How does the relationship between the US government and society influence decisions on when—and how—to use military force? How do the views of the voting public factor into decision-making about...
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MWI Research
The Psychological Effects of Killing from Above
Editor’s note: Dr. Heather Venable, an MWI research fellow, recently published an article in Æther: A Journal of Strategic Airpower & Spacepower examining the trauma experienced by US bomber...
LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Military Professionalism
Editor’s note: This is the latest article in "Rethinking Civ-Mil," a series that endeavors to present expert commentary on diverse issues surrounding civil-military relations in the United States....
One Team, One Fight? Integration versus Assimilation and the Problem of Othering
Editor’s note: This is the latest article in "Rethinking Civ-Mil," a series that endeavors to present expert commentary on diverse issues surrounding civil-military relations in the United States....
Norms at Home, Norms Abroad: Security Force Assistance and Civil-Military Relations
Editor’s note: This is the latest article in "Rethinking Civ-Mil," a series that endeavors to present expert commentary on diverse issues surrounding civil-military relations in the United States....
Politicization and Pop Culture: How Public Perception of Special Operations Units Intersects with Civil-Military Relations
Editor’s note: This is the latest article in "Rethinking Civ-Mil," a series that endeavors to present expert commentary on diverse issues surrounding civil-military relations in the United States....
Civil-Military Translation: Encoding, Signaling, and Survival
Editor’s note: This is the latest article in "Rethinking Civ-Mil," a series that endeavors to present expert commentary on diverse issues surrounding civil-military relations in the United States....
Hamstrung: Sources of and Solutions for Political-Military Mismatch
In an interview with Le Figaro in 2009, Afghan President Hamid Karzai lambasted the United States’ inapt military response—an airstrike—to a lone hijacked fuel tanker immobilized in a riverbed:...
A Deferential, Partisan Public and the Future of Democratic Civil-Military Relations
Editor’s note: This is the latest article in "Rethinking Civ-Mil," a series that endeavors to present expert commentary on diverse issues surrounding civil-military relations in the United States....
Rethinking Civil-Military Relations for Modern Strategy
Editor’s note: This is the first article in "Rethinking Civ-Mil," a series that endeavors to present expert commentary on diverse issues surrounding civil-military relations in the United States....
Call for Applications: MWI’s 2023–24 Research Fellows Program
Preparing the Army to succeed in future conflict requires drawing on a diverse team of critical and creative thinkers with a variety of viewpoints. With this in mind, the Modern War Institute at...
The Empirical Determinants of Violent Nonstate Actor Drone Adoption
Editor’s note: Dr. Kerry Chávez, an MWI research fellow, and Dr. Ori Swed recently published an article in Armed Forces & Society examining the adoption of commercial drones...
Learning on the Fly: Drones in the Russian-Ukrainian War
Editor’s note: Dr. Kerry Chávez, an MWI research fellow, recently published an article in Arms Control Today examining the use of drones in the Russian-Ukrainian War, their impact on the balance of...
Specific Sources of Trust in Generals: Individual-Level Trust in the US Military
Editor’s note: Dr. Max Margulies, MWI’s director of research, recently published a coauthored article with Dr. Jessica Blankshain of the Naval War College in Dædalus. The article examines trust...
Three’s a Crowd: The Impact of Two Chinas on the China Seas Territorial Disputes
Editor’s note: MWI Research Fellow Brian C. Chao recently published a chapter in Security, Development and Sustainability in Asia: A World Scientific Reference on Major Policy and...
Beyond COVID: China, Biotechnology, and Artificial Intelligence
Much has been written about China’s recent advances in military prowess and proficiency. Whether it is at sea, in space, or conceptually with “Non-War Military Activities,” there is no doubt that...
Educate, Train, and Inspire: Defense and Strategic Studies Theses at West Point’s Projects Day
On April 28, the United States Military Academy hosted its twenty-third annual Projects Day, which featured cadet-led research projects and theses across the academic departments. Cadets...
Tactics in an Era of Great Power Competition
Today the Army is spending great time and energy to adapt and innovate in the context of great power competition. A significant portion of that emphasis is occurring at the upper tactical and...
