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.
Proxies in Hybrid Operations: Insights from the Partnership for Peace Consortium Workshop | Helsinki, Finland, August 2025
From August 5-7, 2025, the Partnership for Peace Consortium’s (PfP-C) Irregular Warfare and Hybrid Threats Working Group met at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (HCOE) in Helsinki, Finland to examine the theme of “Proxies in Hybrid Operations.” The workshop gathered academics, practitioners, and
Advancing the SOF Profession: The future of IWI's SOF Focus Area
Since launching in August 2024, the Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI) “SOF in Competition Project” has aspired to serve as the intellectual home for Special Operations Forces (SOF). As a retired Army Special Forces officer and leadership scholar, I am proud to have taken over this initiative from its founding director,
AI-Driven Disinformation Campaigns on Twitter (X) in the Russia-Ukraine War
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 10.02.2025 and is available here. Abstract In the Russia-Ukraine war, sectors like the digital and psychological
Dr Kerry Chavez, Co-Director of IWI's Air & Space Team, at NATO Strategic Direction-South Hub
Dr Kerry Chavez, IWI’s Co-Director of the Air & Space team, addressed a joint conference of the NATO Strategic Direction—South Hub and the NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Centre in Kuwait. The theme of the conference was, “The Use of Emerging and Disruptive Technologies by Non-State Armed
The Pentagon Just Issued New Guidance on Irregular Warfare: What Does It Say and Why Should You Care?
On September 29, 2025, the Pentagon released a new Department of Defense Instruction (DODI), numbered 3000.07 and titled “Irregular Warfare.”1 Clocking in at 32 pages and consisting of 80 to 90 percent highly technical or moderate jargon (according to a ChatGPT analysis of its text), the new DODI
Culture on the Front Line: Building Indo-Pacific Resilience through Cultural Property Protection Training
Editor’s Note: This article was submitted as part of the Irregular Warfare Initiative’s 2025 Writing Contest, in which authors were invited to explore how the United States and its partners can use irregular warfare to strengthen security cooperation, build trust, and enhance resilience among Indo-Pacific nations, particularly
Review of “The Mad and the Brave: The Untold Story of Ukraine’s Foreign Legion” by Colin Freeman
In “The Mad and the Brave: The Untold Story of Ukraine’s Foreign Legion,” Colin Freeman offers a powerful series of snapshots from the tactical perspective of men who volunteered to fight on behalf of Ukraine as foreign fighters. Freeman, an accomplished war correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph, offers an
Media, Martyrdom, & Manipulation
On November 28, 1997, in a small village in Kosovo, three armed men interrupted the funeral of a schoolteacher to proclaim the revolution of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) against Serbian authority. Roaring applause conveyed the crowd’s understanding that the age of nonviolent reform was over, while international press
Proxy Armies and Principal–Agent Problems: A Review of Militias in Eastern Ukraine
In his newest book, Rebel Militias in Eastern Ukraine: From Leaderless Rebellion to Proxy Army, political scientist Martin Laryš explores the nexus between political extremism, violent rebellion, and proxy wars, using the Donbas War as an exemplary case. The book is an important contribution to literature on irregular warfare through
Kings, Usurpers, and Shadow Wars: Lessons on Irregular Warfare from Shakespeare
Whereof what’s past is prologue Few scholars would credit William Shakespeare as an irregular warfare (IW) expert, but one of the most-read authors in the Western canon has much to offer the practitioner. Shakespeare wrote about state failure, factional competition, assassination attempts, and manipulation of public opinion. These
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