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341. Redefining the Indirect Approach, Defining Special Operations Forces (SOF) Power, and the Global Networking of SOF

Author:
Scott Morrison
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Most military professionals and historians are familiar with the theories and concepts of air, maritime, and land power, but there has been little in the way of theory or concept as to what Special Operations power means and its strategic utility alongside those of the air, maritime, and land domains. Yet Special Operations Forces (SOF) must play a central role in several of the primary missions of the U.S. Armed Forces as projected in the Defense Strategy entitled Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense, such as countering terrorism, irregular warfare, and countering weapons of mass destruction. The importance of Special Operations to this new strategy was underscored in the accompanying remarks made by former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta during the January 5, 2012, unveiling of the new defense strategy where he mentioned specifically, “as we reduce the overall defense budget, we will protect, and in some cases increase, our investments in special operations forces.” Therefore, understanding the role of SOF power and how it fits within strategy is an essential prerequisite to successfully implementing the U.S. Defense Strategy.
Topic:
Environment
Political Geography:
United States

342. Joint Deployable Training Teams: Helping to Focus the Effort

Author:
Andrew Straley
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
While he was First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill once stated, “Gentlemen, we have run out of money; now we must think.”1 Conducting increasingly diverse, global operations while simultaneously fighting on multiple fronts has become more challenging due to constrained budgets. Conditions where the United States could simply throw large amounts of resources at a problem and solve it through sheer volume no longer exist. This new reality has forced combatant commanders and combined joint task force (CJTF) commanders to be more effective with limited resources when conducting operations across their joint operational area.
Topic:
NATO, Environment, Humanitarian Aid, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and United States

343. Supplementing REDD+ with Biodiversity Payments: The Paradox of Paying for Multiple Ecosystem Services

Author:
Jonah Busch
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
An international mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation using carbon payments (REDD+) can be leveraged to make payments for forests' biodiversity as well. Paradoxically, under conditions consistent with emerging REDD+ programs, money spent on a mixture of carbon payments and biodiversity payments has the potential to incentivize the provision of greater climate benefits than an equal amount of money spent only on carbon payments.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Environment, and Biosecurity

344. Growing disruption: Climate change, food, and the fight against hunger

Author:
John Magrath and Tracy Carty
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This briefing paper explores how the failure to tackle climate change threatens all aspects of food security – availability, access, utilisation, and stability. The changing climate is already jeopardising gains in the fight against hunger, and it looks set to worsen. It threatens the production and distribution of food. It threatens people's ability to access food by undermining livelihoods and destabilising prices, and it damages diets by harming human health and putting at risk the quality of food produced. Finally, the paper sets out how these impacts can be averted, through urgent action to avoid dangerous climate change, address our broken food system, and strengthen its resilience.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, Environment, Poverty, and Food

345. The Arctic and Geopolitics

Author:
David A. Welch
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Contrary to popular belief — and contrary to the views of many politicians and scholars — the Arctic is completely uninteresting geopolitically from a traditional national security perspective. It is somewhat more interesting geopolitically from various non-traditional security perspectives (for example, human security, cultural security, energy security, economic security and environmental security); but it is truly important only in the one respect that attracts the least attention and action from policy makers: namely, ecospheric security.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe and North America

346. New Nuclear Suppliers Encouraging Responsible Nuclear Supply by China, Republic of Korea, and India

Author:
Sharon Squassoni
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Nuclear energy seemed set for revitalization until the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011. The accident that melted the cores of three light water reactors raised questions about the costs and risks of nuclear energy in many countries. Some countries have cancelled procurement, others have shut down reactors, and still others have declared a shift away from a nuclear future.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, Natural Disasters, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
China, South Asia, India, Asia, and Korea

347. The Ocean Community Report: Building an Aligned and Supportive Ocean Conservation Community

Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
There is no question within the ocean conservation community that the world's oceans are in peril and that the threat has been caused primarily by human activities. Skillful conservation leaders have stepped forward in the last three decades to respond to this great threat to the integrity of our oceans and the livelihoods of those who depend upon them.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Economics, Environment, and Food
Political Geography:
Europe

348. Coal Mining in China: The Social Costs

Author:
Tim Wright
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
China's coal industry is central to the state's economic success. However, the industry has been the focus of major social problems-including corruption, work safety, and environmental damage-that need to be immediately addressed by the state.
Topic:
Corruption, Economics, and Environment

349. Realizing the Potential of U.S. Unconventional Natural Gas

Author:
Sarah O. Ladislaw, David Pumphrey, Molly A. Walton, Frank A. Verrastro, and Lisa A. Hyland
Publication Date:
04-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
The ability to access and economically develop vast amounts of America's unconventional natural gas resources, especially large shale gas formations, has altered our national view on energy and has subsequently changed the discourse at the federal, state, and local levels. Since 2008, when the economic viability of shale gas resources first became widely recognized, policymakers and industry leaders have worked to better understand the nature of this resource; the risks and opportunities associated with its production, transport, and use; and the potential strategic implications of the United States' new energy reality.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Environment, Non-Governmental Organization, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States

350. Can the European Union be a Pole in a Multipolar World?

Author:
Karen E. Smith
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Can the EU serve as a pole in a multipolar, interdependent international system? The EU will face three particular challenges operating in such a system: the challenge of re-establishing credibility after the euro crisis; the ever-present challenge of achieving unity among the member states; and the challenge of adapting foreign policy behaviour to match the new international environment. There is a risk that the EU could slide into irrelevance.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Environment
Political Geography:
Europe