After the Abraham Accords: What Next?
The end of 2020 saw a number of important developments in the long-lasting Arab-Israeli conflict. These began in September 2020, with the signing in the White House of the Abraham Accords—formally...
The Case for a Kashmir Peace Deal—Now
Kashmir has been at the heart of one of the most intractable conflicts in modern history. Although progress may appear unlikely at first glance, there are three important reasons why Washington may...
A Leader’s Guide to Conducting Staff Rides
Dating back to the mid-nineteenth century, armies have been using the “modern” staff ride, developed by the chief of staff of the Prussian Army, Helmuth von Moltke, to educate their officers. The...
Dangerous Myths, Ukraine, and the Future of Great Power Competition
Editor's note: This article introduces a full report based on a contemporary battlefield assessment conducted by the Modern War Institute. The authors of the report have led several such...
Extending the American Century: Revisiting the Social Contract
Editor’s note: In this article for Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, MWI Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Jahara Matisek, Dr. Travis Robison, and Dr. Buddhika Jayamaha, identify how a weakening...
The American Polar Pivot: Great-Power Competition at the Ends of the Earth
Editor’s note: In this article for Marine Corps University Journal, MWI Non-Resident Fellows Dr. Ryan Burke and Dr. Jahara Matisek identify weak US polar military capabilities relative to China and...
Western Security Force Assistance in Weak States: Time for a Peacebuilding Approach
Editor’s note: In this article for the RUSI journal, Emily Knowles and MWI Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Jahara Matisek identify how security force assistance is failing due to its technical focus on...
Lessons for America’s Longest-Running War from the Americas’ Longest-Running Insurgency
In 2016, Colombia achieved a remarkable success by seemingly bringing to an end the Western Hemisphere’s longest-running insurgency. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has been at war...
Social Media Warriors: Leveraging a New Battlespace
Editor’s note: In this article for the US Army War College journal Parameters, Dr. Buddhika Jayamaha and MWI Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Jahara Matisek, demonstrate how adversaries have turned Western...
Where Climate Change and Violent Non-State Actors Collide: Conflict and Security Force Assistance in the Sahel
Editor’s note: In this article for the Journal of Diplomacy, MWI Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Jahara Matisek, MWI Adjunct Scholar Will Reno, Dr. Buddhika Jayamaha, and Dr. Molly Jahn show how changing...
Why is Senegal’s Military so Good? A Case Study
Editor’s note: In this article in the journal African Security, MWI Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Jahara Matisek shows how the “weak” Senegalese state has created an “effective” military that can be a...
PTSD and Veterans’ Benefits in the United States: A Historical Backgrounder
That war and psychological trauma go together has always been known but not always well understood or popularly accepted. More accepted, at least in US history, has been the notion that military...
The Crisis of American Military Assistance: Strategic Dithering and “Fabergé Egg” Armies
Editor’s note: In this article in the journal Defense & Security Analysis, MWI Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Jahara Matisek considers the way in which the US government conducted military assistance...
The Tiger and the Dragon: India as a Counterbalance to China in the Indo-Pacific
To the extent that China has both actively and passively challenged international norms and sovereignty claims in its neighborhood, it represents one of the most real and persistent challenges to...
A New Era of Insurgent Recruitment: Have “New” Civil Wars Changed the Dynamic?
Editor’s note: In this article in the journal Civil Wars, MWI Adjunct Scholar Professor Will Reno and MWI Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Jahara Matisek examine current and past trends in insurgent...
The Proxy Dilemma: Capability and Resolve in US–Iranian Competition
The destruction of Iraq in 2003 left the Middle East an unbalanced system. In a region previously marked by peer competition between Iraq and Iran, many Sunni Arab states have since relied on the...
Search for the Philosopher’s Stone: Improving Interagency Cooperation in Tactical Military Operations
The United States National Security Strategy and Department of Defense joint doctrine recognizes that the complexity of the contemporary operational environment requires the United States to pursue...
Analyzing the Russian Way of War: Evidence from the 2008 Conflict with Georgia
Editor’s note: This report is an MWI Contemporary Battlefield Assessment, a collaborative effort by United States Military Academy cadets and MWI faculty based on field research conducted on the...
