Recent SSI Publications
An Evaluation of Counterinsurgency as a Strategy for Fighting the Long War by Lieutenant Colonel Baucum Fulk. Counterterrorism, support to insurgency, and antiterrorism are each both efficient and sustainable from a military and economic perspective, and each have inherent political concerns, hazards, or constraints. The author maintains that an overall strategy combining counterterrorism and antiterrorism is the best means of employing military forces to counter violent extremism.
2010 SSI Annual Strategy Conference Report "Defining War for the 21st Century" by Dr. Steven Metz and LTC Phillip R. Cuccia. The Strategic Studies Institute's XXI Annual Strategy Conference, held at Carlisle Barracks from April 6-8, 2010, addressed the topic of the meaning of war. While it did not seek to produce a definitive answer to questions about the nature and definition of war, it did highlight the crucial questions and their implications, including issues such as whether the cause of war is shifting, whether all forms of organized, politically focused violence constitute war, and the distinction between passive and active war.
The Conflicts in Yemen and U.S. National Security by Dr. W. Andrew Terrill. Yemen is not currently a failed state, but it is experiencing huge political and economic problems that can have a direct impact on U.S. interests in the region. It has a rapidly expanding population with a resource base that is limited and already leaves much of the current population in poverty. The government obtains around a third of its budget revenue from sales of its limited and declining oil stocks, which most economists state will be exhausted by 2017. Yemen also has critical water shortages and a variety of interrelated security problems. In Sa'ada province in Yemen's northern mountainous region, there has been an intermittent rebellion by Houthi tribesmen (now experiencing a cease-fire) who accuse the government of discrimination and other actions against their Zaydi Shi'ite religious sect. In southern Yemen, a powerful independence movement has developed which is mostly nonviolent but is increasingly angry and confrontational. More recently, Yemen has emerged as one of the most important theaters for the struggle against al-Qaeda. Yemen is among the worst places on earth to cede to al-Qaeda in this struggle, but it is also an especially distrustful and wary nation in its relationship with Western nations and particularly the United States. All of these problems are difficult to address because the central government has only limited capacity to extend its influence into tribal areas beyond the capital and major cities. The United States must therefore do what it can to support peaceful resolutions of Yemen's problems with the Houthis and Southern Movement while continuing to assist the government's struggle against al-Qaeda forces in Yemen. It must further pursue these policies in ways that avoid provoking a backlash among the Yemeni population which will not tolerate significant numbers of U.S. combat troops in Yemen.
Civilian Skills for African Military Officers to Resolve the Infrastructure, Economic Development, and Stability Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa by Diane E. Chido. For decades, a lack of economic opportunity has caused instability and violence in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fortunately, U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) is in a unique position to increase stability and reduce the causes of violence and extremism through new partnerships and military-to-military training. The current training approach is very likely to be beneficial to African military officers currently on active duty; however, proficiency in military science alone will not provide the necessary skills for those separating from service and facing an uncertain future in societies that do not pay pensions on time, if at all, and do not offer economic opportunities, especially to those without the right expertise. USAFRICOM partnerships are an excellent foundation on which to provide engineering and other technical training for African military officers and NCOs. In this way, African nations can create indigenous capacity to construct and maintain needed infrastructure like power stations, dams, bridges, and roads. A robust engineering training program has the great potential to lead to improved civil-military relationships and to reduce instability through increased opportunities for separating service members. These new technical skills will enable separating service members, now in mufti, to positively contribute to the societies they once served while in uniform.
