Asymmetric Warfare Research Articles

A Critical Review of Attacks on Schools in Nigeria: Lessons Learned

This paper discussed targeted attacks on schools in Nigeria by non-state armed, terrorist or criminal groups most especially in the North- East geo-political zone, particularly carried out by the Boko Haram insurgent group. The discourse was for the purpose of drawing lessons learned from the attacks. The paper employed a desk-review research approach and the reports and evaluations obtained from secondary sources of data were analyzed through content analysis. By adopting ideological perspective and human security concept as theoretical framework for analysis, the paper explained the reasons for the attack. The paper found that the use of asymmetric warfare tactics adopted by Boko Haram insurgent group and their coordinated attacks resulted to huge casualties beyond the expectations of the State and most especially in the educational sector. To reverse the trend, the paper concluded that government and relevant stakeholders must realize that safety from attacks and development of education in Nigeria are dependent on the collective efforts of the various stakeholders in supporting safe school initiatives directed towards providing conducive and safe environment for our educational institutions and also rebuilding schools that have been attacked. This can be achieved through effective collaboration of all critical stakeholders towards addressing the underlying factors that led to the onslaught orchestrated by the Boko Haram insurgent group and other armed criminal groups.

Conflict Transformation and Asymmetric Conflicts: A Critique of the Failed Turkish-Kurdish Peace Process

ABSTRACT In this article, we examine the dynamics of the Kurdish-Turkish peace process that collapsed in the summer of 2015. The negotiations began when the conflict reached a certain level of ripeness, one that made it possible for both sides to entertain the possibility of compromise on various taboo issues. However, in the face of both domestic and international developments, the process came to an abrupt halt. This article argues that the main reason the process stalled was because it was built from the start around the idea of “resolution” rather than “transformation,” a concept better suited to responding to highly fluid asymmetric conflicts.

Engagement of Executive Outcomes in Sierra Leone – utility assessment

Objectives<i>The article explores combat related Private Military Companies (PMCs) that are authorised to engage in the forefront of the battlefield as dedicated force multipliers.</i>Methods<i>To supplement empirical data with qualitative observation, the methodology applies the case study and observation method. Considering assistance in conflict termination as a dependent variable, the methodology evaluates the case study of Executive Outcomes in Sierra Leone and, to impose a framework for observation, deconstructs that case with seven independent variables: competence, effectiveness, flexibility, field cooperation with conventional forces, cost efficiency, impact on military and the state-to-PMC balance.</i>Results<i>The methodology indicates what factors were prevalent in effective conflict management and what indicators entailed chal- lenges. The results advocate for the competence, flexibility, effectiveness and cooperation with armed forces to be deemed conclusive in positive PMC engagement, whereas the cost efficiency, impact on conventional military and the state-to-PMC balance require improvement.</i>Conclusions<i>Since governments have continued to be hesitant (justified either by financial, geopolitical or social incen- tives) towards overseas military operations where asymmetric warfare is taking place, PMCs stepped in to fill the se- curity void. Therefore, this paper argues that PMCs are here to stay; however, the literature hasn’t rigorously ex- plored the subject matter to determine whether indicators of success and failure exist to evaluate the PMC outcome. This paper also precipitates natural outgrowth in the scholarship by composing the benchmark that synthesises relevant data.</i>

International law of state responsibility and the ECHR: symbiosis or estrangement?