Understanding Cyberwarfare: Lessons from the Russia-Georgia War
Editor’s note: This MWI Report analyzes the cyber dimension of the 2008 Russia-Georgia War. Read the full report here. Research was conducted in conjunction with an MWI Contemporary Battlefield...
A Means of First Resort: Explaining “Hot Pursuit” in International Relations
Editor's note: In this article in the journal Security Studies, MWI Director of Research Dr. Lionel Beehner examines the role of "hot pursuit"—actions taken by states against violent nonstate actors...
Fragile States and the Territory Conundrum to Countering Violent Nonstate Actors
Editor's note: In this article in the journal Democracy and Security, MWI Director of Research Dr. Lionel Beehner posits that efforts to counter insurgent or terrorist threats that rely on robust...
How NATO Endures in the Twenty-First Century: An MWI Report
Nearly seven decades after its founding, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is far from “obsolete.” This MWI Report examines how global institutions like NATO stay relevant, unified, and...
The Taming of the Tigers: An MWI Contemporary Battlefield Assessment of the Counterinsurgency in Sri Lanka
Editor's note: This report is an MWI Contemporary Battlefield Assessment, a collaborative effort by United States Military Academy cadets and MWI faculty based on field research conducted in Sri...
An Analysis of “Insider Attacks” in Afghanistan: An MWI Report
Insider attacks—attacks by insurgents posing as Afghan police or military personnel against local or international forces—have become an important threat to the American and NATO personnel in...
Genius and Mastery in Military Innovation
Editor's note: In this article in the journal Survival, MWI non-resident fellow Nina Kollars explores the drivers of military innovation in times of war and peace. When it comes to creating...
Evaluating “Pre-Surge” Counterinsurgent Strategy in Iraq: An MWI Report
Can collaboration with civilian populations be built by the effective use of violence? What are the limits of military force in counterinsurgency? These are among the questions this MWI report,...
Democratization, Trade Expectations, Military Power, and the Future of Sino-American Relations
In this article in the journal Asian Security, MWI non-resident fellow Nori Katagiri explores US–China ties at a pivotal time in the relationship between the two countries.
Confronting the Anti-Access/Area Denial and Precision Strike Challenge in the Baltic Region
In this article in the RUSI Journal, Alexander Lanoszka and MWI non-resident fellow Michael Hunzeker argue that the current NATO strategy to deter a Russian threat to the Baltic States is not sufficient to counter Russia’s anti-access/area denial or precision-strike capabilities.
Countering Gray-Zone Hybrid Threats: An MWI Report
In a new MWI Report, Capt. John Chambers examines hybrid threats and what the US Army needs to do in order to counter them.
How COIN Theory Explains Organizational Change: An MWI Report
MWI Non-Resident Fellow Douglas Pryer writes in this new report that since the human dynamics underlying all group competitions are similar, all leaders can benefit from applying COIN theory to achieve significant organizational change.
Adding Rigor to Stability and Reconstruction Operations: An MWI Report
In a new MWI Report, Jonathan Bate argues that economic interventions during stability and reconstruction operations should utilize evidence-based ‘tactical economics.’
Countering the Russian Threat to the Baltics
MWI Adjunct Scholar Manos Karagiannis argues that the defenses being built by the Baltic States will prove largely ineffective and possibly counterproductive against Russia.
Modern War Institute Cadets and Faculty Tour Sri Lanka Battlefield
The Modern War Institute takes a team of faculty and cadets to Sri Lanka to study the final operations of its decades-long civil war.
How the CT Community Failed to Anticipate the Islamic State
In this Democracy and Security Journal article, Nelly Lahoud and MWI Director Liam Collins argue that the counterterrorism (CT) community failed to anticipate the Islamic State.
MWI Battlefield Assessment on the Siege of Sarajevo
In this new report, MAJ Michael Jackson finds that the positional warfare of the siege of Sarajevo in the mid-1990s resembled the trench warfare aspects of World War I far more than the dynamic urban warfare American forces faced in Baghdad in 2003.