Military Innovation and Tactical Adaptation in the Israel–Hizballah Conflict: The Institutionalization of Lesson-Learning in the IDF

This article highlights a pattern of military adaptation and tactical problem-solving utilized by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while engaged in protracted conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hizballah. It discusses the IDF’s recent attempts to institutionalize their historically intuitive process of ad-hoc learning by developing a formal tactical-level mechanism for ‘knowledge management’. The diffusion of this battlefield lesson-learning system that originated at lower-levels of the organization is examined, as well as its implementation and effectiveness during the 2006 Lebanon War. A nuanced analysis of IDF adaptation illustrates the dynamic interplay between both ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ processes of military innovation.     

I Will Follow: Smart Power and the Management of Wartime Alliances

Abstract

This paper employs the concept of smart power to construct an analytical framework for assessing wartime alliance management. It makes two arguments. First, wartime sources of soft power differ from those obtaining during peacetime. Second, the coerciveness with which an alliance leader wields hard power towards actual or prospective allies should vary inversely with the amount of soft power it possesses. The smart power framework illuminates three types of alliance management failure. The paper’s key contentions are illustrated with examples furnished from the record of US alliance leadership since World War II.     

Missile Strategy in a Post-Nuclear Age

While the arrival of nuclear weapons coincided roughly with the development of short, medium, intermediate, and eventually intercontinental missiles, the contribution of missile technology to the deterrence equation is often lost. If nuclear weapons were eliminated, even new generation missiles with conventional payloads could struggle to render effective deterrence. But some of the physical and psychological effects commonly ascribed to nuclear weapons could still be in play. And in a world without nuclear weapons, thinking about the use and control of force from the nuclear age would also deserve renewed attention.     

浅析《孙子兵法》中的战机思想

《孙子兵法》中蕴含着丰富而深刻的战机思想。不战全胜的“胜机”思想、立足不败的“待机”思想、变中求胜的“创机”思想、兵贵神速的“夺机”思想和因情用势的“握机”思想等内容,是《孙子兵法》战机思想的核心与精华。     

从孙子“全胜”思想看执勤体系能力建设

在现代条件下,从孙子“全胜”思想来看执勤体系能力建设,需要持续完善信息系统,优化平台建设和落实制度建设,切实提高执勤体系的“有效防范”和“高效处置”能力,继而确保执勤目标的绝对安全。     

科索沃战争中攻防对抗的几点分析

科索沃战争是一场交战双方实力悬殊的战争。拥有高技术兵器的北约军队对主权国家南斯拉夫实施了高精度、远毁伤、非接触的空袭,而处于弱方的南联盟军民,寻找对方弱点,采取灵活战术进行反空袭作战,使北约集团也付出了很大的代价。这场战争是现代高技术条件下的一场典型的进攻与防御对抗作战,它反映了以落后技术装备遏制拥有高技术之敌进攻的特点和规律。     

抗日战争时期爱国主义的特点及启示

抗日战争时期爱国主义的主要特点是:爱国力量的空前广泛性;爱国理念的鲜明时代性;爱国内容的明显进步性;爱国斗争的极大彻底性。上述特点给予我们的启示是:爱国主义是振兴中华民族的根本动力,中华儿女要永远高举爱国主义伟大旗帜;爱国主义具有鲜明的时代内容,弘扬爱国主义必须与时俱进;爱国主义具有深刻的内涵,实践爱国主义必须以科学理论为指导。     

从抗日民族统一战线的建立看中国共产党的中流砥柱作用

抗日战争是中华民族进行的一次伟大的民族解放战争。在这场为人类文明而战、为中华民族生存而战的残酷较量中,中国共产党及其领导的人民武装逐步成长为抗日民族统一战线的核心力量,成为中华民族团结抗战中坚不可摧的中流砥柱。     

孙子“慎战”思想对武警部队履行职能的启示

“慎战”是孙子军事思想中层次最高的战争决策思想,其理论主要包括不战思想、重战思想、善战思想和善后思想。在以和平与发展为主题的时代,孙子的“慎战”思想启示我们：要牢固树立“兵者,国之大事”的观念,加强部队现代化建设步伐,制定正确决策,“先为不可胜”;要以“非危不战”为原则,遏制犯罪,维护稳定,努力创造和平稳定的社会环境;要依据“胜于无形”,认真处理国内民族及其他矛盾,保持和谐稳定的社会环境。     

Property distribution and configurations of sovereign states: A rational economic model

A nation's wealth is both an object of conquest to covetous aggressors and a resource to its owners for self defense. To maintain autonomy every country must mount a defense which either makes its capture (1) more expensive than any aggressor can afford, or (2) more expensive than it is worth to aggressors. Whether this condition can be satisfied for all countries simultaneously depends as shown in this paper on relative efficacy of military offense versus defense, the aggregate of wealth among nations and its distribution, and the benefits a conqueror may obtain from conquest, including the duration of these benefits. The paper shows how these factors fit together to determine the sustainability and stability of the international distribution of property as embodied in the configuration of sovereign states.