SOUTHEAST ASIA
February 17, 2006
"Don't Dumb Down the Army"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Kelly M. Greenhill, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"Four decades ago, during the Vietnam War, Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara created Project 100,000, a program intended to help the approximately 300,000 men who annually failed the Armed Forces Qualification Test for reasons of aptitude...Mr. McNamara further concluded that the best way to demonstrate that the induction of New Standards Men would prove beneficial was to keep their status hidden from their commanders. In other words, Project 100,000 was a blind experiment run on the military amid the escalation of hostilities in Southeast Asia."
January 2006
"A Better Strategy against Narcoterrorism"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, MIT Center for International Studies Audit of the Conventional Wisdom, volume 06-02
By Vanda Felbab-Brown, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Program on Intrastate Conflict, 2005–2007
It is widely recognized that access by belligerent groups to the gains from drug production and trafficking contributes to the intensity and prolongation of military conflict. Also, that such groups—terrorists, insurgents, or warlords—grow stronger when they successfully exploit the drug trade. The United States' response—its antinarcotics policy— emphasizes crop eradication. This strategy is too simplistic and, ultimately, ineffective.
December 2005
How the Weak Win Wars: A Theory of Asymmetric Conflict
Book
By Ivan Arreguin-Toft, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2002-2009
"In How the Weak Win Wars, Arreguin-Toft means to convince the reader that when the very strong meet the weak in asymmetric armed conflict, strategy matters more than power. Despite minor excursions in his conclusions, he achieves this goal through expert scholarly analysis and a writing style that elucidates complex topics with facility. His work is extremely relevant in the current geopolitical context and serves as a warning to US policy makers to get military strategy right, regardless of relative power. Arreguin-Toft's argument makes perfectly clear the perilous consequences of neglecting the importance of strategic interaction."
— Edward Bradfield, Harvard International Review (Summer 2005)
Read the entire review.
October 15, 2005
"Vietnam's Geopolitical Resources"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The Saigon Times Weekly
By Alexander Vuving, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2005-2007; Former Associate, International Security Program, 2007-2008
Vietnam’s Geopolitical Resources in Today’s World Politics
October 25, 2004
"'Peace with Honor' in Iraq"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs and Ivan Arreguin-Toft, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2002-2009
"The only other remaining policy option is to expand military service, and if history is any guide, providing security in Iraq will require an army of at least a million soldiers."
September 15, 2004
"America's Neoconservatives -- All Muscle, No History?"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The Globalist
By Thomas J. Wright, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2004-2007
Thomas Wright examines America’s ideological hawks and their post-Iraq future.
September 2003
Fighting Words: Language Policy and Ethnic Relations in Asia
Book
By Michael E. Brown, Editorial Board Member and Former Co-Editor, Quarterly Journal: International Security and Sumit Ganguly, Editorial Board Member, Quarterly Journal: International Security
Language policy is a sensitive issue in most countries. In countries where more than one language is spoken—the vast majority of countries—language policies affect the ability of individuals and groups to participate in government, to be treated fairly by governmental agencies, to have access to government services, to take advantage of educational opportunities, and to pursue economic success.
August 2003
"The [F]utility of Barbarism: Assessing the Impact of the Systematic Harm of Noncombatants in War"
Conference Paper
By Ivan Arreguin-Toft, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2002-2009
Under what conditions does barbarism — a state or non-state actor’s deliberate and systematic injury of non-combatants during a conflict — help or hinder its military and political objectives?
July 2003
An American Security Policy: Challenge, Opportunity, Commitment
Paper
By Ashton B. Carter, Former Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, Harvard & Stanford Universities, Dr. William J. Perry, Former Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, Secretary Madeleine K. Albright, Samuel R. Berger, Louis Caldera, General Wesley K. Clark, Former Senior Advisor, 2001-2009, Preventive Defense Project, General (ret.) John M. Shalikashvili, Former Founding Senior Advisor, Preventive Defense Project, Dr. Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall, Former Founding Senior Advisor, Preventive Defense Project, Alfonso E. Lenhardt and John D. Podesta
A paper by the National Security Advisory Group
October 2002
"Tunnel at the End of the Light: A Critique of US Counter-terrorist Grand Strategy"
Journal Article, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, issue 3, volume 15
By Ivan Arreguin-Toft, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2002-2009
"This essay introduces a theoretically grounded critique of US counterterrorist grand strategy in reaction to the destruction of the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York and a portion of the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on September 11th 2001."
