The Effectiveness of U.S. Training Efforts in Internal Defense and Development

The Effectiveness of U.S. Training Efforts in Internal Defense and Development PDF Author: Michael T. Childress
Publisher: RAND Corporation
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Drawing on interviews with trainers, U.S. Embassy personnel, and an extensive review of peridicals and books, the author concludes that a causal relationship between U.S. training efforts and improvements in human rights and other values is difficult, if not impossible, to establish.

Security Assistance, U.S. and International Historical Perspectives: Proceedings of the Combat Studies Institute 2006 Military History Symposium

Security Assistance, U.S. and International Historical Perspectives: Proceedings of the Combat Studies Institute 2006 Military History Symposium PDF Author:
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN: 9780160873492
Category : Military assistance
Languages : en
Pages : 706

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Book Description
Product Description: The proceedings from the Combat Studies Institute's 2006 Military History Symposium presents historical research, analysis and policy recommendations on the topic of Security Assistance and the training of indigenous forces.

Securing Tyrants or Fostering Reform? U.S. Internal Security Assistance to Repressive and Transitioning Regimes

Securing Tyrants or Fostering Reform? U.S. Internal Security Assistance to Repressive and Transitioning Regimes PDF Author: Seth G. Jones
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833042629
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
This study examines the results of U.S. assistance to the internal security forces of four repressive states: El Salvador, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Efforts to improve the security, human rights, and accountability of security forces appear more likely to succeed in states transitioning from repressive to democratic systems. In addition, several factors are critical for success: the duration of assistance, viability of the justice system, and support and buy-in from the local government (including key ministries).

Lessons and Legacies of the War on Terror

Lessons and Legacies of the War on Terror PDF Author: Gershon Shafir
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415638410
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
A decade after 9/11, it is increasingly difficult to deny that terror has prevailed - not as a specific enemy, but as a way of life. This book examines the social, cultural, and political drivers of the war on terror through the framework of a 'political moral panic'.

The Salvadoran Crucible

The Salvadoran Crucible PDF Author: Brian D'Haeseleer
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700625127
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
In 1979, with El Salvador growing ever more unstable and ripe for revolution, the United States undertook a counterinsurgency intervention that over the following decade would become Washington’s largest nation-building effort since Vietnam. In 2003, policymakers looked to this “successful” undertaking as a model for US intervention in Iraq. In fact, Brian D’Haeseleer argues in The Salvadoran Crucible, the US counterinsurgency in El Salvador produced no more than a stalemate, and in the process inflicted tremendous suffering on Salvadorans for a limited amount of foreign policy gains. D’Haeseleer’s book is a deeply informed, dispassionate account of how the Salvadoran venture took shape, what it actually accomplished, and what lessons it holds. A historical analysis of the origins of US counterinsurgency policy provides context for understanding how precedents informed US intervention in El Salvador. What follows is a detailed, in-depth view of how the counterinsurgency unfolded—the nature, logic, and effectiveness of the policies, initiatives, and operations promoted by American strategists. D’Haeseleer’s account disputes the “success” narrative by showing that El Salvador’s achievements, mainly the spread of democracy, occurred as a result not of the American intervention but of the insurgents’ war against the state. Most significantly, The Salvadoran Crucible contends that the reforms enacted during the war failed to address the underlying causes of the conflict, which today continue to reverberate in El Salvador. The book thus suggests a reassessment of the history of American counterinsurgency, and a course-correction for the future.

