Recent Publications

Russian Military Transformation – Goal In Sight?
May 1, 2014 — Authors: Mr Keir Giles, Dr Andrew Monaghan View the Executive SummaryThe Russian Armed Forces have been undergoing major structural reform since 2008. Despite change at the most senior levels of leadership, the desired endstate for Russia's military is now clear; but this endstate is determined by a flawed political perception of the key threats... MORE

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Op-Ed: The POST “Post Cold War” Era in Europe
April 24, 2014 — Dr. Jeffrey D. McCausland Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine reflects neither strategic wisdom nor military strength. In fact, it reflects just the opposite. Putin invested over $50 billion and significant personal capital in the Sochi Olympics and the upcoming G8 Summit. That has now been squandered. It was clearly humiliating... MORE

Russia’s Counterinsurgency in North Caucasus: Performance and Consequences
March 1, 2014 — Author: Dr Ariel CohenView the Executive Summary The North Caucasus region has been a source of instability for the past several centuries. Most recently, Chechen aspirations to achieve full independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union led to two disastrous wars. While the active phase of the Chechen conflict ended in 2000 – more than a... 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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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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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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Russia and the Current State of Arms Control
September 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Arms control remains the central issue in U.S.-Russian relations for many reasons, including the respective capabilities of these two states and their consequent responsibility for preventing both nuclear proliferation and the outbreak of war between them. The bilateral relationship is usually directly proportional to the... MORE

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Arms Control and European Security
August 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank, COL Louis H Jordan Jr The following three papers comprise one of the panels from a conference on U.S.-Russia relations that SSI co-sponsored with the Carnegie Council at Pocantico, NY, from June 1-3, 2011: Carnegie Council's Program on “U.S. Global Engagement: A Two-Year Retrospective.” The papers offer three contrasting... MORE

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Can Russia Reform? Economic, Political, and Military Perspectives
June 1, 2012 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank These three papers represent the first panel of papers from SSI’s annual Russia conference that took place in September 2011. They assess the nature of Russia's political system, economy, and armed forces and draw conclusions, even sharp and provocative ones, concerning the nature and trajectory of these institutions. The... 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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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