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191. The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and for All

Author:
Melanne Civic
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
"It has taken a desperately long time for the idea to take hold that mass atrocities are the world's business: that they cannot be universally ignored and that sovereignty is not a license to kill". Gareth Evans opens his book with this condemnation of the international community's decades of practical indifference to gross and systematic human rights abuses in its wide range of manifestations. Evans, a former Australian state minister, had more than 20 years in government service behind him and was just starting nearly a decade of public interest service as president and chief executive officer of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based nongovernmental organization, when he was appointed to co-chair the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS). The commission produced a report that outlines the responsibility to protect (R2P) concept.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
Australia

192. Occupying Iraq: A History of the Coalition Provisional Authority and Integrating Civilian Agencies in Stability Operations

Author:
Stuart Bowen, Jr.
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
A cursory glance at the foreign policy section in your local bookstore would reveal many volumes of output and analyses generated over the past few years by the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and its after-math. Selections vary from wide-ranging strategic reviews to gripping accounts of the house-to-house fighting that occurred in places like Fallujah and Sadr City. However, until 2009, no one had produced a comprehensive analytical study of the Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPA's) occupation of Iraq, when it operated as the country's de jure and de facto government from early May 2003 to the end of June 2004. Ambassador James Dobbins, the leading authority on overseas contingencies, and his coauthors have filled this reportorial gap with this landmark work, which will stand as an authoritative history of the CPA for years to come.
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

193. An Interview with Peter Pace

Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
If we think about the interagency process, here is how it works in my opinion, and this is not about any administration; this is about how our government functions, not any particular flavor of government.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

194. Climate Change and Armed Conflict: Hot and Cold Wars

Author:
Melanne Civic
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Climate change has reemerged in the mainstream of U.S. Government policy as a central issue and a national security concern. President Barack Obama, addressing an audience at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology in October 2009, identified climate change and fossil fuel dependence as a national security threat needing innovative, science-based solutions to "[prevent] the worst consequences of climate change." President Obama asserted that "the naysayers, the folks who would pretend that this is not an issue . . . are being marginalized."
Topic:
Climate Change and Cold War
Political Geography:
United States and United Nations

195. War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars

Author:
T. X. Hammes
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
In his introduction to this new edition of War of Necessity, War of Choice, Richard Haass states that the "book's core is a distinction with a difference. There are wars of necessity and wars of choice. Confusing the two runs the danger of ill-advised decisions to go to war." He might have added "or to continue a war."
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and Iran

196. An Interview with Hasain Haqqani

Author:
Husain Haqqani
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
From Pakistan's perspective, a stable Afghanistan-with a government favorably disposed toward Pakistan and that contains the Taliban threat and does not allow it to spill over into Pakistan-would represent success. Without going into history, let me just say that Pakistan's policy now is to help Afghanistan attain long-term stability and build national institutions, including the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. But at the same time, we are realistic enough to understand that Afghanistan's institutions of state will not emerge overnight; it takes decades to build an army; it takes a long time to build an ethos of a comprehensive and integrated civil service. So the first priority in Afghanistan ought to be to beat the insurgency, to contain the Taliban threat, and at the same time to make it possible for reconcilable elements in the insurgency to be brought into the political mainstream through a process of reconciliation. But Pakistan's own security is important to Pakistanis, and we certainly do not want Afghanistan to be used for intelligence or military operations aimed at undermining Pakistan's security.
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Taliban

197. Complex Peace Operations and Civil-Military Relations: Winning the Peace

Author:
Scott W. Lyons
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
With the failure of the U.S. military and Coalition Provisional Authority to stabilize Iraq after the successful 2003 invasion, military analysts have noted that a lesson learned is a need for better coordination between the civilian and military powers. This book by Robert Egnell explains how civil-military integration improves both military effectiveness and operational success.
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

198. Civil-Military Relations: Theory and Practice

Author:
Joseph J. Collins
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Civil-military relations are a hardy perennial in the study of politics, international relations, and interagency policymaking. In the Clinton era, we worried about a military too big for its camouflaged britches and a potential "crisis" in civil-military relations. Compounding the strife was statistical proof that the officer corps increasingly self-identified as Republicans. In the post-9/11 era, we worried about an overly reticent military leadership whose professional expertise was muffled by civilians, who allegedly micromanaged military plans and operations. Much of the recent analysis reads like a political version of People magazine with larger than life admirals and generals-Anthony Zinni, William Fallon, and David Petraeus, for example- jousting with cabinet officers and making "power plays." Retired officers have created their own controversies, endorsing political candidates and even calling for the resignation of cabinet officers. Often absent from these vivid articles are an analysis of the theoretical foundations of civil-military relations or accurate data on what the military actually thinks and believes. Two new books do a great job in filling in some of those blanks. Both books came from officers associated, as I was years ago, with the Department of Social Sciences at West Point. All three of the authors are from the Military Academy's "second graduating class," alumni officers who came back to teach at the Academy and then returned to the Army to reinforce its corps of Soldier-thinkers.
Topic:
International Relations

199. An Interview with Jim Webb

Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Certain things are better. For example, our intelligence systems are much more advanced. Tactically, our people have adapted well to different situations, first in Iraq, and then in Afghanistan. But in terms of protecting national security, we're really talking about national strategy. And if you look at where we are in terms of our national strategy-that involves economic policy, over - all strategic forces, and how you connect and communicate to the rest of the world-here we have a lot of issues to address.
Topic:
Intelligence
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Iraq

200. An Interview with Martin E. Dempsey

Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
After almost a decade of war, our Soldiers and leaders continue to perform magnificently in the harshest conditions and within the incredibly complex operating environments of Iraq and Afghanistan. They operate as part of increasingly decentralized organizations, and their tasks are made even more challenging by the unprecedented degree of transparency and near-instantaneous transmission of information. These trends are not an aberration. The future operating environment promises to grow even more complex. Because of that, we believe it is important to reflect on what it means to be a part of a profession. We are asking ourselves how 9 years of war and an era of persistent transparency have affected our understanding of what it means to be a professional Soldier.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Iraq