Regaining Strategy: Small Powers,Strategic Culture,and Escalation in Afghanistan

Abstract

In Western operations in Afghanistan, small European powers escalate in different ways. While Denmark and the Netherlands have contributed to Western escalation through integration with British and US forces, Norway and Sweden have done so by creating a division of labour allowing US and British combat forces to concentrate their efforts in the south. These variations in strategic behaviour suggest that the strategic choice of small powers is more diversified than usually assumed. We argue that strategic culture can explain the variation in strategic behaviour of the small allies in Afghanistan. In particular, Dutch and Danish internationalism have reconciled the use of force in the national and international domains, while in Sweden and Norway there is still a sharp distinction between national interest and humanitarianism.     

从“钱学森之问”到大学教师精神向度的建设

“钱学森之问”,是已故著名科学家钱学森先生生前多次提出的问题,为什么我们的学校总是培养不出杰出人才？这个振聋发聩的反问是对中国高等教育的深刻反思.作为高等教育重要组成部分的大学教师,对“钱学森之问”的回答至关重要.大学教师是多重身份的集合体——“传道”、“授业”、“解惑”,大学教师的人生终极价值在于使三者得到有机结合,成为社会集体中学术精神、人文精神与公共精神的担当者,成为一个真正的理想者与实践者,从而对学生形成“知行合一”的深刻的灵魂塑造与影响,做一个“有理想信念、有道德情操、有扎实知识、有仁爱之心”的大学教师.     

Escalation in Irregular War: Using Strategic Theory to Examine from First Principles

Abstract

If all violence is intended to achieve political effects, what is distinctive about escalation in irregular war? Indeed, what is irregular war? To answer such fundamental questions this analysis employs the principles of strategic theory in an attempt to offer a theoretical and practical framework that will facilitate an appreciation of the subsequent contributions to this special issue. The assessment seeks to articulate how the escalation process in conditions of so-called irregular war might be conceptualized and, via examples, illustrate how certain broad observations may be held to be true. Ultimately, though, the argument emphasizes that the process of escalation cannot be distinctive or follow predictable patterns given that all wars are unique to their time and place and will be affected in their conduct by the contingent forces of passion, chance and reason.     

美军信息化联合作战战略新拓展——数据战略与元数据实施研究

数据战略是信息化条件下美军联合作战战略的新拓展,也是关军未来建军的重点军事战略之一,而元数据是确保数据战略目标实现的核心实施方法。文章从美军数据战略的基础概念起步,介绍了数据战略的三大目标——数据的可视化、可获取和可利用,并围绕这三大目标,分别探索研究其具体实施元数据的功能及结构,最后指出制定数据战略在我军信息化建设中的紧迫性和现实意义。     

Bureaucracy Does Its Thing: US Performance and the Institutional Dimension of Strategy in Afghanistan

It is not too soon to draw cautionary lessons from the inconclusive results of US performance during more than 11 years of Operation ‘Enduring Freedom’ in Afghanistan. As in Vietnam, fundamental difficulties persist in adapting enduring institutions to the requirements of strategy. At the heart of the matter is tension between the assumptions that underlie counterinsurgency as practiced in Afghanistan and organization of the US Armed Forces, State Department, and Agency for International Development. Knowledge of basic principles and necessary changes is available to answer the question, could the US have done better?     

试论"9·11"事件以来美军全球战略之调整

"9·11"事件以来,美军以反恐为名实施全球战略调整,"反恐"与"谋霸"两不误,"反恐"的同时加紧了对中国的战略防范和布控,对我国的地缘环境产生了重大影响,我们必须高度重视,积极应对.     

美军军法官制度简介

美军的政治性工作一般由两“师”完成,一个是牧师,另一个则是随军律师。而随军律师是处理法律问题的军官的泛称,主要指的就是军法官(JudgeAdvocate)和其领导下的法律助手、律师等。2003年的伊拉克战争中,美军约有103位军法官、62名法律专职助手深入战场。①他们在拘押战犯,发表对外声明,与英军建立联合军事司法系统和提供交战规则,促使官兵遵守国际战争法、军事行动法上起了相当大的作用。一、起源与概念在美军中没有法律战的明确词汇和概念,但是这并不意味着美军不运用法律武器以达到军事目的。相反,他们相当擅长和重视这一工作,而且已有…     

Drone Strikes and Grand Strategy: Toward a Political Understanding of the Uses of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Attacks in US Security Policy

This article analyzes the political utility of US drone strikes theoretically and deductively. Placing strikes within the context of the theorized political functions of force and considering how they fit into two grand strategies, restraint and selective engagement, I argue that these strikes buy the United States relatively little in the way of political effects assuring its own security because the terrorism threat they are intended to combat is a limited one within the skein of US global interests. Furthermore, their contribution to counter-terrorism efforts is likely to diminish with the adoption of armed drones by non-state actors. Drone strikes can, however, provide leverage over recalcitrant US client states while reassuring liberal partners and giving them some leverage over US choices. In addition, within the counter-terrorism sphere, drone strikes are less likely to inflame popular opinion than are alternative uses of force. This analysis contributes to an increasingly rigorous examination of the strikes’ role in US foreign and security policy.     

