Articles
Our articles cut through the noise on irregular warfare to connect strategic theory to operational reality and translate complexity into insight for practitioners and policymakers. No time to read? Check out our podcast, "Insider: Short of War," which transforms our articles into concise, engaging audio pieces you can listen to anywhere. Available directly in most of our articles and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms.
Art and Irregular Warfare: Aesthetic Resistance, Symbolic Power, and the Battles for Meaning
Editor’s Note: this article is being republished with the permission of Small Wars Journal as part of a republishing arrangement between IWI and SWJ. The original article was published on 09.29.2025 and is available here. Standing before Pablo Picasso’s Guernica in Gernika is more than observing
Why Regime Change in Iran Cannot be Imposed
“Our control of the skies guarantees us victory more than any other factor,” asserted David Ben Gurion in 1953, following a review of Israel’s armed forces. The June 2025 Israel-Iran War seems only to have reaffirmed Ben Gurion’s analysis. Less than 48 hours after the war’s outbreak,
Tainted Catch: The Role of the Distant Water Fishing Fleet in China’s Campaign to Defeat the West
Editor’s note: This article is part of IWI's Maritime Program, which explores modern challenges and opportunities in the maritime dimension at the intersection of irregular warfare and strategic competition. As the death tolls mount in kinetic conflicts around the world – in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and elsewhere – the
Maximizing The Indigenous Approach: Using Secondment to Enable Our Partners and Constrain Our Adversaries
Editor’s Note: This article earned first place in the Irregular Warfare Initiative’s 2025 Writing Contest, “Irregular Allies: Strengthening Regional Partnerships through Unconventional Means.” Authors were asked: How can the United States and its partners use irregular warfare to strengthen security cooperation, build trust, and enhance resilience among Indo-Pacific
Applying the Alaska Territorial Guard Concept to Modern Indo-Pacific Irregular Warfare
Editor’s Note: This article earned second place in the Irregular Warfare Initiative’s 2025 Writing Contest, “Irregular Allies: Strengthening Regional Partnerships through Unconventional Means.” Authors were asked to explore how the United States and its partners can use irregular warfare to strengthen security cooperation, build trust, and enhance resilience
Austronesian Identity as “Networked Deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific
Editor’s Note: This article earned third place in the Irregular Warfare Initiative’s 2025 Writing Contest, “Irregular Allies: Strengthening Regional Partnerships through Unconventional Means.” Authors were asked to respond, in 800 words or less: How can the United States and its partners use irregular warfare to strengthen security cooperation,
Announcing the Winners of the IWI Summer 2025 Writing Contest
In late June, IWI announced our first writing contest that focused on a tailored, real-world scenario. We were excited to follow through on a key priority for our editorial team and the impact we hoped it would have on the community of practitioners, academics, and policymakers that comprise IWI. As
Irregular Solutions for Irregular Threats: Maritime Lessons from Dutch Counterpiracy Operations in Colonial Indonesia
Editor’s note: This article is part of IWI's Maritime Program, which explores modern challenges and opportunities in the maritime dimension at the intersection of irregular warfare and strategic competition. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @proj_maritime. With the de facto closure of the vital Red Sea
An Introduction to the Economic & Legal Warfare Project
Irregular warfare thrives in the proverbial “gray zone”—that murky space between war and peace, conflict and stability. The past several decades have shown a need to move beyond Cold War-era orthodoxy, where military force was the primary lever of assertive power, to an environment in which non-military hard power
The Inevitable Invasion is Over, Now What? Resistance in a Post-Invasion Taiwan
Editor’s Note: this article is being republished with the permission of Small Wars Journal as part of a republishing arrangement between IWI and SWJ. The original article was published on 08.18.2025 and is available here. Introduction What if China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) successfully invaded
Bridging the gap between irregular warfare scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.