Small Wars Journal

Journal

Journal Articles are typically longer works with more more analysis than the news and short commentary in the SWJ Blog.

We accept contributed content from serious voices across the small wars community, then publish it here as quickly as we can, per our Editorial Policy, to help fuel timely, thoughtful, and unvarnished discussion of the diverse and complex issues inherent in small wars.

by Henri Boré | Wed, 11/05/2014 - 11:21pm | 0 comments

The core issue at stake is that the propagation of Ebola is rooted in the long standing culture of corruption and the archaic traditional beliefs that still prevail.

by Christopher Varhola | Wed, 11/05/2014 - 11:07pm | 3 comments

In a world of over seven billion people, the human domain and civil concerns on the battlefield are not distracters to be ignored or sidestepped by the military.

by Nicholas B. Pace | Wed, 11/05/2014 - 8:49am | 4 comments

With the US increasingly involved in counter-terror operations across the world, terrorist organizations have had to become more flexible and adaptive to their environment.

by Robert M. Klein | Wed, 11/05/2014 - 1:38am | 1 comment

There are two leading concepts for how the U.S. should approach a future conflict with China: Air-Sea Battle and Offshore Control.

by Ilwoo Lee | Wed, 11/05/2014 - 12:03am | 0 comments

Altering politics so as to curtail suicide bombers, IEDs, and the like, may no longer be possible in this day and age and even undesirable under the terms it has to be achieved.

by John Case | Tue, 11/04/2014 - 8:32am | 2 comments

A comparison of World War II German and United States Army command cultures will reveal a chasm in the creativity, leadership, and execution capabilities of the officers involved.

by Joel Lawton | Tue, 11/04/2014 - 8:11am | 4 comments

The purpose of this paper is to explore cognitive errors leading to poor strategic-level U.S. military decision making and policy adoption.

by Nathan A. Jennings | Tue, 11/04/2014 - 7:37am | 0 comments

American decision makers chose to fight to a high-consumption and high-cost war through conventional means rather than employing the unparalleled power of nuclear technology.

by Keith Nightingale | Mon, 11/03/2014 - 11:31am | 0 comments

The attack began in small and unnoticed increments.  Quiet, stealthy infiltration in front of each position. Rats by the hundreds.

by Arnold Hammari | Mon, 11/03/2014 - 11:19am | 13 comments

Many African soldiers are not accurate marksmen because they have problems seeing targets. Few African troops wear corrective eyewear or have access to eye examinations.

by Bruce J. Reider | Tue, 10/28/2014 - 8:47am | 1 comment

This essay argues that external support to the insurgents is usually a decisive factor in determining the outcome of an insurgency.

by Mikhail Grinberg | Mon, 10/27/2014 - 7:59am | 0 comments

Guardians of the Machine - Defense Entrepreneurs Forum 2014.

by Thomas McShea, by Kyle Harnitchek | Mon, 10/27/2014 - 6:14am | 0 comments

In this article, we will highlight some of the operational mechanics involved in the Security Force Advise and Assist Team mission, and also provide key lessons learned.

by Francisco M. Hernandez | Mon, 10/27/2014 - 3:21am | 1 comment

The roles performed by U.S. Civil Affairs elements in Peru have changed dramatically in the past three years.  What began as operating out of the U.S. Embassy evolved to conducting field operations.

by Wayne Tyrrell | Sun, 10/26/2014 - 11:33am | 5 comments

Modern counterinsurgency practice is fighting a new insurgency with new tactics based on old principles.

by Iraq Advisory Group, by Therese Tayah, by Norman Ricklefs | Sun, 10/26/2014 - 12:18am | 1 comment

During mid-September, the IAG was kindly invited by the Deputy Prime Minister and commander of the northern front, to visit the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces north of Mosul.

by Jason Rivera | Sat, 10/25/2014 - 1:15pm | 67 comments

The United States’ national adversaries are engaged in protracted unconventional warfare strategies designed to counter-balance U.S. military might.

by Gary Anderson | Sat, 10/25/2014 - 7:02am | 0 comments

There has been a lot of alarm spread about Ebola and the past weeks, and I am loathe to add fuel to the fire, but I am concerned about the possible weaponizing of Ebola by Islamic extremists.

by Octavian Manea | Fri, 10/24/2014 - 11:00am | 0 comments

Interview with Dr. John Nagl on his just released book Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice, The Penguin Press, New York, 2014.

by Elizabeth Rechniewski | Fri, 10/24/2014 - 6:50am | 0 comments

The war in Cameroon remains little known and its very existence has been denied by official French spokesmen.

by David S. Maxwell | Thu, 10/23/2014 - 11:34am | 35 comments

But UW Is Being Practiced Around The World By Those Who Are Interested In It

by Mark Lawrence | Thu, 10/16/2014 - 2:48am | 9 comments

Southern Europe’s mass migration problem is out of control.  The U.S. government may be forced to address this fact sooner rather than later.

by David Musick | Thu, 10/16/2014 - 12:10am | 3 comments

As the world watches the 2014 iteration of the Middle East conflict observers should remember that history is continuous rather than episodic.

by Robert G. Dixon | Wed, 10/15/2014 - 12:11am | 7 comments

The fundamentals of basic combat training are not new, only the specifics have changed.

