Recent Publications

Toward a New U.S. Strategy in Asia
February 1, 2004 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the February 2004 newsletter.Read Now MORE

The Future of Transcaspian Security
August 1, 2002 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank This monograph explores the unprecedented opportunities that are now before the United States and recommends actions that the Government and armed forces, especially, but not only the U.S. Army, should undertake to consolidate and extend the newly emerging military partnership and cooperative security regime that are now... MORE

Threats to Russian Security: The View from Moscow
July 1, 2000 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank The documented threat assessments addressed here are clearly the culmination to date of a long-standing process by which the Russian military and government have forsaken the optimistic Westernizing postures and visions of the initial post-Soviet years and returned in many respects to assessments and demands for specific... MORE

U.S. Military Engagement with Transcaucasia and Central Asia
June 1, 2000 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank The Clinton administration has proclaimed a strategy to engage and enlarge the democratic community of states. By virtue of their strategic location adjacent to Russia, the Middle East, and Europe s periphery, and their large-scale oil and natural gas deposits, Transcaucasia and Central Asia have become important testing... MORE

European Security: Washington’s Shaping Strategy in Action
March 1, 2000 — Authors: Dr Stephen J Blank, Dr William T Johnsen, Dr Thomas-Durell Young Notwithstanding the claims of some in the United States, European affairs continue to dominate U.S. foreign policy and strategic thinking. The end of the Cold War has not seen any blurring of the focus of U.S. officials on European affairs. Managing the implications of the... MORE

NATO After Enlargement: New Challenges, New Missions, New Forces
September 1, 1998 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank In 1999 NATO will formally admit three new members and adopt a new strategic concept. In so doing, it will take giant strides towards effecting a revolutionary transformation of European security. On the one hand, it could be said that NATO enlargement closes the immediate post-Cold War period that began with the collapse... MORE

European Security and NATO Enlargement: A View from Central Europe
April 1, 1998 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank On August 4-5, 1997, the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), together with the Reserve Officers Association, cosponsored a conference in Prague on "Eurasian Security in the Era of NATO Enlargement." In order to clarify fully the emerging security agenda in Europe and hear from member states and other interested parties,... MORE

Russia’s Armed Forces on the Brink of Reform
March 1, 1998 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Despite over a dozen years of talk, the Soviet and now Russian military has not undergone a true military reform. What did happen was a form of degeneration and disintegration, but not a methodically planned and directed transformation and/or adaptation to new conditions. Consequently, defense policy, in all of its... MORE

Why Russian Policy is Failing in Asia
April 2, 1997 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Since its inception as a state, Russia has been both a European and an Asian power. Although Russia today, as was true during much of its history, is torn by an identity crisis over where it belongs, its elites have never renounced Russia's vital interests in Asia and the belief that it should be recognized as a great... MORE

The Dynamics of Russian Weapon Sales to China
March 4, 1997 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Russia has recently sold or transferred many military weapons or technologies to China. Russian state policy has also officially joined with China in a relationship described as a strategic cooperative partnership. Some Russian diplomats also say that there is virtually complete identity with China on all issues of Asian... MORE

Finnish Security and European Security Policy
September 1, 1996 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank In 1995 Finland joined the European Union (EU). This action culminated several years of a fundamental reorientation of Finnish security policy as Finland moved from the neutrality imposed on it by the Soviet Union to a policy with a priority on European integration through the European Union. Finland, in joining the EU,... MORE

Russian Security Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region: Two Views
May 1, 1996 — Authors: Dr Stephen J Blank, Maj Gen Anatoly Bolyatko, Prof Peggy Falkenheim Meyer In May 1995, the British Ministry of Defence, the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, the RAND Corporation, the Institute for National Security Studies of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and King's College, London, hosted a conference at King's... MORE