Alessandra Nisch
Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of ...

President Putin made three foundational assumptions in launching his war against Ukraine that should have been correct but were not. First, Putin assumed the invasion of Ukraine would be a quick and easy fight. Second, he assumed the world would denounce the invasion but tacitly allow it. Third, Putin assumed the war would deter NATO expansion.

Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of Applied Friction

Peacekeeping

#Reviewing Just and Unjust Uses of Limited Force

#Reviewing Just and Unjust Uses of Limited Force

Just and Unjust Uses of Limited Force by Daniel Brunstetter offers an insightful look into the permissions and limits of international force short of war. Brunstetter proposes a theory of justice for limited force (or vim in Latin). The need for such a study is indicated by the fact that most of the terminology used to describe morality in war does not adequately capture contemporary uses of force, which warrants additional vocabulary. This is what Brunstetter provides. Full of contemporary examples and counterfactuals, Brunstetter's work offers a relevant heuristic to aid in understanding the fights of today.

#Reviewing: Understanding Peacekeeping, 3rd Edition.

#Reviewing: Understanding Peacekeeping, 3rd Edition.

In the midst of ongoing armed conflicts in Yemen, Ethiopia, and myriad other locations, understanding potential tools for mitigating these crises is necessary. Paul Williams and Alex Bellamy’s third edition of Understanding Peacekeeping is timely. In this volume, Williams and Bellamy continue to build out their original 2004 release by evaluating and providing in-depth discussions of the changes in the international landscape and the drivers of peace operations over time. This is a textbook of peace operations centered on those endeavors that incorporate military personnel, which provides students and scholars in-depth analysis. For academics and students interested in peace operations, this book is a necessary research edition that could be used as a primary text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses.

#Reviewing Why Nation-Building Matters

#Reviewing Why Nation-Building Matters

This book is divided into three types of capacity building campaigns in roughly chronological order through eight U.S. interventions. The first section covers the efforts of the United States during the Cold War in Colombia, Grenada, and El Salvador. In using these examples, Mines identifies a number of conditions necessary for international interventions to succeed. First, governance will not take root without the support of the host nation and a functioning political agreement. Next, nation-building is a whole-of-government exercise and requires attention and resources equal to, if not greater, than in times of war. Finally, nation-building must include representation from all members and sections of the host population. Mines returns to these first hard lessons learned at the conclusion of his book and re-emphasizes the simple conditions requisite for successful nation-building.

The United Nations in Mali: A New Approach to Peacekeeping?

The United Nations in Mali: A New Approach to Peacekeeping?

It is questionable whether the UN can really afford to shift political responsibility to local actors while renouncing to vigorous political initiatives as a mediator. To leverage its global legitimacy, the UN will need to take into account the inherently partiality of military tools and to work around its implications, insisting that politics need to come first.

Lost Blue Helmets in Wars Among People: Revitalizing UN Peace Operations for the Context of Modern Warfare

Lost Blue Helmets in Wars Among People: Revitalizing UN Peace Operations for the Context of Modern Warfare

Human security plays a fundamental role in understanding the causes of contemporary warfare today, and that US and UK military doctrine developed based on this knowledge offers a valuable framework by which to revitalize UN peace operations moving forward.

Trigger-Happy, Autonomous, and Disobedient: Nordbat 2 and Mission Command in Bosnia

Trigger-Happy, Autonomous, and Disobedient: Nordbat 2 and Mission Command in Bosnia

In late 1993, a reinforced Swedish-Danish-Norwegian mechanized battalion (Nordbat 2) deployed to Bosnia as part of an ongoing UN peacekeeping mission. The battalion was under Swedish command, and with the exception of a Danish tank company and a Norwegian helicopter detachment, was comprised of Swedish former conscripts, led by active-duty officers. The former conscripts had volunteered to return from civilian life to serve in a professional capacity. These Swedish troops, coming from a nation that had not experienced war for almost 200 years, faced a rigid UN bureaucracy, an unclear mandate, and the UN-imposed rules of engagement bordered on the absurd. However, the Swedes had one thing the others didn't: a culture of mission command that had grown and developed for decades.