Pub Date : 2023-08-24DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2236490
Indu Krothwal, N. Kumar
Abstract The strategic importance of the Indian Ocean is increasing in the world in general and in India’s sub-continent in particular. The Indian Ocean is world’s third largest water body on the surface of the Earth and has increasingly become an area of contention between India and China. As their power, interests, capabilities, and economy increases, the competition between the two Asian giants also increases. This competition has the potential to endanger the stability of the region, which is significant for all key players in the region. This article presents the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean, gives an overview of India’s strategic interests and China’s growing ambitions in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), analyzes the current power dynamics and gives recommendations on how India should approach and prioritize this strategically significant region.
{"title":"Theater of India-China strategic rivalry: The Indian Ocean","authors":"Indu Krothwal, N. Kumar","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2236490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2236490","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The strategic importance of the Indian Ocean is increasing in the world in general and in India’s sub-continent in particular. The Indian Ocean is world’s third largest water body on the surface of the Earth and has increasingly become an area of contention between India and China. As their power, interests, capabilities, and economy increases, the competition between the two Asian giants also increases. This competition has the potential to endanger the stability of the region, which is significant for all key players in the region. This article presents the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean, gives an overview of India’s strategic interests and China’s growing ambitions in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), analyzes the current power dynamics and gives recommendations on how India should approach and prioritize this strategically significant region.","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42741666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-24DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2236494
C. Dale Walton
{"title":"Empires of the weak: The real story of European expansion and the creation of the new world order","authors":"C. Dale Walton","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2236494","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2236494","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45413002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-23DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2236492
D. Haglund
Abstract Over the past couple of decades, students of American grand strategy have debated the merits (or lack thereof) of an orientation toward the global balance of power that has come to be known as “offshore balancing.” Its critics hold offshore balancing simply to be another way of expressing the dangerous allure of strategic “restraint,” or even “isolationism.” Its enthusiasts, by contrast, see in it nothing other than the best conceivable grand strategy for America, enabling Washington to avoid the pitfalls of either too little or too much interventionism in global affairs. This article challenges both positions, and argues that the historical record of offshore balancing as an American strategic orientation leads to the conclusion that, far from being a crypto-isolationist grand strategy, it actually betrays close affinities with the so-called “maximalism” to which its champions believe it to be superior.
{"title":"In for a penny, in for a pound: The trouble with offshore balancing and why it matters that “1917” was not “1941”","authors":"D. Haglund","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2236492","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2236492","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Over the past couple of decades, students of American grand strategy have debated the merits (or lack thereof) of an orientation toward the global balance of power that has come to be known as “offshore balancing.” Its critics hold offshore balancing simply to be another way of expressing the dangerous allure of strategic “restraint,” or even “isolationism.” Its enthusiasts, by contrast, see in it nothing other than the best conceivable grand strategy for America, enabling Washington to avoid the pitfalls of either too little or too much interventionism in global affairs. This article challenges both positions, and argues that the historical record of offshore balancing as an American strategic orientation leads to the conclusion that, far from being a crypto-isolationist grand strategy, it actually betrays close affinities with the so-called “maximalism” to which its champions believe it to be superior.","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47092887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-16DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2236488
Amos C. Fox
Abstract This article examines the role of strategy in proxy wars, with the goal of identifying relevant findings to proxy wars. Comparatively analyzing Russia and the U.S.’s proxy strategies in the Russo-Ukrainian War is useful to this end – four major findings emerge. First, a state’s proxy strategy is dependent on variables unique to that state, and those of the available proxy. Second, proxies – the actual individuals or groups – are not singular in their characteristics. A proxy’s uniqueness contributes to the range of options it provides its principal. Third, proxy strategies are not fixed. The range of proxy strategy options available to a state reflects the combined uniqueness of the principal and the proxy. Lastly, in proxy wars, concerns of conflict escalation might be a thing of the past. These points make an additive contribution to both strategic and proxy war scholarship by providing a useful examination of comparative proxy strategies.
