Recent Publications

Lessons of the Iraqi De-Ba’athification Program for Iraq’s Future and the Arab Revolutions
May 1, 2012 — Author: Dr W Andrew TerrillThis monograph considers both the future of Iraq and the differences and similarities between events in Iraq and the Arab Spring states. The author analyzes the nature of Iraqi de-Ba’athification and carefully evaluates the rationales and results of actions taken by both Americans and Iraqis involved in the process. While... MORE

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The Role of Small States in the Post-Cold War Era: The Case of Belarus
May 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Dmitry Shlapentokh The United States is no longer the only global center of power as it was in the first years of post-Cold War era. Neither are there just two superpowers — the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics — that define the course of global events. The new multipolarity implies the presence of several... MORE

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Ambassador Stephen Krasner’s Orienting Principle for Foreign Policy (and Military Management)—Responsible Sovereignty
April 27, 2012 — Author: Dr Max G Manwaring The principle security threat of the past several centuries—war between or among major powers—is gone. Two new types of threats have been introduced into the global security arena. Violent nonstate actors and other indirect political, economic, and social causes of poverty, social exclusion, corruption, terrorism,... MORE

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Enabling Unity of Effort in Homeland Response Operations
April 25, 2012 — Authors: LTG H Steven Blum, LTC Kerry McIntyre Any significant homeland response event requires Americans to work together. This is a complex challenge. The authors assert that the principal obstacle to effective homeland response is a recurring failure to achieve unity of effort across a diverse and often chaotic mix of participating federal,... MORE

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Op-Ed: Heading Toward the NATO Summit
April 9, 2012 — Dr. Jeffrey D. McCausland From the perspective of the Obama administration, the last NATO Summit that was held in Lisbon in November 2010 was critically important and was described as a great success in its aftermath. President Obama arrived in office with the goal of rebuilding American alliances, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)... MORE

Conflict Management and “Whole of Government”: Useful Tools for U.S. National Security Strategy?
April 1, 2012 — Authors: Dr Robert H Dorff, Dr Volker C Franke Today, America faces security challenges that are exceedingly dynamic and complex, in part because of the ever changing mix and number of actors involved and the pace with which the strategic and operational environments change. To meet these new challenges more effectively, the Obama administration... MORE

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Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO
April 1, 2012 — Authors: Dr Jeffrey D McCausland, Dr Tom Nichols, Dr Douglas Stuart NATO has been a “nuclear” alliance since its inception. Nuclear weapons have served the dual purpose of being part of NATO military planning as well as being central to the Alliance’s deterrence strategy. For over 4 decades, NATO allies sought to find conventional and nuclear... MORE

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Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability
April 1, 2012 — Authors: Dr Vanda Felbab-Brown, Dr Phil Williams Although challenges posed by various kinds of violent armed groups initially appear highly diverse and unrelated to one another, in fact they all reflect the increasing connections between security and governance and, in particular, the relationship between poor governance and violent armed groups... MORE

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The Impact of Visual Images: Addendum
March 6, 2012 — Dr. Cori E. Dauber In briefings and presentations to military audiences over the last several years, I have offered one simple piece of advice: film everything. In a digital age, data storage is cheap. What is expensive is not being able to prove that propaganda claims about a particular mission, perhaps made months or years after the fact, distort... MORE

Op-Ed: Zen and the Art of Social Selfishness
March 4, 2012 — COL Louis H. Jordan, Jr The German word “Gemuetlichkeit” loosely translated means “cozy sociability,” or in our terms, that soft warm place where all is good. The European Union (EU), when formalized after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, was to be gemuetlichkeit. But today, Germany, as well as many other EU countries, is running out of patience... MORE

Project on National Security Reform – Vol. 2: Case Studies Working Group Report
March 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Richard Weitz The case studies in this volume confirm the conclusions of other PNSR analyses that the performance of the U.S. national security apparatus in inconsistent. Although some cases illustrate relatively clear, integrated strategy development, unified policy implementation, and coherent tactical planning, coordination, and... MORE

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Delegitimizing Al-Qaeda: A Jihad-Realist Approach
March 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Paul Kamolnick Disrupting, dismantling, and ultimately defeating al-Qaeda based and inspired terrorism is a declared policy of the U.S. Government. Three key strategic objectives have been identified for accomplishing this: attacking al-Qaeda’s terror network, undermining radicalization and recruitment, and hardening homeland defense... MORE

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