Overcoming Obstacles to Peace

Overcoming Obstacles to Peace PDF Author: James Dobbins
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833078615
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
"This volume analyzes the impediments that local conditions pose to successful outcomes of nation-building interventions in conflict-affected areas. Previous RAND studies of nation-building focused on external interveners' activities. This volume shifts the focus to internal circumstances, first identifying the conditions that gave rise to conflicts or threatened to perpetuate them, and then determining how external and local actors were able to modify or work around them to promote enduring peace. It examines in depth six varied societies: Cambodia, El Salvador, Bosnia and Herzegovina, East Timor, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It then analyzes a larger set of 20 major post-Cold War nation-building interventions. The authors assess the risk of renewed conflict at the onset of the interventions and subsequent progress along five dimensions: security, democratization, government effectiveness, economic growth, and human development. They find that transformation of many of the specific conditions that gave rise to or fueled conflict often is not feasible in the time frame of nation-building operations but that such transformation has not proven essential to achieving the primary goal of nation-building -- establishing peace. Most interventions in the past 25 years have led to enduring peace, as well as some degree of improvement in the other dimensions assessed. The findings suggest the importance of setting realistic expectations -- neither expecting nation-building operations to quickly lift countries out of poverty and create liberal democracies, nor being swayed by a negative stereotype of nation-building that does not recognize its signal achievements in the great majority of cases."--Page 4 of cover.

Routledge Handbook of U.S. Counterterrorism and Irregular Warfare Operations

Routledge Handbook of U.S. Counterterrorism and Irregular Warfare Operations PDF Author: Michael A. Sheehan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000423387
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 701

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Book Description
This handbook comprises essays by leading scholars and practitioners on the topic of U.S. counterterrorism and irregular warfare campaigns and operations around the globe. Terrorist groups have evolved substantially since 9/11, with the Islamic State often described as a pseudo-state, a terrorist group, and insurgency all at the same time. While researchers', analysts', and policymakers’ understanding of terrorism has grown immensely over the past two decades, similar advancements in the understanding of counterterrorism lag. As such, this handbook explains why it is necessary to take a broader view of counterterrorism which can, and often does, include irregular warfare. The volume is divided into three thematic sections: Part I examines modern terrorism in the Islamic world and gives an overview of the major terrorist groups from the past three decades; Part II provides a wide variety of case studies of counterterrorism and irregular warfare operations, spanning from the 1980s to the irregular warfare campaign against the Islamic State in northern Syria in 2018; Part III examines the government instruments used to combat terrorism and wage irregular warfare, such as drones, Theater Special Operations Commands, and Theater Commands. The handbook fills a gap in the traditional counterterrorism literature by its inclusion of irregular warfare and by providing analyses from academic experts as well as practitioners. It will be of much interest to students of counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, U.S. national security, military affairs, and International Relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-US-Counterterrorism-and-Irregular-Warfare-Operations/Sheehan-Marquardt-Collins/p/book/9780367758363, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

A New Division of Labor

A New Division of Labor PDF Author: Andrew R. Hoehn
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833039628
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 139

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Book Description
"A new U.S. grand strategy has been emerging, one that requires not only resources but patience and commitment: the promotion of democracy and freedom abroad. The U.S. armed forces will continue to be among the myriad contributors necessary to achieve this goal. In the face of increasing complexity, changing tactics, and tight budgets, the defense establishment will need to change in multiple ways, yet must also not risk its historic strengths. This volume draws together and integrates insights derived from a wide range of research efforts undertaken at RAND over the past few years. Some of the observations include different ways to organize and employ forces and to divide labor among them, updated insights about the natures of likely future conflicts, the need to further improve information resources, and the value of fostering partnerships among the services and with allies. the authors also offer specific recommendations, such as a recommendation to the Air Force to reevaluate its concepts for large-scale power projection." -- p. [4] of cover.

The UN's Role in Nation-Building: From the Congo to Iraq

The UN's Role in Nation-Building: From the Congo to Iraq PDF Author: James Dobbins
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833037560
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Reviews UN efforts to transform eight unstable countries into democratic, peaceful, and prosperous partners, and compares those missions with U.S. nation-building operations. The UN provides the most suitable institutional framework for nation-building missions that require fewer than 20,000 men-one with a comparatively low cost structure, a comparatively high success rate, and the greatest degree of international legitimacy.

Air Power in the New Counterinsurgency Era

Air Power in the New Counterinsurgency Era PDF Author: Alan Vick
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833039636
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
United States has engaged in counterinsurgency around the globe for more than a century. But insurgencies have rarely been defeated by outside powers. Rather, the afflicted nation itself must win the war politically and militarily, and the best way to help is to offer advice, training, and equipment. Air power, and the U.S. Air Force, can play an important role in such efforts, which suggests making them an institutional priority.