Recent Publications

China has acquired a global network of strategically vital ports
November 8, 2023 — Carol V. Evans | A decade ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the Maritime Silk Road, the oceanic component of his flagship Belt and Road Initiative aimed at improving China’s access to world markets by investing in transportation infrastructure. The initiative’s investments have since slowed as Chinese growth falters, the United States... MORE

The expansion is critical to China’s economic power and has significant military implications as well, analysts say. “This is not coincidental,” said Carol Evans, director of the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. “I firmly believe there is a strategic aspect to the particular ports they’re targeting for investment.”

Background photo credit: A dockworker passes by a container ship at the Chinese-operated port of Djibouti in 2015. (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images), from the article https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/china-ports-trade-military-navy/

Strategic Insights: U.S.-China Relations: Avoiding the Traps
July 19, 2017 — Professor John F. TroxellMuch has been written about the rise of China and the tensions that this has put on the international system. The potential for conflict between the United States and China can be compared to the Peloponnesian War, as told by the ancient historian Thucydides, and the inevitability of that war because of Sparta’s fear of a... MORE

Strategic Insights: Is the European Union Really That Important to U.S. Security Interests?
March 9, 2017 — Dr. John R. DeniQuestioning long-held assumptions and challenging existing paradigms in U.S. security policy can be a useful way to ensure that American leaders are not pursuing strategies that do not actually support and promote U.S. interests. However, on the question of whether the European Union’s (EU) existence is in U.S. interests, the... MORE

Strategic Insights: The China-CELAC Summit: Opening a New Phase in China-Latin America-U.S. Relations?
January 27, 2015 — Dr. R. Evan EllisNote: This article was first published in The ManzellaReport.com available from www.manzellareport.com/index.php/world/945-the-china-celac-summit-opening-a-new-phase-in-china-latin-america-u-s-relations.Since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began to open its economy in 1978, its relationship with Latin America and the... MORE

The Real “Long War”: The Illicit Drug Trade and the Role of the Military
September 24, 2013 — Author: Prof Geoffrey Till View the Executive SummaryThe 21st century has seen the growth of a number of nontraditional threats to international stability on which, trade, and thus U.S. peace and security, depends, and for the moment at least a reduced likelihood of continental scale warfighting operations, and something of a de-emphasis on major... 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

U.S. Security Strategies: Trade Policy Implications for Latin America
April 14, 2004 — Author: Dr Max G Manwaring The Summit of the Americas Center and Latin American and Caribbean Center of Florida International University, and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College held the first of a series of mini-conferences dealing with security issues in the Western Hemisphere in Miami, Florida, on February 26, 2004. The... MORE