Warlords Rising

Violent non-state actors (VNSA) often serve a destabilizing role in nearly every humanitarian and political crisis faced by the international community. As non-state armed groups gain greater access to resources and networks through global interconnectivity, they have come to dominate the terrain of illegal trade in drugs, guns, and humans. Warlords Rising arms those confronting the mounting challenge by delivering an innovative, interdisciplinary framework of analysis designed to improve understanding of non-state adversaries in order to affect their development and performance. Examining the utility of traditional theories of deterrence and warfighting in light of the insight gained through this interdisciplinary approach, the authors elevate the powerful role of environmental shaping in group development, recast deterrence in ecological terms, and lay out a strategy to defeat non-state adversaries if necessary. Whether the goal is preventing, coercing, or conquering, the framework of analysis presented here is designed to be universal, allowing for structured analysis across regions, types, and functions of non-state actors and providing the decision maker and policy maker witha variety of modes and methods of intervention.

The Taliban's fall and the massive American military and political presence in South and West Asia have created grounds for a polarization into two camps: India, Iran and Russia, to which China is affiliated, and the United States and Pakistan. In Peimani's analysis, their incompatible interests will push them towards confrontations with regional and international implications. Contrary to expectations, the fall of the Taliban did not bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. The Afghan interim government is simply too weak to act as a central government; this results in the re-emergence of warlords, turf wars, and the expansion of drug trafficking. This unstable situation may well result in the emergence of Taliban-like groups. Added to this, the threat of the spillover of instability from Afghanistan into neighboring regions, on the one hand, and the rapid expansion of American military and political power in Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, on the other, have created fear among the regional powers. The stated indefinite stay of American forces well after the end of the anti-terrorist war in Afghanistan has worsened that fear as it reflected the American government's plan to pursue certain strategic interests unrelated to that war. Consequently, as Peimani shows, the regional anti-terrorist coalition has disintegrated in the absence of a common objective to help focus the region. Fear of the long-term American objectives and those of its Pakistani ally in South and West Asia incompatible with those of the regional powers have facilitated the creation of two camps consisting of Iran, India, and Russia, to which China is affiliated, and Pakistan and the United States. Respectively, these implicit and explicit camps are likely to collide over their regional interests especially in the strategically important energy-producing Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea regions.

Violent non-state actors (VNSA) often serve a destabilizing role in nearly every humanitarian and political crisis faced by the international community. As non-state armed groups gain greater access to resources and networks through global interconnectivity, they have come to dominate the terrain of illegal trade in drugs, guns, and humans. Warlords Rising arms those confronting the mounting challenge by delivering an innovative, interdisciplinary framework of analysis designed to improve understanding of non-state adversaries in order to affect their development and performance. Examining the utility of traditional theories of deterrence and warfighting in light of the insight gained through this interdisciplinary approach, the authors elevate the powerful role of environmental shaping in group development, recast deterrence in ecological terms, and lay out a strategy to defeat non-state adversaries if necessary. Whether the goal is preventing, coercing, or conquering, the framework of analysis presented here is designed to be universal, allowing for structured analysis across regions, types, and functions of non-state actors and providing the decision maker and policy maker witha variety of modes and methods of intervention.

Weather Mage Riicbeccaan has a plan. As plans go, this is a pretty good one. Officially, she needs to go into the Khobunter-Libendorf area to figure out what is messing with her weather patterns. Unofficially, since they are going that far north, it's the perfect opportunity to get dragons. Sure, traveling that direction is dangerous, but with Trev'nor and Nolan going along, there isn't much to worry about, as three full-trained mages can handle just about anything. But from the moment the three set foot in Khobunter, nothing goes according to plan. The whole world knows that Khobunter is a political mess, but there's another, darker layer underneath it all that no one speaks of. The three prodigy mages are ensnared by it before they can fully comprehend what's going on. Fighting against an entire country is not something that just three people can handle, even if they are mages. Becca, Nolan, and Trev'nor don't have much of a choice, though. There is an abhorrent evil right in front of their eyes and they only have one of two options: fight or flee. Unfortunately for Khobunter, no one has ever taught them how to run.

NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRODUCT- OVERSTOCK SALE -- Significantly reduced list price Diagnoses the ills of the intelligence community. Describes the potential that sensemaking offers as a means precisely for helping policymakers to improve how they think about policy. Other related items: Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-020-01589-0 United States Congressional Serial Set, Serial No. 14876, Senate Report No. 301, U.S. Intelligence Community\'s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Report of Select Committee on Intelligence is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/552-108-00074-4 Crafting an Intelligence Community: Papers of the First Four DCIs (Book and DVD) is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/041-015-00298-8 Interrogation: World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01017-0 Who Watches the Watchmen?: The Conflict between National Security and Freedom of the Press is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-020-01606-3"

This book explores the rise and impact of violent non-state actors in contemporary Africa and the implications for the sovereignty and security of African states. Each chapter tackles a unique angle on violent organizations on the continent with the view of highlighting the conditions that lead to the rise and radicalization of these groups. The chapters further examine the ways in which governments have responded to the challenge and the national, regional and international strategies that they have adopted as a result. Chapter contributors to this volume examine the emergence of Islamist terrorists in Nigeria, Mali and Libya; rebels in DR Congo, Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Rwanda; and warlords and pirates in Somalia, Uganda and Sierra Leone.

This book calls into question the commonly held contentions that central governments are the most important or even the sole sources of a nation's stability, and that subnational and transnational nonstate forces are a major source of global instability. By assessing recent real-world trends, Mandel reveals that areas exist where it makes little sense to rely on state governments for stability, and that attempts to bolster such governments to promote stability often prove futile. He demonstrates how armed nonstate groups can sometimes provide local stability better than states, and how power-sharing arrangements between states and armed nonstate groups may sometimes be viable. He concludes that these trends in the international setting call for major shifts in our understanding of what constitutes stable governance—proposing that we adopt a fluid "emergent actor" approach. And he calls for significant deviation from standard policy responses to the opportunities and dangers posed by nontraditional sources of national authority.