{"title":"Comparative proxy strategies in the Russo-Ukrainian War","authors":"Amos C. Fox","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2236488","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2236488","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines the role of strategy in proxy wars, with the goal of identifying relevant findings to proxy wars. Comparatively analyzing Russia and the U.S.’s proxy strategies in the Russo-Ukrainian War is useful to this end – four major findings emerge. First, a state’s proxy strategy is dependent on variables unique to that state, and those of the available proxy. Second, proxies – the actual individuals or groups – are not singular in their characteristics. A proxy’s uniqueness contributes to the range of options it provides its principal. Third, proxy strategies are not fixed. The range of proxy strategy options available to a state reflects the combined uniqueness of the principal and the proxy. Lastly, in proxy wars, concerns of conflict escalation might be a thing of the past. These points make an additive contribution to both strategic and proxy war scholarship by providing a useful examination of comparative proxy strategies.","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45846073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-25DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2236489
I. Morić
Abstract The increasing number of Earth observation satellites are introducing a revolution in overhead transparency and making ground activity more visible than ever before. In the near future, swarms of satellites will provide imagery which is persistent, high-resolution, delivered in real-time and widely accessible. This data will be instantly and autonomously analyzed by artificial intelligence, and insights provided to users. In the global security environment defined by rising great power competition, increased transparency could have a significant impact on nuclear stability by breaking the secrecy nuclear weapon states rely on. This could stimulate a dangerous nuclear arms race. If political conditions align and states make that choice, new technological capabilities could also help create an environment of trust and predictability and facilitate the next generation of arms control.
{"title":"Nuclear stability in a world with overhead transparency","authors":"I. Morić","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2236489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2236489","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The increasing number of Earth observation satellites are introducing a revolution in overhead transparency and making ground activity more visible than ever before. In the near future, swarms of satellites will provide imagery which is persistent, high-resolution, delivered in real-time and widely accessible. This data will be instantly and autonomously analyzed by artificial intelligence, and insights provided to users. In the global security environment defined by rising great power competition, increased transparency could have a significant impact on nuclear stability by breaking the secrecy nuclear weapon states rely on. This could stimulate a dangerous nuclear arms race. If political conditions align and states make that choice, new technological capabilities could also help create an environment of trust and predictability and facilitate the next generation of arms control.","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48302123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-04DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2219194
Jozef Hrabina
Abstract Witnessing the pro-Western shifts in the post-Soviet countries, Russia has failed to develop policies that would attract the former Soviet satellites without keeping them in its sphere of influence via hard-power. On the other hand, Western values, political influence and institutions have penetrated Eurasian countries causing Russia’s relative decline. This structural dynamic not only entraps Russia in a zero-sum game with the West but also triggers Russian threat perceptions on the unit level. Russian strategic culture emphasizes anxieties about loss of sovereignty or power shifts in the Russian regime that could mean the end of the current establishment, border security, and great power status resurrection. A combination of these threat perceptions and structural shifts manifests in the Thucydides Trap, an ancient dilemma behind the preventive war, in the post-Soviet space.
{"title":"Post-Soviet space caught in Thucydides Trap: Grasping the Russian zero-sum behavior","authors":"Jozef Hrabina","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2219194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2219194","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Witnessing the pro-Western shifts in the post-Soviet countries, Russia has failed to develop policies that would attract the former Soviet satellites without keeping them in its sphere of influence via hard-power. On the other hand, Western values, political influence and institutions have penetrated Eurasian countries causing Russia’s relative decline. This structural dynamic not only entraps Russia in a zero-sum game with the West but also triggers Russian threat perceptions on the unit level. Russian strategic culture emphasizes anxieties about loss of sovereignty or power shifts in the Russian regime that could mean the end of the current establishment, border security, and great power status resurrection. A combination of these threat perceptions and structural shifts manifests in the Thucydides Trap, an ancient dilemma behind the preventive war, in the post-Soviet space.","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44113016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-04DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2219195
Salikyu Sangtam
Abstract This article establishes a helpful guide to evaluate and understand China’s strategic policies. It asserts that the current Chinese approaches to foreign and strategic engagements can be explained by probing into the ancient pre-Confucian texts, the literary traditions, the Seven Military Classics, the board game wei qi, and the fundamental cultural concepts of wu-wei, tao, and guanxi. These elements manifest the Chinese way of thinking, and thus, provide a sensible guide to assess Chinese foreign and strategic engagements. The proposition has a broad ramification on how the United States perceives and evaluates China.
