LibGuides: Global Trends: The nature of conflict is changing

Articles

A blackout in ukraine is a reminder of the dangers of cyberattacks (posted 2016-02-17 23:57:17): An attack on a power grid shows a new type of destructive cyber-conflict is possible. (2016, Feb 17). The Washington Post (ProQuest) [...]the electrical grid shutdown in Ukraine heralds an altogether different kind of danger, one that can manipulate machines that control industrial equipment, such as power grids and dams, and cause them to behave in dangerous ways.
Attuquayefio, P. (2014). Drones, The US And The New Wars In Africa. Journal of Terrorism Research, 5(3), 3–13. (EBSCO) The article discusses the state of terrorism and war in Africa, the use of drones against terrorism, and the role of the U.S. in counterterrorism and advocating peace. Topics include the interventions of the U.S. on national security and the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones, the activities of Islamic extremists such as the Al Qaeda, and the creation and operation of Boko Haram in the West African Sub-Region.
BANASIK, M. (2016). Unconventional War and Warfare in the Gray Zone. The New Spectrum of Modern Conflicts. Journal of Defense Resources Management, 7(1), 37–46. (EBSCO) Experiences of the last couple of years indicate that political objectives are increasingly achieved without official declarations of war. Armed forces are used in untraditional ways and the so-called substitute troops begin to play an increasingly bigger part. The article aims to characterize the conflicts of alternative nature below the level of open war that are on the border between war and peace.
Fasana, K. G. (2018). Another manifestation of cyber conflict: attaining military objectives through cyber avenues of approach. Defence Studies, 18(2), 167–187. (EBSCO) Cyberspace is an avenue of approach through which a military force can attain objectives of value. Through these cyber avenues of approach, military forces can engage, vet, organize, and direct human agents to accomplish specific activities. Although the objectives of these activities could differ from traditional military objectives, they still have military relevance.
Greentree, T. (2021). What Went Wrong in Afghanistan? Parameters: U.S. Army War College, 51(4), 7–21. Critics of the Afghan war have claimed it was always unwinnable. This article argues the war was unwinnable the way it was fought and posits an alternative based on the Afghan way of war and the US approach to counterinsurgency in El Salvador during the final decade of the Cold War. Respecting the political and military dictates of strategy could have made America's longest foreign war unnecessary and is a warning for the wars we will fight in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Hoffman, F. (2021). Defeat Mechanisms in Modern Warfare. Parameters: U.S. Army War College, 51(4), 49–66. This article explores the current debate about service and Joint operating concepts, starting with the Army's multi-domain operations concept. It argues for adaptations to an old operational design technique--defeat mechanisms; updates to Joint and service planning doctrine; and discipline regarding emerging concepts. Rather than debate over attrition versus maneuver, combinations of a suite of defeat mechanisms should be applied to gain victory in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Hunter, C. (2019). The Forgotten First Iteration of the “Chinese Space Threat” to US National Security. Space Policy, 47, 158–165. (EBSCO) Existing analyses of US-China relations in matters of space policy have overwhelmingly focused on the contemporary relationship, with a tendency to represent the interaction between the 2 states as primarily competitive for its entire existence. By making use of American archival materials, this article argues that these characterisations are misleading. Instead, the historical evidence shows that an iteration of a 'Chinese space threat' predates contemporary threat perceptions by almost 5 decades.
Królikowski, H. (2017). Hybrid Threats and Warfare, Are We Really Facing Something New? Internal Security, 9(2), 9–21. (EBSCO) Since 2014 the term hybrid warfare and threats has become catchword. This term (hybrid warfare) was introduced to academic discourse by William J. Nemeth in 2002 in relation to the wars in Chechnya and popularised in 2006 by Frank G. Hoffman in relation, among other things, to the second Intifada. In 2014 after the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the outbreak of fighting in eastern Ukraine, the terms hybrid war and hybrid threats were transferred from scholarly discussion to politics and official documents.
Kreps, S. (2018). The Catch-22 of Modern Wars. World Politics Review (Selective Content), 1–3. (EBSCO) The article examines the paradoxical situation called Catch-22. Topics include the endless cycle of conflict produced by the new concept of Catch-22 that is conceptualized by the modern American wars, the democratic theories of war and the increased threats of war. Also emphasized is the demand for sacrifice, in a form of war tax, to raise the ongoing wars' public profile.
