Category: Featured Articles

Featured article: The End of End State – Strategic Planning Process for the 21st Century by William J. Davis The two quotes above are indicative of a cultural fault line that exists between national command authorities and senior military advisors over the decision to employ military force for matters of national security. General Dempsey, Chairman of […]

Featured article: The State Department: No Longer the Gatekeeper by Edward Marks Foreign Affairs Ministers no longer hold a monopoly over foreign affairs, as the process of international relations now includes domestic agencies and important non-state actors as major participants. This process, beginning early in the 20th century, became more dominant after the Cold War […]

Featured article: Defining Diplomacy by Edward Marks Most countries provide professional education for their diplomats and some operate establishments specifically for that purpose. Few of us would claim that the U.S. government and the Department of State provides equivalent experience with any degree of seriousness or comprehensiveness. Our Foreign Service Institute, for all its virtues […]

Featured article: Megacities – Assessment Factors by Gus Otto and AJ Besik Looking around without seeing anyone; asking without being in earshot of someone; and walking in any direction without having to watch out for someone may indicate you are in a megacity. So what is a megacity? No one really knows, and that is […]

Featured article: The Applications of Military Simulations in an Interagency Context by James Gilmore The use of simulation has been a long-standing tradition throughout military history. Planning every minute detail of an important operation is something that comes naturally and has subsequently been honed over the course of repeated use. Only recently has the Army’s […]

Featured article: The Unjustness of the Current Incantation of Jus Post Bellum by Dan G. Cox Jus post bellum was originally conceived as an extension of modern just war theory. Specifically, it was aimed at examining the justness and morality of actions during war, jus in bello, in relationship to negotiations for peace in the […]

Featured article: Interagency Qualifications to Address Fragility, or Rethinking Civil Affairs by Kurt E. Müller The defense sector has a long-standing appreciation of the value of whole-of-government approaches to national security challenges. The phrase “all elements of national power” resonates with Department of Defense (DoD) leadership and is a common feature of curricula and outreach […]

Featured article: The Reality of the So-Called U.S. Pivot to Asia by Joshua Parker and David A. Anderson Shortly after President Obama took office in 2009, it became clear he wanted to shift U.S. foreign policy focus away from the Middle East to Asia. His immediate goal was withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and gradually bringing an […]

Featured article: The Ethics of Espionage and Covert Action: The CIA’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation Program as a Case Study by John Breen I have just asked a classroom filled with U.S. Army officers (with a few sister service and civilian counterparts thrown in) to name some of the ethical challenges they believe are associated with spying. They have […]

Featured article: Ethics Committee Model for Humanitarian Operations Planning by Philip W. Ginder Most hospitals and healthcare organizations have established ethics committees that deal with issues involving medical, ethical, and/or legal conflict or uncertainty. The Joint Commission, the accreditation body for the vast majority of hospitals and other ambulatory healthcare settings in the U.S., requires that healthcare organizations […]