by H. R. McMaster | Tue, 10/14/2014 - 12:14am | 5 comments

I thought that I might build on the previous essay I wrote for DEF on how to develop an understanding of war and warfare through the study of military history in width, depth, and context.

by Kevin Benson | Mon, 10/13/2014 - 10:34am | 0 comments

Our current system of military operations is reaching a point where it is not producing options which fit the expectations of our civilian leaders and perhaps the conditions of 21st century war.

by Michelle Garcia, by Steven Boylan | Mon, 10/13/2014 - 12:11am | 0 comments

Army doctrine does not adequately address the relationship between transition, collaboration and risk.

by Douglas Paul Rose | Sun, 10/12/2014 - 5:26am | 0 comments

The purpose of this research is to propose the initial stages of development of a construct of an actual information domain.

by Russell Croy | Sat, 10/11/2014 - 12:10am | 2 comments

The ability to understand how and why insurgencies end can provide better insight for counterinsurgent stakeholders and for more accurate applied foreign policy prescriptions.

by G. Murphy Donovan | Thu, 10/09/2014 - 10:07am | 0 comments

The conventional wisdom about strategic inertia, doing little or nothing, is that whatever might be done might make things worse.

by Frederic Labarre | Wed, 10/08/2014 - 3:11pm | 1 comment

This is an attempt at establishing the facts as to how Georgia’s armored capability fared against what emerged to be as the Russian 58th Army’s 19th Motor Rifle Division.

by Timothy E. Grebo | Wed, 10/08/2014 - 7:28am | 3 comments

Network-centric warfare doctrine continues to fall short of revolutionizing the battlefield, even after a decade of upgrades born out of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

by Geoffrey Demarest | Tue, 10/07/2014 - 7:36pm | 1 comment

The actions and consequences of the Venezuelan struggle extend to all of the countries of Central America, the Caribbean, and the northern Andes.  They will especially affect the chances for final resolution of the long-suffered Colombian war.

by SWJ Editors | Tue, 10/07/2014 - 7:10pm | 5 comments

Posted today: The U.S. Army Operating Concept (AOC): Win in a Complex World

by Douglas Macgregor, by Young Kim | Sat, 10/04/2014 - 4:42pm | 3 comments

The Light Reconnaissance Strike Group is a break from the Army’s Cold War past and a bridge to the Army’s future in 21st Century Joint warfare.

by Dennis A. Lowe | Fri, 09/26/2014 - 6:35am | 4 comments

As long as ISIL controls territory and shelters among civilian populations in easily fortified urban environments, a combined arms ground force will be required to root them out.

by Tom R. Przybelski | Wed, 09/24/2014 - 2:11pm | 5 comments

The 2014 QDR puts significant emphasis on the need to build capacity in foreign militaries and rely on those partners to both improve regional security and further US interests

by William Allen | Wed, 09/24/2014 - 12:50pm | 0 comments

Sufism in Asymmetric Warfare: Human Networks of the Somali Qadiriyya tariqa

by Robert Bunker | Wed, 09/24/2014 - 12:34pm | 0 comments

Sheriff and State Advisor Border Summits: Mexican Cartel, Gang, and Criminal Alien Security Issues

by Herman Butime | Tue, 09/23/2014 - 8:49am | 0 comments

This article examines the origins, organization and execution of the Mpeketoni terror attacks in Kenya.

by John W. Spencer, by E.J. Degen | Mon, 09/22/2014 - 6:41am | 10 comments

As the Army resets after protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan it is an appropriate time to challenge  existing Army beliefs about force structures and design.

by Katherine C. Malpeli, by Peter G. Chirico | Thu, 09/18/2014 - 12:27pm | 0 comments

The significant influence of the informal network that surrounds artisanal mining is therefore an important security concern that can extend across borders and have far-reaching impacts.

by Daniel Fisher, by Christopher Mercado | Wed, 09/17/2014 - 6:20am | 5 comments

So-called “ungoverned spaces” present the United States with significant security challenges in an era characterized by “softened sovereignty."

by Raja Sutherland | Wed, 09/17/2014 - 6:04am | 0 comments

Radical Islamist factions have risen and established a firm presence in the conflict, and it is now time to question whether a hands-off policy has really worked in favor of western interests.

by Thomas L. English | Tue, 09/16/2014 - 12:29pm | 1 comment

The Rule of Law in the Context of US Military Operations: An Insider’s View from JTF/CJIATF 435 in Afghanistan 2010-2011

by Michael Osborne | Tue, 09/16/2014 - 12:34am | 4 comments

The US must begin a serious dialogue with Mexico to propose long-term solutions to the grave situation in which the police and military forces as well as the people of Mexico find themselves.

by Aaron Bazin | Mon, 09/15/2014 - 8:06am | 1 comment

One way to understand ISIS is to seek to understand it as a complex adaptive system.

by Christopher Barber, by Andrew Metcalf | Sun, 09/14/2014 - 1:56pm | 2 comments

Some argue cyberspace will cause transformational change to warfare, while others argue cyber operations are more likely to evolve into the canon of older, traditional military means.

by Steve Thomas | Sun, 09/14/2014 - 12:06pm | 1 comment

If we believe that passion is a reason for joining the ISIS cause, perhaps there is a counter-narrative that can be deployed.