Kuttner, R. (2020). America’s civil war. Washington: Newstex. (ProQuest) America is as close to civil war as it has come since 1861, and once again the central driver is America’s founding stain—deep, persistent, brutal racism.
Leon, M. M. (2017). Negotiating conflict resolution from “the eye of the storm”. International Journal of Conflict Management, 28(2), 166-181. (ProQuest) This paper aims to explain how peace research has influenced a re-conceptualization of the international relations (IR) notion of security and conflict, the nature of the global arena, how to effectively negotiate conflict resolution and strategies for peacebuilding. The paper argues that – although peace research had contributed to reducing the threat of interstate conflict – IR scholars have failed to recognize the need for a more inclusive theoretical strategy for dealing with the new challenge imposed by intrastate conflict.
Military Expert: U.S. New Nuclear Submarine Poses a Big Threat to China. (2015). Chinascope, 78, 16. (EBSCO) The article presents views of Chinese military experts Yin Zhuo and Cai Weidong in an interview with Chinese official television media "CCTV," on the development of a new ballistic missile submarine by the U.S. to replace the existing fleet "Ohio" class ballistic missile submarine as of 2015.
Milley, M. A. (2016). Changing Nature of War Won’t Change Our Purpose. Army Magazine, 66(10), 12–16. Over the past year, we have laid a promising but incomplete foundation for improving current readiness. We have new insights into the character of future conflict, and we have had glimpses of what our Army and its soldiers must be ready to do in the coming decades. Make no mistake: We have the best fighting force the world has ever seen, and the million men and women who make up the Total Army stand ready to execute the nation’s missions.
Magnuson, S. (2020). Ai in the Military. National Defense, 110(804), 22–23. The article discusses Artificial intelligence and how to employ game-changing, 21st century technology, has a predominant topic in national security circles.
McKinney, J. M., & Harris, P. (2021). Broken Nest: Deterring China from Invading Taiwan. Parameters: U.S. Army War College, 51(4), 23–36. Deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan without recklessly threatening a great-power war is both possible and necessary through a tailored deterrence package that goes beyond either fighting over Taiwan or abandoning it. This article joins cutting-edge understandings of deterrence with empirical evidence of Chinese strategic thinking and culture to build such a strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Montgomery, M., & Borghard, E. (2021). Cyber threats and vulnerabilities to conventional and strategic deterrence. Joint Force Quarterly : JFQ, (102), 79-89. (ProQuest) Scholars and practitioners in the area of cyber strategy and conflict focus on two key strategic imperatives for the US: first, to maintain and strengthen the current deterrence of cyberattacks of significant consequence; and second, to reverse the tide of malicious behavior that may not rise to a level of armed attack but nevertheless has cumulative strategic implications as part of adversary campaigns.
Morgan, T. D. (2017). Threats Abound 100 Years After the Great War. Army Magazine, 67(12), 13–14. (EBSCO) The article focuses on the presence of U.S. military personnel in so many countries 100 years after the War to End All Wars in 1917-18. Topics discussed include the need for a new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, the threat posed by North Korea and a U.S. cyberattack against North Korea as the best strategy.
Munteanu, R. (2015). HYBRID WARFARE - THE NEW FORM OF CONFLICT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY. Strategic Impact, (56), 19-26. (ProQuest) The recent events in Ukraine have driven the term "hybrid warfare" out of the bailiwick of specialists and into the public discourse. For the first time, it lies at the boundaries of Europe and NATO, risking to export insecurity in the above mentioned areas, therefore this article intends to identify its fundamental characteristics. Technological revolutions led to the transformation of warfare, giving it new dimensions, especially that the boundary between military and civil areas sometimes tends to be more and more uncertain.
Narayan, V. (2020, Jan 01). CDS need of the hour, says ex-army chief V.P. malik. The Telegraph (India) (ProQuest) 'Change in nature of conflict requires Army, Navy, Air Force to fight together' The newly-created position of chief of defence staff (CDS) will hold the defence forces in good stead because of the changing nature of conflict which requires a concerted approach by the three armed forces, former Army chief Gen. V. P. Malik has said.
