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The Strategic Use Of External Threat In The Shaping Of Russian Domestic And Foreign Policies, Roman Voytovych

Dissertations and Theses

The state of Russia has experienced multiple shifts during various phases of its development and, along with that, it has influenced the world of international diplomacy on a grand scale. From being the world`s second superpower with huge military and political capabilities to becoming a disintegrated regional power, there definitely has been a certain degree of change which has impacted both the Russian political establishment as well as ordinary people. The slow process of the degradation of the “big empire” actually had its roots during Soviet times when the Soviet Union faced the Chernobyl catastrophe, the war in Afghanistan, the …

Exploring Resistance Movements In Interstate Conflict And Integrated Deterrence, Michael G. Harris

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Despite an increase in interstate conflict, including manipulation of information and civil populations by state actors in gray zone campaigns, the study of resistance has concentrated on intrastate conflict. A detailed literature review of resistance was conducted, revealing researchable gaps in understanding of the topic, including: the resistance movements from a security studies and interstate conflict perspective, the resistance as a form of interstate conflict from the perspective of Russian and Chinese security leaders, and the integrated deterrence options in gray zone campaigns as a strategy of international conflict prevention.

Two complementary studies were conducted to explore the identified areas. …

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Prism Vol. 9, No. 3, Center For Complex Operations

PRISM (Full PDF Issues)

PRISM Vol. 9, No. 3 focuses on how strategic competition, emerging technologies, and gray zone conflict are reshaping defense and national security. Articles address Russian strategic behavior, China’s artificial intelligence ambitions and military modernization, financial and technological competition between the United States and China, artificial intelligence and future warfare, gray zone aggression, Sweden’s total defense model, ethical governance of defense AI, and the electromagnetic spectrum as an operational domain. The issue highlights the growing importance of technological advantage, economic statecraft, resilience, and new forms of competition below the threshold of armed conflict.

Networks Of Threats: Interconnection, Interaction, Intermediation, Julien Theron

Journal of Strategic Security

The rapidly changing global security environment requires to constantly adapt our understanding of threats. The findings of this paper confirm that threats interact with each other on three levels. Security, conflict, war, and strategic studies converge to build a new qualitative theoretical framework for threat analysis. Shaping the global security environment, threats communicate on three levels. Firstly, the interconnection of agents with similar ideological and/or strategic motivations connects threats. Secondly, interaction exacerbates incidental threats through cooperation, competition, and convergence. Thirdly, intermediation occurs between antagonistic threats trying to achieve common intermediary objectives. These networks are driven by agents maximizing their impact …

Biden Administration U.S. Space Force Policy Literature, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides details on U.S. Space Force policy literature produced by the Biden Administration during its first eight months. Includes announcements that the Biden Administration will continue this new armed services branch begun during the Trump Administration. Features congressional testimony of Biden Administration officials such as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Wilson and Air Force Space Command leader General James Dickinson, the text of Space Force's 2021 Digital Force Vision document, congressionally approved FY 2022 space force budget figures, congressional committee comments and report requirements contained in emerging defense spending legislation, the emergence of collaboration between Space Force and universities such as …

Reversing The Readiness Assumption: A Proposal For Fiscal And Military Effectiveness, Jason W. Warren, John A. Bonin

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Looming budget cuts will necessitate adept management to retain a military capable of competing and winning by avoiding the mistakes made in prior drawdowns. This article presents a framework for government and defense leaders to prepare for the coming drawdown and plan for the necessary capacity of tomorrow across the diplomatic, information, military, and economic framework.

The Evolution Of Hybrid Warfare: Implications For Strategy And The Military Profession, Ilmari Käihkö

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The concept of hybrid war has evolved from operational-level use of military means and methods in war toward strategic-level use of nonmilitary means in a gray zone below the threshold of war. This article considers this evolution and its implications for strategy and the military profession by contrasting past and current use of the hybrid war concept and raising critical questions for policy and military practitioners.

