Reconstruction and Stability Operations
Reconstruction and Stability Operations An overarching term encompassing various military missions, tasks, and activities conducted outside the a country in coordination with other instruments of national power to maintain or reestablish a safe and secure environment, provide essential governmental services, emergency infrastructure reconstruction, and humanitarian relief.
Pakistan can help win peace in Afghanistan, but only once it’s stable and secure itself
Shyam Tekwani has a new opinion piece in the South China Morning Post called “Pakistan can help win peace in Afghanistan, but only once it’s stable and secure itself.” Tekwani discusses Pakistan’s roadmap to peace in Afghanistan, its own internal challenges, and the opportunity to build an...
PfPC Provides Neutral Forum for South Caucasus Conflict Resolution
REICHENAU, Austria (Nov. 18, 2014) –The Partnership for Peace Consortium’s Regional Security in the South Caucasus Study Group convened a multinational forum on Austria’s neutral ground, providing a constructive atmosphere for open dialogue Nov. 6 to 8 here. Hosted by Austria’s National...
The Joint Recovery of Fallen Soldiers from the Korean War: One Way for American, Chinese, North and South Korean Soldiers to Cooperate and Reconcile
“The Joint Recovery of Fallen Soldiers from the Korean War: One Way for American, Chinese, North and South Korean Soldiers to Cooperate and Reconcile,” is the title of a paper by Dr. Sungmin Cho forSecurity Nexus. This article recommends a cooperative solution to easing tensions on the Korean...
The PfPC's Regional Security in the South Caucasus Study Group actively seeks to foster stability in the region, as well as international security, through facilitating conflict resolution dialogue among diverse parties. The activities of the group serve to advise broader conflict resolution...
Libya After Qadhafi: Reshaping the Political and Security Systems
The fall of Muammar al-Qadhafi in October 2011 marked the end of the Libyan uprising, led to the close of NATO’s intervention “Operation Unified Protector” (OUP), and ushered in a delicate political transformation which failed to come to a quick and decisive end with the first round of...
The Concreteness of Asymmetric War: Fragments of Experience
IntroductionAsymmetric warfare takes its name from the pitting of a weaker opponent against a stronger one, and from the use of war-fighting techniques that are vastly different from traditional military tactics. It is the use of these untraditional methods that enables the weaker side stand up to...
Strategic Communication with the Islamic World
IntroductionNation-states (particularly non-Muslim states) will face daunting challenges in the struggle against terrorists who use Islam as a justification for their actions. This form of terrorism is multidimensional and global, and it is likely that this struggle will span several generations....
Key Challenges and Threats to National Security: The Polish Perspective
Introduction In the early twenty-first century, threats to the security of Poland have been substantially reassessed, and are still evolving. Currently, the threat of a conflict emerging that could lead to war on a global scale is less likely to take place. However, new sources of potential...
The Redeployment of Chechnya-Based Troops to Dagestan: Background, Motives, and Repercussions
IntroductionChechnya and Dagestan are two key autonomous republics in the North Caucasus. These two republics have the largest populations among the autonomous republics in the region, and have a strong tradition of (political) Islam and extensive experience with religion-driven insurgency flavored...
Beyond Counterinsurgency: Why the Concept is Failing
IntroductionThe changing face of modern warfare is revealed nowhere more clearly than in asymmetric surroundings where traditional approaches do not succeed anymore. Military forces are encountering numerous opponents who no longer consist largely of identifiable combatants, but rather are...
How Smart is Smart Defense? A Review of NATO’s Smart Defense Proposal
Introduction Since 2008, the world has experienced a severe economic crisis, one that has led to many austerity measures, including deep cuts in defense spending in many countries. As NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has argued, maintaining a capable and effective NATO Alliance...
Disputes in the Arctic: Threats and Opportunities
Introduction For centuries, the Arctic was a “sacred place” for humanity. This frozen void was a magnet for adventurers and explorers, for everybody who wanted to challenge both themselves and nature. In nineteenth century, the “top of the world” became a field of competition for major...
Deficiencies in Global Governance and Implications for Defense Education
Those contributing to international peace and stability act in an ever-changing, increasingly complex and inter-connected global environment. The international security landscape has changed considerably during the last twenty years, with important power shifts in international affairs, an...
NATO Intelligence and Information Sharing: Improving NATO Strategy for Stabilization and Reconstruction Operations
Current global conflict trends are pulling NATO away from its traditional collective defense mission into stability and reconstruction (S&R) operations with greater frequency. S&R environments require NATO to collaborate with and support host nation governments, international organizations...
Syrian Crisis, US Pivot to Asia, Concept of Sovereignty in the South Caucasus, Bulgaria's Post-Cold War Defense Policy, Key References on Afghanistan. SPRING 2014
The lead article in the Spring 2014 issue of Connections looks into the interplay of incentives and requirements for NATO membership from the point of view of an aspirant country, Georgia. Other papers question the effectiveness of the UN Security Council vis-a-vis the Syrian crisis, the US pivot...