Hard Line: The Republican Party and US Foreign Policy since World War II Shaping Strategy: The Civil-Military Politics of Strategic Assessment

This article examines the Dhofar campaign in Oman (1965–75), and the role Britain played in assisting the Omani royal government against left-wing insurgents. Using existing secondary sources and declassified British government papers, it reassesses the contribution of British military advisers and special forces to the counter-insurgency (COIN) campaign, the balance between military action and civil affairs, the external dimension of the conflict, and intelligence and covert operations. It concludes by assessing whether the Dhofar War offers any guidance to Western armed forces involved in contemporary COIN campaigns such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq.     

Like Cassandra, I Speak the Truth: US Army Psychological Operations in Latin America, 1987-89

This article examines US Army psychological operations (PsyOp) as practiced during the waning years of the Cold War in Latin America. Certain themes, especially legitimacy, in-group/out-group, and safety/fear are demonstrated to be recurrent in regional PsyOp campaigns, largely because they seem to activate rich inference systems in the human brain. Yet anthropologists and other scholars of Latin America have paid little attention to military PsyOp. Despite our natural susceptibilities, we can best evaluate propaganda (and other claims to knowledge) by following the advice of Karl Popper: competing theories, including politically loaded ones, should always be explanatory and subject to criticism.     

基于PBL教学法的公共教育学教学策略探析

作为教师职前教育的一门重要的基础课程公共教育学,其教学效果一直不尽如人意。文章从什么是PBL教学法出发,并基于PBL教学法的视角,提出公共教育学要教给学生什么、怎么教以及如何评价教和学三个问题,为公共教育学的教学改革提供一种新的思路。     

A Matter of Choice: Strategy and Discretion in the Shadow of World War II

American policy-makers are predisposed towards the idea of a necessary war of survival, fought with little room for choice. This reflects a dominant memory of World War II that teaches Americans that they live in a dangerously small world that imposes conflict. Critics argue that the ‘choice versus necessity’ schema is ahistorical and mischievous. This article offers supporting fire to those critiques. America's war against the Axis (1941–45) is a crucial case through which to test the ‘small world’ view. Arguments for war in 1941 pose overblown scenarios of the rise of a Eurasian super-threat. In 1941 conflict was discretionary and not strictly necessary in the interests of national security. The argument for intervention is a closer call that often assumed. This has implications for America's choices today.     

The Iraq Survey Group: From Weapons of Mass Destruction to Counterinsurgency

The discovery and elimination of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was a focal point of the Coalition's strategy and operations in the aftermath of Operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’. Despite the failure of the WMD mission to meet expectations after almost two years of intensive operations, the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) was able to integrate multinational and multi-agency forces to provide detailed intelligence regarding the history of Iraq's WMD programs and to assist in the battle against insurgents. The ISG's experience raises the question of whether a standing intelligence force could become a key component in future counterproliferation and counterterrorism efforts around the world.1 ¹The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Dept. of Defense, or the US Government. View all notes     

甲午御敌谋略:以攻为守的"直捣日本"之计

中日甲午战争期间,中国朝野有识之士纷纷就反击日本侵略而建言献策,其中建议最多、酝酿时间最长的御敌谋略,当属直捣日本的以攻为守之计.其具体作战方案,依所用兵力划分主要有四种,即分别以南洋军舰、北洋舰队、民船商船及外购军舰载兵勇远袭日本本土.直捣日本是为了改变中国在反侵略战争中被动挨打的地位,因此颇能引起国人的共鸣,有的方案甚至已为当权者所采纳.惟一旦要付诸实施,辄因困难重重而搁浅,最终都成了纸上谈兵.事实证明,只有将直捣日本之计提到积极防御的战略高度加以筹划才有成功的可能,而仅作为临战时的一种应急之策,清政府既不能于短时间内最大限度地调动全国力量予以支持,就必然会因兵力、技术条件的限制而"望洋兴叹".