Strategic Relationships, Risk, And Proxy War, Amos C. Fox

Journal of Strategic Security

Proxy wars dominate modern war fighting. Despite the frequency of proxy wars on today's battle field, the strategic studies community lacks sufficient models and strategic theories to frame proxy wars from the strategic level. This works seeks to build on the limited amount of preexisting theoretical work on proxy war by introducing five models of proxy relation - coerced, transactional, cultural, exploitative, and contractual. This models help policymakers, strategists, and practitioners understand and navigate through the strategic workings of today's proxy wars.

Greater Security Cooperation: Us Allies In Europe And East Asia, Tongfi Kim, Luis Simón

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Growing Sino-Russian coordination necessitates greater security cooperation between US Allies in Europe and East Asia. US Allies in both regions face remarkably similar threats requiring similar operational concepts, capabilities, and technologies. Further, these Allies must hedge against the specter of US abandonment. An exploration of the links between the two geographically distant US Alliance networks illustrates the Allies’ perspectives on US extended deterrence and highlights opportunities to devise better policies for cooperation.

Bridging The Gap: Analyzing The History Of U.S.-Russian Relations Throughout History And The Actions That Would Improve Them, Coleman Anderson

Senior Honors Theses

After the onset of communism in Russia, relations between the United States and Russia have been tense up to the modern day. Even the fall of the Soviet Union could not usher in a permanent peace between the two countries, with mistrust pouring over from both parties. Utilizing both primary sources and commentary from subject matter experts, this paper argues that in order to achieve a legitimate and sustainable policy of peace between the United States and Russia, policymakers need to first understand the history and culture of the people they are reaching out to. Using this knowledge, policymakers can …

Locating The Us, Russia And China In The Great Power Competition Of West Asia And North Africa, Arushi Singh

University Departments

No abstract provided.

From Concert To Confrontation : The Ideational Motives Of Russia's Wars With Georgia (2008) And Ukraine (2014), Inguna Miller

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines the ideational background of Russian foreign policy, with a particular focus on ideas relevant to Russia’s conflicts with Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. Two broad approaches to Russian foreign policy – nationalism and pragmatism – present distinct views on Russia’s international role. Nationalism incorporates strong anti-Western and neo-imperialistic ideas with emphasis on Russia’s unique international mission and advocates a confrontational stance. Pragmatism conceptualizes Russia as a great world power but proposes a concert-based foreign policy that avoids a direct military confrontation. Both schools of thought are prevalent in Russia’s foreign policy discourse, and their ideas …

Hand Over Fist: Russia's Use Of Military Aggression To Affect Regional Policy, Bobby G. Simmons Ii

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to assess Russia's effectiveness at using military exercises to affect the policies of neighboring Eastern European states. This is first done through an analysis of three Russian military exercises: Zapad-2017, Kavkaz-2020, and Ocean Shield-2020. The overview and results of the exercises are discussed. Then, three Eastern European countries are assessed as targets of Russian military aggression: Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine. The relationships between these countries and Russia are then reviewed before discussing how each country was impacted by one or more of the three aforementioned Russian military exercises. Following this analysis, a brief assessment …

Russian Cyber Operations: Coding The Boundaries Of Conflict. By Scott Jasper. Washington, Dc: Georgetown University Press, June 2020. Isbn: 978-1-626-16797-1. Hardcover. 232 Pages. $32.95, Chris Bronk

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Strategic Security In Northern Europe: The Implications Of Russian Anti-Access/Area Denial Strategies In Developing Complex Threat Environments, Herb Kemp Phd

Journal of Strategic Security

Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) is a term that came into use to describe an environment in which an air and air defense force could use a combination of surface-launched ballistic missiles, surface and air launched cruise missiles and long-range surface-to-air missiles to prevent an opposing force from accessing or operating within a large airspace effectively. The descriptions and subsequent analyses of the penetrability of these environments often rests on assessments of the capabilities of just a few newly developed missiles and may fail to consider the additional complexity induced by the large array of the entire complement of air, land and …

Temple Of Peace : International Cooperation And Stability Since 1945, Ingo Trauschweizer

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

This collection raises timely questions about peace and stability as it interrogates the past and present status of international relations.

