The emergence of non-state actors and sub-national entities on the world stage has presented the established international system with challenges for which it is ill equipped to handle. The historical inclination to resort to military force when...
State formation aims to achieve a legitimate monopoly on the use of violence and a legitimate government as perceived by its population. Governments have two principle mechanisms, force and consent, to create the conditions within which it can...
This monograph investigates culture and society in Afghanistan and recommends an operational approach leveraging a blend of formal and traditional institutions, working with the propensity of the Afghan system, and building capacity and legitimacy...
Due to its haphazard partition from British Colonial India and a series of internal and external destabilizing events throughout the last six decades, Pakistan has been plagued with varying degrees of instability that leave it today on the edge of...
Provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) were established as a result of the need to develop the infrastructure necessary for the Afghan and Iraqi people to succeed in a post-conflict environment. The efforts of PRTs take place every day during a...
On July 12, 2006, Israel went to war with Hezbollah in response to the killing and capture of Israeli soldiers along the southern Lebanese border. Believed at the time by many in the West to be an overreaction to a relatively minor border incident...
Military support to law enforcement agencies is a key piece of solving the problem that exists along the southwestern border. Military support along the southwestern border has existed since the initial westward expansion of the United States....
Despite the complexity of the Contemporary Operating Environment, the United States is still wedded to a national security system created in 1947. The United States places itself in jeopardy by using a system created at the end of World War II for...
On September 11, 2001 a relatively obscure Islamic organization, executed an attack against the United States with catastrophic effects. Most of the United States, as well as the world, could not fathom how a single organization could conceive,...
Prior to President Obama halting all ongoing military commissions, the United States charged six Guantanamo Bay prisoners with capital crimes. Further, his latest policy directive for new military commission rules has not excluded the death penalty...
The increasing volume and manner of violent deaths in Mexico nearly doubled in 2009 to just over seven thousand. Mexico appears capable of devolving into a failed state status where an insurgency threat could potentially thrive. These indices...
Since 2001, the capabilities of the Afghan state have been a priority on the world stage. The reign of Amir Abdur Rahman, who established the current state of Afghanistan, is critical in understanding the development of the current state, and the...
Thesis Statement: The politicians responsible for deploying U.S. troops to a war zone with an inflexible, ambiguous mission statement, intelligence, and security, led to the death of 241 Marines in Beirut. Discussion: There were 241 lessons learned...
Accurate assessment and usable measures of effectiveness are essential to success in stability operations. Improving the ability of a host nation (HN) government to deliver services expected by its populace is necessary to enhance the stability of...
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is combating an insurgency and simultaneously rebuilding its infrastructure to become a strong sovereign state no longer requiring assistance from the U.S. government (USG) or other nations. Key...
Problem: The brigade combat team (BCT) (or brigade task force [BTF]) and the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) have responsibilities for governance, security, development, and information lines of effort (LOEs) within a defined geographical area...
Transitions in post-conflict environments from the means of violence to representative compromise are extraordinarily complex and fraught with risk. They require significant vision, planning, and detailed interaction among a wide variety of...
The Muslim insurgency in Southern Philippines has gone on for decades. The efforts to resolve it is heavily influenced by sociocultural dynamics that have developed and prevailed through the years. The Philippine military understands that awareness...
Violence perpetrated by Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) increased dramatically in 2006 and continued to rise dramatically through early 2009. During this same period, Mexican DTO infiltration of U.S. cities skyrocketed. The increase...