{"title":"Timeless stratagem: Understanding Chinese strategic behavior","authors":"Salikyu Sangtam","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2219195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2219195","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article establishes a helpful guide to evaluate and understand China’s strategic policies. It asserts that the current Chinese approaches to foreign and strategic engagements can be explained by probing into the ancient pre-Confucian texts, the literary traditions, the Seven Military Classics, the board game wei qi, and the fundamental cultural concepts of wu-wei, tao, and guanxi. These elements manifest the Chinese way of thinking, and thus, provide a sensible guide to assess Chinese foreign and strategic engagements. The proposition has a broad ramification on how the United States perceives and evaluates China.","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43822632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-04DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2219190
Yovani Edgar Chavez Rodriguez, Marcus Mohlin
Abstract Our current global political system is being challenged, and one focal point of that struggle can be found in Central America. There, the Panama Canal has become a piece in a larger geopolitical game. For many years the canal has been of immense importance to international trade as well as to international security. While the United States was once the guarantor of its security, China has now established a large presence in the region. This has been accomplished by using corporations as fronts for a civilian-led take-over of ports and harbors in the Canal Zone. China’s current posture has ramifications for the security in and around the Canal, to the effect that China now has a strategic choke-hold on the US in the region.
{"title":"The Panama Canal – China’s illusive chess piece: What China’s presence in the Panama Canal may mean for regional and global security","authors":"Yovani Edgar Chavez Rodriguez, Marcus Mohlin","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2219190","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2219190","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Our current global political system is being challenged, and one focal point of that struggle can be found in Central America. There, the Panama Canal has become a piece in a larger geopolitical game. For many years the canal has been of immense importance to international trade as well as to international security. While the United States was once the guarantor of its security, China has now established a large presence in the region. This has been accomplished by using corporations as fronts for a civilian-led take-over of ports and harbors in the Canal Zone. China’s current posture has ramifications for the security in and around the Canal, to the effect that China now has a strategic choke-hold on the US in the region.","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49248906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-04DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2219197
Amira Jadoon, A. Mines
{"title":"The Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan","authors":"Amira Jadoon, A. Mines","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2219197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2219197","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48676544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-04DOI: 10.1080/01495933.2023.2219193
Riccardo Allegri
Abstract With the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, there has been increasing talk of hybrid warfare. However, due to its wide use, this term has been emptied of its meaning. Because of this, the Full Spectrum Conflict (FLC) concept will be adopted. Operations that employ asymmetrical tactics are not extraneous to Russian strategic thinking and have various characteristics that allow them to be traced back to complexity theory and in particular to Complex Adaptive Systems. A similar argument also applies to Information Warfare, one of the most important tools of Full Spectrum Conflicts. Starting from Clausewitz, we will try to describe war, the modern FSCs, and Information Warfare as Complex Adaptive Systems. Then we will try to demonstrate how, by controlling the information flow during the Russian annexation of Crimea, Moscow applied complexity to the adversary on the one hand and stabilized the Crimean social system on the other.
{"title":"Russian Full Spectrum Conflicts and information warfare as Complex Adaptive Systems: The 2014 Crimean case study","authors":"Riccardo Allegri","doi":"10.1080/01495933.2023.2219193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2023.2219193","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract With the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, there has been increasing talk of hybrid warfare. However, due to its wide use, this term has been emptied of its meaning. Because of this, the Full Spectrum Conflict (FLC) concept will be adopted. Operations that employ asymmetrical tactics are not extraneous to Russian strategic thinking and have various characteristics that allow them to be traced back to complexity theory and in particular to Complex Adaptive Systems. A similar argument also applies to Information Warfare, one of the most important tools of Full Spectrum Conflicts. Starting from Clausewitz, we will try to describe war, the modern FSCs, and Information Warfare as Complex Adaptive Systems. Then we will try to demonstrate how, by controlling the information flow during the Russian annexation of Crimea, Moscow applied complexity to the adversary on the one hand and stabilized the Crimean social system on the other.","PeriodicalId":35161,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Strategy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41966757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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