The post–World War II liberal international order, upheld by organizations such as the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and similar alliances, aspired to ensure decades of collective security, economic stability, and the rule of law. All of this was a negotiated process that required compromise—and yet it did not make for a peaceful world.

When Winston Churchill referred to the UN framework as “the temple of peace” in his famous 1946 Iron Curtain speech, he maintained that international …

Strategic Culture And Cyber Strategy, Andrew S. Olejarski

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this paper is to explore the relationship between strategic culture theory and how it interacts with war-parallel usage of cyber methods. Cyber methods, at times incorrectly classified as "cyberwarfare", as a means of statecraft are becoming increasingly prevalent, and developing an understanding of how states use them, particularly during conflicts, would be a great boon to the field of security studies. Strategic culture theory, an international relations theory focusing on the relationship between culture and strategy, may be an effective means to analyze conflict-parallel use of cyber methods. This paper will consider the relationship between strategic culture …

The Gray Legion: Information Warfare Within Our Gates, Jeffrey Baptist, Julian Gluck

Journal of Strategic Security

The information environment, once viewed as an unassailed common for human knowledge, has revealed itself to be a vector for malicious narratives in the ongoing battle for global hegemony. Since 2014, the United States has been under siege from information attacks on multiple fronts, from cyber infrastructure and goods to the cognitive outlooks of its citizenry. Disinformation as a social media tool represents a novel and grave danger to democracy; it serves as a means for sowing unrest and influencing policy changes while enabling conventional conflict or—in the best case for those who would exploit and manipulate narratives—avoiding it entirely. …

Great Power Politics: The United States’ War On Disinformation With Consideration To Russian And Chinese Offensive Efforts, Jordan Venglass

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the growing national security threat posed by Russia and China’s willingness to exercise 21st century information warfare techniques against the United States and its areas of strategic interest. This study will describe the composition of these state’s foreign disinformation entities while providing several case studies that display their advanced capabilities and the direct effects that each poses on the general public both domestically and internationally. To best provide unbiased reporting and accuracy in each country’s analysis, this study will rely on the diversified use of government reports, legal documents, academic journals, and …

Russo-Ukrainian Patterns Of Genocide In The Twentieth Century, Amos Fox

Journal of Strategic Security

Russo-Ukrainian relations in the 20th Century are dominated by genocide. Using Raphel Lemkin and Martin Shaw as a guide, one finds that Russo-Ukrainian relations during the 20th Century was a long period of genocidal action, linked by periods of punctuated genocides. These genocides included several political genocides that quelled Ukrainian nationalism and independence and kept it subjugated to Soviet Russia. Soviet Russia's genocide during the 20th Century was a carryover from Imperial Russia treatment of Ukraine, the arch of which carries over into today's relations between the two countries. Understanding this long period of genocide helps make sense of the …

Russian Disinformation In The Balkans, Selim Ibraimi, Ruzhdi Matoshi

UBT International Conference

The purpose of this paper is to identify the sources of Russian influence in the Western Balkans. The most influential tool of the Russian Federation is the information warfare, composed with hybrid tactics, attempting to set a foot in the Western Balkans. Qualitative methods were used for analysis and the findings. The main results indicate that Russia has divers’ methods to impact political developments in the Balkans. Russia has been interested in this part of Europe, and it engages with all interested sides in the region. With its state propaganda, Russia at least has the ability to divert the policies …

A Hard Look At Hard Power: Assessing The Defense Capabilities Of Key Us Allies And Security Partners—Second Edition, Gary J. Schmitt Mr.

