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.
200 Years After the Monroe Doctrine, US Influence in Latin America Is in Peril
Daniel Vrablic In 1823, the United States published its first dictum regarding Latin America: The Monroe Doctrine declared the entire region off limits for “future colonization by any European Powers.” Augmented by the Roosevelt Corollary, this assertive foreign policy set up two centuries’ worth of US dominance over the Western
"The Wise Man Will Be Master of the Stars:" The Use of Twitter by the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service
Peter Schrijver Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 is the largest conventional land war in Europe since the end of World War II. Russia's goals: to overthrow and replace Ukraine's elected government through territorial conquest and by subjugating the entire country's populace
The Lessons of Afghanistan: Why Countering Someone Else’s Insurgency Is So Hard
The withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 marked the confirmation in the minds of many not only of the end of the United States’ longest war, but also that of counterinsurgency as a relevant and useful facet of modern military thought. “Once dynamic and desired…counterinsurgency was by then toxic
Snakes, Stamps, and Javelins: How Ukrainian Information and Influence Operations Brought the Fight to Russia
Daniel Grobarcik On the cusp of a springtime counteroffensive, Ukraine has defied expectations in its defense against Russia’s invasion. From predictions of an imminent Ukrainian collapse on the eve of invasion to a Ukrainian army that is now set to receive Abrams tanks, foreign aid has bolstered Ukrainian forces
Gray Hulls and Gray Zones
Introducing Project Maritime: Exploring Underlying Conflict Multipliers in the Modern Maritime Dimension Lisa McKinnon Munde Editor's Note: The Irregular Warfare Initiative proudly announces Project Maritime. This special project explores modern challenges and opportunities in the maritime dimension at the intersection of irregular warfare and strategic competition. With a
We’re WEIRD and Our Adversaries Know It: Psychological Biases Leave the United States Vulnerable to Cognitive Domain Operations
The US Department of Defense originated the concept of a cognitive warfare domain, but the United States is already well behind on defending against others’ cognitive operations and campaigns—let alone effectively countering them or conducting offensive activities. To succeed in the cognitive domain, one must understand the psychological weaknesses,
The Future of Conflict: How Super-Empowered Populations Will Change Warfare
Though it claims to support local populations in warfare, the US military nonetheless tends toward enemy-centric operational behavior. That is, units spend most of their time focused on destroying the enemy and comparatively little on local civilian populations’ needs, behavior, and interests. This can be said of most American
Divided by a Common Language: How Europe Views Irregular Warfare
With the return of strategic competition, Irregular Warfare (IW) has become the focus of attention in defense circles around the world. Some argue that mastery in this field will decide who emerges victorious in such competition. However, IW is an elusive concept across the US government and among US allies
History Rhymes: Lessons from Indo-Pacific Competition and Confrontation in the Gray Zone
“I said that I was accustomed to hear that statement [‘peaceful rise’], and that it meant, and was not infrequently stated to mean, that it would be peaceful if all Japanese demands were conceded, but that if they were refused ‘a different situation would arise.’” These undiplomatic words were spoken
Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Bodabodas: Transportation Workers and Irregular Warfare
Movement is political. Whether it’s the movement of 190,000 Russian troops across borders in an act of war, the Maduro regime’s displacement of more than 6.1 million Venezuelan refugees across South and Central America, or the refusal of four black students to leave a Woolworth lunch
Bridging the gap between irregular warfare scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.