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.
Credibility vs. Speed: Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Information 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 03.20.2026 and is available here. The Gaza conflict underscores a central fact of modern war. The Decisive
Q&A with Robert D. Kaplan
Editor’s Note: This article is presented in a question-and-answer format, with the Irregular Warfare Initiative’s Maritime Program (facilitated by Christopher Booth) interviewing Robert D. Kaplan. This piece has been edited for clarity and readability, as spoken language differs from how text is read on the page.
Chinese Eyes, Iranian Missiles: Intelligence Cooperation in the US/Israel–Iran War 2026
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 03.20.2026 and is available here. The 2026 war between the United States, Israel, and Iran represents one
Economic Warfare Reimagined: Insurance as a Tool of U.S. Strategic Influence
The U.S. is losing the war on sentiment in the Global South, where the world’s most economically vulnerable countries rely on larger powers for economic support and security. Russia and China have capitalized on this dynamic by seizing the economic initiative in this region, often at the expense
Conflict Has Memory: Why Local Wars Follow Distinct Trajectories
A map can tell you where a conflict is happening today, but it is blind to where that war has been - and where it is stubbornly determined to go. Analysts and planners assess geopolitical fault lines, patterns of violence, human factors, and threat networks to understand the dynamics of irregular
Los límites de la decapitación de líderes: consecuencias estratégicas del exceso de confianza en la fuerza militar para la transformación política
Read in: English Nota del editor: Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en inglés. Por favor, consulte la versión original, ya que pueden existir errores de traducción. Durante más de dos décadas, la política de seguridad nacional de EE. UU. ha confiado repetidamente en la decapitación de líderes como un mecanismo
Al-Hol’s Collapse: How Syria’s Detention Crisis is Enabling Islamic State Resilience
At its peak, the Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria was the largest detention site in the post-2019 Islamic State (IS) detention and displacement system, housing approximately 25,000 individuals. In January 2026, a contested transfer of custody from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to the Syrian government triggered
Hannah Lamb’s “Angle of Attack” Featured on Chief of Staff of the Army’s March 2026 Recommended Articles List
The Irregular Warfare Initiative is proud to highlight that “Angle of Attack: Apache Attack Helicopters in Unmanned Skies,” by Hannah Lamb, has been featured in the March 2026 edition of the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Recommended Articles List, published by Army University Press. Lamb’s article offers
Covert Crypto: a Double-edged Sword for Special Operations
“For covert operations, the misconception that crypto is inherently 'anonymous' is hazardous... Instead, crypto provides the potential for non-attribution or deliberate exposure, depending on the type of operation.” In the current landscape of strategic competition and irregular warfare, the ability to operate covertly in the financial domain
The Limits of Leadership Decapitation: Strategic Consequences of Overreliance on Military Force for Political Transformation
Leer en: Español For more than two decades, U.S. national security policy has repeatedly relied on leadership decapitation as a mechanism for catalyzing systemic change. In practice, this has often meant turning to military force as the primary instrument for resolving problems rooted in political decay, institutional corruption, and
Bridging the gap between irregular warfare scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.