Journal

Where do we go with Design in a post-COIN (for now) world?

SWJ Editor Peter J. Munson discusses advising, COIN, Iraq, and disruptive thinking with Owen West, author of "The Snake Eaters."

How instability on the subcontinent could rapidly spiral out of control.

West's narrative about combat advisors in Iraq is a timely read that should leave you with many questions about current and future advisory efforts.

There are many paper options for how to proceed with respect to Iran's nuclear program, but which have any real hope of success?

In the much awaited final segment of this series, we read of the Iran-Iraq War from 1983 to 1987. I implore you to read the conclusions!

Five very intricate questions as to how we should look at the challenges at hand.

Considering future scenarios in Yemen.

Must we define drug traffickers in Mexico as terrorists and do more to prevent their disastrous effects?

Water, water everywhere...  COIN and the pennance of life.

Will Flynn exercise some disruptive thinking at DIA?

How The Dead Poets Society Advocated Disruptive Thinkers, Why DoD Shouldn't Encourage More Disruptive Thinkers, and 10 Principles for Those That do Think Disruptively

We must limit the ends we seek in these times.  Does that mean we can't remake the world?

Sergio Miller takes an in-depth look at COIN in Malaya

Could Smedley dig his trenches today?

Dr. Mazarr provides a corrective to Kohlmann's view of professional military education.

Mexican criminal networks are far more decentralized and thus more resiliant than the Colombian cartels of the 1980s.

A detailed look at Egyptian Field Marshal Abu Ghazalah's study of the Iran-Iraq War.

How do entrepreneurship and innovation operate and how can they fit into a military institution?

Looking at Iran through Arab eyes.

A look at the gray agents - the public servants, political actors, or security agents - that promote criminal interests. 

An attempt to answer the question:  What problem are we trying to solve?

One Israeli's view on what's to come.

The death of Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika throws the country's stability into question.

The Arab Spring has caused a renewed interest in the political history of the Middle East, and a hunger to learn the nuances of political discourse from Islamists of various stripes to pan-Arab and secular.  It has been a challenge finding volumes tha

Disruptive thinkers: the way to reinvigorate a senseless bureaucracy or a threat to the establishment? 

Frank Hoffman reviews David E. Johnson's Hard Fighting: Israel in Lebanon and Gaza.

Former battalion commander LTC David Oclander provides a valuable experience in taking responsibility in another culture.

Thirty years ago, on 2 April 1982, Argentine forces occupied the Falkland Islands.  Matt Ince looks at the issues that still brew there.

By taking the fight to his opponents in the western frontier, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hopes to preempt significant resistance from encroaching in the capital.

The present mimics the past, more dangerously, as we take a look back at the Shah's nuclear ambitions in Iran.

Dan McCauley argues that the unimaginative 2012 Strategic Defense Guidance calls for some creative thinking.

It isn't either - or.  How the center of gravity fits into the design process.

Seth A. Shreckengast examines the successes of village stability operations and the Afghan Local Police program.

Regular contributor Octavian Manea interviews Srdja Popovic, Serbian non-violent activist, on strategies of non-violent resistance.

A Sunday look at the boat types of the Persian Gulf.

Ambassador J.R. Bullington, once a foreign service officer serving in the CORDS program in Vietnam, argues that we won the counterinsurgency war in Vietnam.  Harry Summers, where are you?

Mark Munson considers the NYPD's intelligence program and finds it lacking.

Regular contributor Octavian Manea offers an interview with Dr. Erica Chenoweth on civil resistance, or civilian operations short of insurgency.

COL Rich Outzen makes a plea for a transformational approach to promoting language skills in the force.  Is it possible to turn the failure around?

Lawrence Cline looks at the complexity of armed actors in internal conflicts and advises against getting too caught up in typologies.

Andrew Attar considers how operational design can improve success in Phase IV stability operations.

Kip Whittington asks if Lebanese Hezbollah will attack Israel if hostilities break out with Iran.

Robert Sharp and Fahad Malaikah explore the critical partnership between the U.S. and Yemen amidst the recent election and continuing Al Qaeda attacks.

Jason Thomas explores the romance of COIN theory and where it has gotten us in Afghanistan, suggesting instead we follow the less romantic, more focused "hedgehog concept."

Grant Martin offers his thoughts on the rewrite of FM 3-24 and more realistic and sustainable COIN efforts.

In a timely offering, Butch Bracknell considers the implications of Quran burning and other slights in Afghanistan, real or perceived, to find that perception is what matters.

Guillermo Almada offers part three of his series on how to reduce violence in Mexico.

Caleb S. Cage takes on the memoirs of the four most powerful officials of the Bush Administration.

Guillermo Almada offers the second in his three-part series on reducing violence in Mexico.