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

With the United States facing two major revisionist powers, Russia and China, as well as additional security threats from North Korea, Iran, and jihadist terrorism, a critical advantage for the United States is its global network of alliances and strategic partners. As the 2018 National Defense Strategy states, “Alliances and partnerships are crucial to our strategy, providing a durable asymmetric strategic advantage that no competitor or rival can match.”

The advantage of having military allies and partners is enhanced by the core capacity of the American military having remained largely the same over the past decade, though the global security …

Security Threats, American Pressure, And The Role Of Key Personnel: How Nato’S Defence Planning Process Is Alleviating The Burden-Sharing Dilemma, John R. Deni

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

In 2017, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, none of the capability targets identified in NATO’s quadrennial NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP) were left on the negotiating table. Previously, capability targets were identified by the alliance’s secretariat, but they remained unfilled as allies failed to assume responsibility for them.

This monograph examines the 2014–18 iteration of the NDPP, which represented a stunning turnaround in transatlantic burden sharing. The analysis reveals a combination of factors—the changed threat environment, political pressure from Washington, and the role of “policy entrepreneurs” working within NATO—best explain the alliance’s success in …

Enduring Information Vigilance: Government After Covid-19, Nina Jankowicz, Henry Collis

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The framework of Enduring Information Vigilance will help ally and partner governments deny advantages adversaries gain through their use of information operations in our new global perpetual information environment. This approach recognizes the persistent threat, unifies responses within and between governments, and resolves societal fissures toward a more global democratic information environment.

Alternate Warfare: The Unseen Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Elyse Keener

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Biological warfare is a national security concern that transcends centuries. In the current international climate, biowarfare is of particular interest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article seeks to follow historical cases of biological warfare and international response to these cases in order to understand the implications of COVID-19, if it were to be weaponized. Also covered is the current capabilities that Russia, China, and Iran are assessed to possess.

Nuclear Arms Treaties: Their National Security Impact On America, Megan A. Muldoon

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Abstract

This paper attempts to historically analyze arms treaties and arms limitation agreements between the United States and Russia. The impact of limiting and reducing strategic nuclear weapons on both countries and the ability to prevent endless proliferation is discussed. Additionally, the lack of limiting and reduction agreements on China and on tactical nuclear weapons is analyzed into projections for what the future of arms agreements or races may look like. Lastly, the extending or allowing the New START agreement and its impact on U.S. national security is assessed.

A Dangerous New Era: Analyzing The Impact Of Cyber Technology On International Conflict, Kenneth Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the causal relationship between cyber technology’s deep global integration and changes in how states struggle for power in the international system. Specifically, it argues that cyber technology has changed international conflict by providing external actors the ability to penetrate states’ grand strategy decision-making and implementation processes to an unprecedented degree and scope. As a result, the meaning of power has changed from a material-centric metric to one that is more nuanced and difficult to measure.

To explore this hypothesis, the study follows a three-step process. First, it examines the history of cyber technology, how it has become …

Prism Vol. 8, No. 4, Center For Complex Operations

PRISM (Full PDF Issues)

As the National Security and National Defense Strategies state, the world has entered a phase of great power competition in which the United States is confronted by a rising China and a resurgent Russia. PRISM V.8,N.4 offers perspective on this competition with articles by Sir Lawrence Freedman, the Honorable Joseph Nye, and the Honorable Andrew Natsios.

Protecting The States From Electoral Invasions, Drew Marvel

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the threat of foreign interference in U.S. elections has loomed large in the minds of the American public. During the 2016 campaign season, Russian government-backed hackers infiltrated the networks and computers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and various campaign officials, harvesting private information and installing spyware and malware for ongoing intelligence purposes. U.S. intelligence officials have indicated that, using similar tactics, the Russian hackers also targeted election systems and officials in all fifty states, successfully breaching at least two of those states’ election systems, Illinois and Florida. …