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31. Who Gives the Orders in the New Russian Military?

Author:
Keir Giles
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
The theory of supreme command of the Russian Armed Forces is set out in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and in published Federal Laws. Decision-making in practice involves the presidency, the government, the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the General Staff, and the Security Council of the Russian Federation. During and after Soviet times, the relationship between these bodies, and by extension how and where decisions were taken, was understood better than it is today - in general terms, the General Staff took important decisions and dealt with planning, while the MoD implemented them, for example dealing with training and logistics. But the fundamental reforms embarked upon in the Russian Armed Forces after August 2008, and changes to Federal Laws which also followed the armed conflict at that time, have shifted these relationships in ways which are not yet fully understood outside Russia, and in some cases within Russia as well. The result is that military decision-making in Russia is now less predictable.
Topic:
Military Strategy and Governance
Political Geography:
Russia and Soviet Union

32. Building a new military? The NATO Training Mission-Iraq

Author:
Florence Gaub
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
The military is the cradle of the state - simply because security precedes any social or economic development. In the 1990s, this consideration led to the advent of Security Sector Reform, essentially the consequence of the perception that building up strong and viable security institutions under civilian control is a precondition of state consolidation. The multiple defense reforms NATO assisted in many former Warsaw Pact member states, and the NATO Training Cooperation Initiative launched in 2006, are part of the consequent logic of military development aid, which is not entirely altruistic. Security is an intertwined construct, and the Alliance relies on stability and security in other states in order to ensure its own. In this context, NATO's Training Mission-Iraq (NTM-I) is just a logical step - although surprising to some, given that it was Iraq that caused the Alliance a "near-death experience." Four years later it was followed by a sister mission in Afghanistan, indicating a trend in security force assistance that is likely to grow.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Middle East

33. Russia's strategies in Afghanistan and their consequences for NATO

Author:
Marlène Laruelle
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
In July 2011, the first U.S. troops started to leave Afghanistan - a powerful symbol of Western determination to let the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) gradually take over responsibility for national security. This is also an important element in the strategy of Hamid Karzai's government, which seeks to appear not as a pawn of Washington but as an autonomous actor in negotiations with the so-called moderate Taliban. With withdrawal to be completed by 2014, the regionalization of the "Afghan issue" will grow. The regional powers will gain autonomy in their relationship with Kabul, and will implement strategies of both competition and collaboration. In the context of this regionalization, Russia occupies an important position.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Regional Cooperation, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, and United States

34. Taking Stock of NATO's Response Force

Author:
Jens Ringsmose
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
"We are there", then NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, gleefully told reporters at the Riga summit in November 2006. Only four years after formally agreeing to the creation of a 25,000 strong deployable and technologically advanced allied force the NATO Response Force (NRF) the Atlantic Alliance thus declared its new military tool a "fully operational capability" (FOC). NATO, so it seemed, had created a potent instrument of power projection and a catalyst for transformation at record speed. However, the political enthusiasm surrounding the NRF was soon to evaporate and for good reasons: as a result of depressingly low fill rates and political differences as to what operational role the force should actually play, the Alliance has been propelled to agree to no less than two major overhauls of the concept since late 2006. Not even a year subsequent to the FOC declaration in October 2007 NATO policy-makers approved the first major revision of the NRF, diminishing the size of the rapid response force significantly. In June 2009, NATO decided to revise the concept for the second time. What was intended to be the Alliance's mailed fist and "a show-case of NATO resolve and collective commitment to military transformation" has thus become a force largely on paper. As pointed out by Hans Binnendijk, one of the NRF-concept's intellectual fathers: "The NRF is a force that should be on steroids, and instead it's on life support".
Topic:
NATO, Politics, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:
Atlantic Ocean

35. Counterinsurgency: the challenge for NATO strategy and operations

Author:
Christopher M. Schnaubelt
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
This paper presents an analysis of the so-called "Af-Pak" strategy and what it means for the NATO and its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission. Because the role of NATO in the Pakistan portion of the strategy is extremely limited, this paper focuses on the elements directed toward efforts in Afghanistan. It is based completely upon open-source materials. The primary sources are three key documents: the White House press release on what's new in the strategy, President Obama's remarks announcing the strategy, and an interagency white paper that was released simultaneously. These are complemented by published interviews with and newspaper quotes from key individuals such as General David Petraeus, the commanding general of US Central Command and head of the American combatant command responsible for US military efforts in Afghanistan.
Topic:
NATO, International Security, Military Strategy, and Counterinsurgency
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and America

36. Securing the Commons: Towards NATO's New Maritime Strategy

Author:
Brooke Smith-Windsor
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Reminiscent of the late Cold War period, in recent years debate in official circles surrounding the purpose of Allied naval forces in transatlantic security policy has increasingly come to the fore. While in the mid-1980s preparations for the land campaign on the European Central Front dominated NATO military planning, the Soviet Union's emergent interest in becoming a powerful ocean-going nation with global reach cast new attention on the importance of securing the Alliance's maritime flanks in the event of conflict - notable the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Topic:
NATO, International Security, Military Strategy, and Maritime Commerce
Political Geography:
North Atlantic and Soviet Union

37. Arguing Afghanistan: what the detractors of NATO's mission get wrong

Author:
Patrick Keller
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Over the last few years, Afghanistan has become less stable and less secure. There were more than 2,000 civilian casualties in 2008 - more than in any other year since the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001, and an increase by 40% in comparison to 2007. Coalition forces suffered 294 casualties in 2008, also the highest number so far. This is the direct consequence of a rise in Taliban and insurgent activity, mostly in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Topic:
Security, NATO, Terrorism, Military Strategy, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Asia, and Taliban

38. NATO and the new US "Af-Pak" Strategy

Author:
Christopher M. Schnaubelt
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Operations in Afghanistan pose a strategic challenge for NATO, not only because it is the largest and longest duration combat operation in the history of the Alliance, but also because of the fissures that the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has exposed among NATO members. These difference include questions on how to characterize and approach the violence in Afghanistan and the relative military contributions by member states to the first and thus far only operation conducted by NATO under Article V. Allegations that some members have not been carrying their fair share of the burden have raised the specter of a "two-tier" alliance.
Topic:
NATO, International Security, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Asia

39. What NATO can learn from "the surge" in Iraq

Author:
Christopher M. Schnaubelt
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
What a difference 30,000 additional troops and a new strategy make. A few years ago, Afghanistan was commonly viewed as the model of a successful intervention while many politicians, military analysts, and pundits believed that the war in Iraq was being irretrievably lost. Yet today— although conditions still have a long way to go before normalcy has been achieved—the progress in Iraq following “the surge” directed by President Bush in January 2007 is widely recognized. All the indicators of violence: attacks against Iraqi infrastructure and government organizations; small arms, mortar and rocket attacks, and casualties among Iraqi civilians, Iraqi Security Forces, and Coalition Forces have sharply declined since July 2007. The situation has gone from being generally perceived as on the brink of disaster to being a success story (albeit belated and costly).
Topic:
NATO, Terrorism, War, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Military Strategy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and Iraq