Recent Publications

Learning by Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad
November 1, 2012 — Authors: Mr Roy Kamphausen, Dr David Lai, Mr Travis Tanner To better understand the PLA’s ability to employ its developing capabilities in a variety of potential scenarios, this year’s workshop examined how the PLA learns by doing, specifically through its exercises and noncombat operations at home and overseas, and through key logistical and... MORE

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The Energy and Security Nexus: A Strategic Dilemma
November 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Carolyn Pumphrey The relationship between energy and security has been receiving increasing attention over the last few years. Energy literally drives the global economy. Societies rely on it for everything from advanced medical equipment to heating, cooling, and irrigation. Whether it derives from advanced nuclear reactors in developed... MORE

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Jihadist Cells and “IED” Capabilities in Europe: Assessing the Present and Future Threat to the West
November 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Jeffrey M Bale The first of two interrelated security threats is multifaceted inasmuch as it stems from a complex combination of religious, political, historical, cultural, social, and economic motivational factors caused by the growing predilection for carrying out mass casualty terrorist attacks inside the territories of “infidel”... MORE

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Op-Ed: The Romance of Great Powers in Northeast Asia
October 23, 2012 — Dr. David Lai The Strategic SettingNortheast Asia is a place where five of the world's most powerful nations meet: China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. Three of these countries have the world's largest economies (the U.S., China, and Japan), and three of them have the largest militaries (China, the U.S., and Russia). In... MORE

A “Hollow Army” Reappraised: President Carter, Defense Budgets, and the Politics of Military Readiness
October 1, 2012 — Author: Prof Frank L Jones For more than 3 decades, the term “hollow army” or the more expansive idiom, “hollow force,” has represented President Carter’s alleged willingness to allow American military capability to deteriorate in the face of growing Soviet capability. The phrase continues to resonate today. In this current period of declining... MORE

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Russia’s Homegrown Insurgency: Jihad in the North Caucasus
October 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank The three papers offered in this monograph provide a detailed analysis of the insurgency and counterinsurgency campaigns being conducted by Islamist rebels against Russia in the North Caucasus. This conflict is Russia’s primary security threat, but it has barely registered on Western minds and is hardly reported in the... MORE

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The Future of American Landpower: Does Forward Presence Still Matter? The Case of the Army in Europe
October 1, 2012 — Author: Dr John R Deni View the Executive SummaryIn this monograph, Dr. John R. Deni explores the utility of forward presence in Europe, placing the recent decisions—and, in particular, the arguments against forward presence—in the context of a decades-long tradition on the part of many political leaders, scholars, and others to mistakenly tie the... MORE

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State-Building Challenges in a Post-Revolution Libya
October 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Mohammed El-Katiri Following the overthrow of Muammar Qadhafi, Libya’s National Transitional Council inherited a difficult and volatile domestic situation. The new leadership faces serious challenges in all areas of statehood. Libya’s key geostrategic position, and role in hydrocarbon production and exportation, means that the internal... MORE

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How Nation-States Craft National Security Strategy Documents
October 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Alan G Stolberg The need for security and the institutionalization of that security in national strategy and its associated documents is becoming a significant concern for nations in the 21st century international system. This need requires the development of national-level strategies that are designed with objectives; the attainment of... MORE

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Key Strategic Issues List Update No. 2
September 28, 2012 — Author: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II This is an update to the 2012-13 Key Strategic Issues List. It includes topics from U.S. Army Pacific G-5, Plans and U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE).Read Now MORE

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Op-Ed: Rethinking the American Way of War and the Role of Landpower
September 10, 2012 — Dr. Antulio J. Echevarria, II Understanding the American way of war has never been easy. The distinguished historian Russell Weigley took more than 500 pages to come to terms with it in his classic, The American Way of War (1973). Even so, there was much he left out, as well as much he got wrong. For one thing, the actual origins of the American... MORE

Perspectives on Russian Foreign Policy
September 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank The essays gathered here represent a panel at SSI’s annual Russia conference in 2011. They focus on the analysis of Russian foreign policy both on its material side or actual conduct as well as on the cognitive bases of Russian thinking about international affairs and Russian national security. They span much of the gamut... MORE

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