Patrikarakos, D. (2018). War in 140 characters: How social media has transformed the nature of conflict. London: Independent Digital News & Media. (ProQuest)
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At the centre of all this, one thing shone out: the ability of social media to endow ordinary individuals - frequently non-combatants - with the power to change the course of both the physical battlefield and the discourse around it. November 2016 saw the election of Donald Trump, arguably the most demagogic US presidential candidate in history, who employed Twitter as one of his primary campaign tools.
Sargana, T. H. (2017). Caught somewhere in space. Defence Journal, 21(4), 68-70. (ProQuest) In today's Pakistan you will not find a single person who is not aware of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) used both in civil and military purposes, the same is true about unmanned space planes - sort of satellites, high altitude aircrafts, etc.
Schuck, A. R. T., Vliegenthart, R., & De Vreese, C.,H. (2016). Who's afraid of conflict? the mobilizing effect of conflict framing in campaign news. British Journal of Political Science, 46(1), 177-194. (ProQuest) The ability of the news media to mobilize voters during an election campaign is not well understood. Most extant research has been conducted in single-country studies and has paid little or no attention to the contextual level and the conditions under which such effects are more or less likely to occur. This study tests the mobilizing effect of conflict news framing in the context of the 2009 European Parliamentary elections.
SHIRKEY, Z. C. (2016). Uncertainty and War Duration. International Studies Review, 18(2), 244–267. (EBSCO) This article argues that private information plays an important role in explaining long wars. Existing rationalist explanations of long, intensely fought wars focus on commitment problems rather than private information as the cause of such wars. Commitment-problem explanations of long wars claim that while private information can explain short wars, battles and exchanges of offers for settlement should quickly reveal private information, thereby leading to an early peace.
Shuster, S. (2016). How Donald Trump Made the U.S. a Target For Russia’s New Brand Of Warfare. Time.Com, 1. (EBSCO) Russia could use disinformation, cyber attacks and other means of covert political influence to make the enemy "devour itself from within," Sivkov said.
Sobek, D., & Thies, C. G. (2015). Civil Wars and Contemporary State Building: Rebellion, Conflict Duration, and Lootable Resources. Civil Wars, 17(1), 51–69. (EBSCO) Regardless of the outcome, civil wars are destructive events. They not only devastate the physical and human capital of a society, but also have a direct effect on state capacity. The capacity of the state is critical as it attempts to rebuild society and minimize the risk of a new civil conflict; yet, it is still not clear how civil war precisely affects state capacity.
Tan, M. (2019). “Vulnerable from Above”: Rising Drone Attacks Drive New Technology, Tactics. Army Magazine, 69(11), 36–40. (EBSCO) The article discusses need for the U.S. military to work on new ways to target growing threats of drone attacks. Topics include rising commercial use of drones; views of Paul Scharre, director at the Center for a New American Security, on challenge for the military due to drones; affordable solutions for the challenges including jamming devices or high-powered microwaves that can target a drone's electronics; and Defense Department's demonstration of microdrone swarms at China Lake, California.
Whitney, J. (2021). Military re-learns the importance of electronic warfare (EW): Top commanders seek to embed EW capability at virtually all echelons as warfighters seek to make up for years of lost time. Military & Aerospace Electronics, 32(2), 10–17. The article discusses the need to dominate the electro magnetic spectrum has been higher for the U.S. military the end of the Cold War. Topics include "U. S. military operations have rarely conducted unilaterally and have increasingly reliant on contributions from allies and partners," and the Department has helped to develop military-to-military agreements, host nation agreements, agreements with the North Atlantic 'Treaty Organization.
Wilson, J. R. (2017). Electronic warfare evolves to meet new threats: U.S. military feels pressure to keep its technological lead in a never-ending battle for the electromagnetic spectrum. Military & Aerospace Electronics, 28(8), 10–19. (EBSCO) The article reports on the technological advancements made in the field of electronic warfare. Topics discussed include innovations made in weapons and technologies of war; views of Gregory Breazile, director of U.S. Marine Corps Information Warfare on the same; and the role of the military electronics industry in evolving electronic warfare and related technologies through independent research and development (IRAD).
Zais, M. M. (2020). Artificial Intelligence: A Decisionmaking Technology. JFQ: Joint Force Quarterly, 99, 71–73. The article focuses on importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in military decision making. It mentions Department of Defense (DOD) formalized the increased use of AI technology throughout the military, challenging senior leader and developed their skills in tactical counterinsurgency environments. It also mentions innovative technologies with AI applications increasingly become integral to DOD modernization and near-peer competition.