative. A 3-year, $1.4 billion counternarcotics assistance program, the Merida Initiative is designed to combat the drug-fueled violence that has ravaged Mexico of late. The initiative aims to strengthen the Mexican police and military, permitting them to... MORE

State and Nonstate Associated Gangs: Credible “Midwives of New Social Orders”
May 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Max G Manwaring The monograph examines contemporary populism and neopopulism, 21st century socialism, and a nonstate actor (al-Qaeda) seeking regional and global hegemony. They are: first, paramilitary gang permutations in Colombia that are contributing significantly to the erosion of the Colombian state and its democratic institutions,... MORE

Preventing Iraq from Slipping Back into Sectarian Chaos
May 1, 2009 — Author: Dr W Andrew Terrill Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the May 2009 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Towards a U.S. Army Officer Corps Strategy for Success: A Proposed Human Capital Model Focused upon Talent
April 1, 2009 — Author: LTC Michael J Colarusso, COL David S Lyle, COL Casey Wardynski Creating and maintaining a highly competent U.S. Army Officer Corps has always been the cornerstone of the nation's defense. The authors consider America’s continuing commitment to an all-volunteer military, its global engagement in an era of persistent conflict, and evolving... MORE

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