Recent Publications

“Competing for Global Influence: How Best to Assess Potential Strategic Partners”
February 28, 2024 — To compete effectively for global influence, US Army and defense planners should focus on economic globalization in addition to security interests when assessing potential foreign military partners. The results of a quantitative analysis of US-led exercise participants between 1990 and 2016 demonstrate the variety of interests, including economic, that underly a partner’s decision to train or not with US forces... MORE

Colloquium Brief: U.S. Army War College 25th Annual Strategy Conference Carlisle, Pennsylvania, April 8-10, 2014 — Balancing the Joint Force to Meet Future Security Challenges
November 15, 2016 — Dr. Richard Weitz Key Insights: The international security environment will remain cluttered, confusing, and uncertain; many of these problems are unavoidable; at best, we can mitigate them. More than a decade of continuous military operations, fewer materiel resources, changing threat perceptions, and novel technologies are affecting how the U.S... MORE

Op-Ed: Not Your Grandfather’s Insurgency — Criminal, Spiritual, and Plutocratic
February 20, 2014 — Dr. Robert J. Bunker The U.S. Army is facing both ongoing and projected austere economic times with deep troop and budget cuts. As a result, a concomitant rise in soul searching over the Army’s “strategic Landpower” contribution to national defense is increasingly evident. This is a natural and expected occurrence for a Service that has been in the... MORE

From the New Middle Ages to a New Dark Age: The Decline of the State and U.S. Strategy
June 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Phil Williams Security and stability in the 21st century have little to do with traditional power politics, military conflict between states, and issues of grand strategy. Instead they revolve around the disruptive consequences of globalization, declining governance, inequality, urbanization, and nonstate violent actors. The author... MORE

China’s Expansion into and U.S. Withdrawal from Argentina’s Telecommunications and Space Industries and the Implications for U.S. National Security
September 1, 2007 — Author: Ms Janie Hulse Chinese involvement in the Latin American telecommunications and space industries has implications for U.S. national security. Unlike other commercial activities geared toward supplying raw materials to China’s 1.3 billion inhabitants, Chinese investment in space and telecommunications implies broader commercial and strategic... MORE

Globalization and Its Implications for the Defense Industrial Base
February 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Terrence R Guay The forces of globalization present challenges, risks, and opportunities to virtually every industry in every country. One of the most important implications of globalization is its effect on the economic competitiveness of countries and particular industries. The author explores how key elements of globalization have... MORE

Fourth-Generation War and Other Myths
November 1, 2005 — Author: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II Fourth Generation War (4GW) emerged in the late 1980s, but has become popular due to recent twists in the war in Iraq, and terrorist attacks worldwide. In brief, the theory holds that warfare has evolved through four generations: 1) the use of massed manpower, 2) firepower, 3) maneuver, and now 4) an evolved form... MORE

The Strategic Implications of the Rise of Populism in Europe and South America
June 1, 2005 — Author: Dr Steve C Ropp This monograph takes a fresh look at the contemporary populist phenomenon in Europe and the Americas. It describes populism, discusses the global context in which it is emerging, and then paints a picture of its general characteristics in four sub-regions in Europe and South America. It concludes with four recommendations... MORE

From “Defending Forward” to a “Global Defense-In-Depth”: Globalization and Homeland Security
October 1, 2003 — Authors: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II, Prof Bert B Tussing The authors have examined the scope and substance of our National Security Strategy for Homeland Security (NSHS). Disturbingly, they find that the NSHS fails to address the challenges that globalization poses for the security of the American homeland. The NSHS focuses primarily within the... MORE

Globalization and the Nature of War
March 1, 2003 — Author: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II The author explores the nature of war, and how it has changed as a result of globalization. He uses the Clausewitzian model of war's trinity (political guidance, chance, and enmity) as a framework for understanding the nature of war, a concept that has been only vaguely represented in defense literature. He then... MORE