Bluegrass Military Affairs Coalition Online

CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS AND THE U.S. STRATEGY DEFICIT
Mackubin T. Owens
Foreign Policy Research Institute
02/23/2010

The primary focus of those who have examined civil-military relations since the 1990s has been on the issue of civilian control of the military. Of course, civilian control is important, especially in the case of a liberal society such as the United States. But civilian control is only one...

THE 'MEGA-EIGHTS': URBAN LEVIATHANS AND INTERNATIONAL INSTABILITY
Liotta & Miskel
Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.fpri.org
02/08/2010

The following is excerpted from The Leviathan Returns: The Rise of the Megacity and Its Threat to Global Security.

By 2015, there will be 58 cities on the planet with a
population of five million or more and by 2025, according to National Intelligence Council, 27 cities with a population exceeding ten million. The United...

THE GRAND ILLUSION CONTINUES: WHAT THE LISBON TREATY MEANS FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS GLOBAL ROLE
Andrew Glencross
Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.fpri.org
02/08/2010

While the EU is as beset as ever by internal divisions, European elites' ambitions for strengthening integration now revolve around greater foreign policy engagement and effectiveness. This is the central paradox of the Lisbon Treaty: an arrangement supposed to legitimize further integration through foreign policy success at a time when...

AVOIDING A HOMELAND SECURITY ERROR THAT COULD LEAVE THE U.S. FLYING BLIND
Lawrence A. Husick
Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.fpri.org
02/08/2010

Most of us are aware of the many wonderful uses of the Global Positioning System (GPS) that allows us to pinpoint our location anywhere on the globe, often within just a few meters. We find our way in our cars, locate nearby gas stations, restaurants and other points of...

I'M NOT A SECURITY OFFICIAL ... I JUST PLAY ONE ON TV
Lawrence A. Husick
Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.fpri.org
01/26/2010

In August 2003, an electric grid failure led to a widespread blackout in the Northeastern US. Within minutes of the event, Federal officials from both the White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were issuing statements assuring the public that the power failure was not related to...

ABDURRAHMAN WAHID, THE INDONESIAN REPUBLIC, AND DYNAMICS IN ISLAM
Theodore Friend
Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.fpri.org
01/26/2010

Abdurrahman Wahid, known as Gus Dur, died on 30 December 2009 at the age of sixty-nine.

The genial complexity of his character, which drew millions to him, was not adequate to the pressures of the presidency. But his life, career, and elements of caprice contain abundant clues for anyone who...

INNOVATION AND THE WORLD ECONOMY THE SECOND ANNUAL ROCCO MARTINO LECTURE ON INNOVATION
Robert E. Litan
Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.fpri.org
12/15/2009

December 4, 2009

Why it is that we consider entrepreneurship so important? It's because, when you look through history, entrepreneurs are the source of the most radical, disruptive innovations that have made modern life what it is. Just think about it - the car, the airplane, computers, computer software, air conditioning...

WINNING THE WARS WE'RE IN
John A. Nagl
Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.fpri.org
12/15/2009

[This essay draws upon John A. Nagl, "Let's Win the Wars We're In," Joint Force Quarterly 52 (1st Quarter 2009), available at http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Press/jfq_pages/editions/i52/7.pdf]

Your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable.
It is to win our wars.
-General Douglas MacArthur[1]

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have spurred long-overdue changes in the way the U.S. military...