India in Africa: Implications of an Emerging Power for AFRICOM and U.S. Strategy by Dr. J. Peter Pham. This monograph examines India's rapidly expanding network of influence in Africa. The author analyzes the country's burgeoning public and private investments in the region as well as its policies vis-í -vis African regional organizations and individual states, especially in the security sector. After reviewing the historic role that India has played in Africa, the author looks at the principal motivations for India's approach to Africa—including the former's quests for the resources, business opportunities, diplomatic influence, and security—and Africans' responses to it. In the context of the broader U.S.-India strategic partnership, as well as American political and security interests in Africa, India's willingness to make significant contributions to African peacekeeping and to extend its maritime security cover to the continent's eastern littoral ought to be welcomed, not least because of the potential positive impact on regional stability and development. Consequently, the author believes the opportunity thus presented in Africa for greater engagement between the United States and India ought to be seized upon.
A Continuation of Politics by Other Means: The "Politics" of a Peacekeeping Mission in Cambodia (1992-1993) by Boraden Nehm. The author departs from conventional wisdom that addresses factors such as mandates, spoilers, and the like, and ignores political factors. He explores Cambodian conflict and peace operations as a complex and interactive situation in which local political conditions were paramount and directly challenged UN peacekeeping principles of neutrality. He observes that UN peacekeeping missions can be too tied to theory and doctrine while ignoring reality. The author argues for missions that understand the inherent complexity of peacekeeping, recognize emerging realities, and adapt accordingly.
Russian Military Politics and Russia's 2010 Defense Doctrine. Edited by Dr. Stephen J. Blank. These three papers represent the third monograph to come out of the SSI-U.S. State Department conference "Contemporary issues in International Security," that took place at the Finnish Embassy in Washington, DC, on January 25-26, 2010. This monograph consists of three deeply probing essays into the genesis of Russia's 2010 defense doctrine, the political struggle behind it, and the actual content of the doctrine. They reveal a highly politicized minefield of struggle comprising leading actors in the military, the government, and in Russian security policy as a whole. They duly illuminate the ongoing struggles between and among these sets of military and civilian elites and therefore cast a shining light on critical aspects of Russian policy that all too often are left in darkness. They are essential to any understanding of Russian defense and security policy as well as the nature of the relationship between the Russian military and the government and the way in which these actors formulate key policy statements and resolve pressing political issues.
Civil-Military Relations in Medvedev's Russia by Dr. Stephen J. Blank. These three chapters originated in an SSI conference in January 2010 and go to the heart of a question of vital significance for both Asia and Russia, namely, what are Russia's prospects in Asia? The three papers outline the challenges Russia faces in Asia, the nature of the dynamic and complex Asian security environment, and the extent to which Russia is or is not meeting those challenges. These chapters represent both Russian and U.S. views on the subject and clearly do not agree in their conclusions or analyses. For this reason, they are all the more interesting because they should provoke debate, reflection, and greater awareness by all our readers as to the complexities of the current international scene in Asia and of Russia's success, or lack thereof, in participating in that environment. In view of the extraordinary dynamism that now characterizes Asia and the fact that it is the center of the world economy, the analysis we provide here goes beyond obvious issues to address questions that we believe are unjustly neglected, e.g., Russia's prospects as an Asian power and as an independent great power player in Asia. The answers to these questions are urgent for Russians, but very consequential for the United States because getting Asia right will be among the most critical challenges to U.S. policymakers in the coming years.
Brazil's Security Strategy and Defense Doctrine by Dr. Max G. Manwaring and Andrew Fishman. Brazil is a developing nation well situated in time and place. Unlike other areas of the world, it has no bloody religious or ethnic conflicts, and its last border conflict took place in the early 19th century. However, Brazil is the most populous Latin American nation, with nearly 200 million inhabitants, and thousands of miles of land and sea borders. These borders, together with large natural gas and oil reserves and the "Green" Amazon (land and river areas within the Amazon Basin) and "Blue" Amazon (coastal areas of Brazil where major hydro-carbon and other resources are located), are strategic strengths, as well as concerns for the Armed Forces and the nation. Brazil's new national defense strategy consists of three principal elements that it hopes to develop. They are: 1) advanced technologies; 2) a space program; and 3) a peaceful nuclear capacity.