In recent years, the European continent has been shook by a number of illegal acts of aggression characterized by asymmetric warfare which have significantly undermined security in the region. Utilisation of unorthodox military tactics that weaponise information and heavily employ the use of non-State actors in direct hostilities has put an incremental challenge to many fundamental legal notions under international law and the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) .This article offers an inductive analysis of the ECtHR’s jurisprudence with regards State responsibility in the contested regions which aims to identify a clear pattern based on the Court’s reasoning. The article makes reference to the relevant rules under international law of State responsibility and briefly examines their interplay with the ECHR. Particular regard is also given to relevant legal literature, specifically, generalist and Convention-specific authors that have examined similar questions in their contributions.The analysis delineates between salient legal issues such as the position of general international law and its relationship with the ECHR.The article offers an overview of the relevant caselaw and inductive analysis of the approach taken by the Court. One of the main takeaways of the article is that the framework of ARISWA is relevant to the ECHR in so far as it covers the gaps in the Convention as was demonstrated in the analysis of the relevant case-law. Additionally, it appears that the Court has decided to develop its own distinct jurisprudence on State responsibility that in many aspects substantially differs from what is envisaged under ARISWA. The interconnected nature yet distinctly separate function of the frequently confused legal concepts has often resulted in a misunderstanding of the approach adopted by the Court.

Revisiting the Battle of Solferino: The Worsening Plight of Civilian Casualties in War and Conflict.

The toll of civilian deaths in current wars and conflicts has been building for decades. Civilian populations, particularly since WWII, have suffered most of the consequences of armed violence and today represent the most at-risk population. This is attributed to the rise of religious and ethnic hatreds, the collapse of State structures, the battle for control of natural resources, the vast availability of weapons, the proliferation of acts of terrorism, and the spread of so-called asymmetric conflicts. Protections provided to innocent civilians under International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions have been ignored. This commentary captures the experience of the immediate care and transportation provided to military casualties of the Battle of Solferino in 1859 with civilian casualties recently documented in a Stanford-led study during the "golden hour" after injury in 13 conflicts from 1990 to 2017. Despite many advances in triage and management of war injuries over the intervening decades, the common thread of these 2 scenarios is that transport times and early resuscitation capacity and capabilities, first recognized in the 19th century wars and now accepted as global norms and markers for survival from trauma, are as unavailable today to civilians caught up in war and conflict as they were to soldiers in the 19th century.

Regular and irregular forces in conflict: nineteenth century insurgencies in South America

ABSTRACT In the decades following independence from Spain, ‘civil wars’ ravaged the newly established polities in South America. Former vice-regal capitals inherited a larger portion of the colonial administration and had larger economic resources and a hegemonic project they were able to have permanent and professional armed forces, capable of leading the offensive and giving battle following the European rules of military art. The central hypothesis of this work is that there is a necessary relationship between the shape of these asymmetrical conflicts, their outcome and the political territorial configuration of each country in post-revolutionary Spanish America. When permanent armies took over from local militias, the capital kept the integrity of its territories and there was a tendency towards political centralization. When this did not happen and the militias managed to find a way to defeat their centralizing enemies, the local powers had an opportunity to renegotiate their participation in the political body, and sought to maintain their independence, which was manifest in federal agreements, otherwise a process of territorial fragmentation began. More than a difference between regular and irregular forces there was one between intermittent, and permanent mobilization.

Analisis Fourth-Generation War Dalam Perang Insurgensi: Studi Kasus Pemberontakan Tentara Pembebasan Nasional Zapatista (Ezln) Di Meksiko

Like the story of asymmetric fight between David and Goliath, Insurgency war is also the story of an asymmetrical warfare in which highly advanced military parties (usually the State Governments) are often struggling and even failing against small group of insurgents. By taking the case of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) uprising, this paper aims to analyze why this armed rebel with poorly military equipments is able to relatively succeded in striving for its political agenda. In doing so, this paper used the concept of Fourth Generation War that emphasizes the importance of using all available networks to attacks the minds of enemy decision makers to destroy their political will. The author show that the main factor that determined EZLN’s trump is its ability to use three important networks, namely; a) Indian communities, b) national and international civil society and, c) internet and independent media networks as means in disseminating their grievances and alternatives. Keywords: insurgency, asymmetry warfare, fourth generation war, EZLN, networks

Bürger zweiter Klasse im Einwanderungsland?

While the technical details of immigration and asylum legislation remain the domain of a comparatively narrow field of experts, debates about nationality law often cause widespread attention within domestic academic circles. The latest reform was a case in point: in 2019, the government proposed depriving terrorist fighters of German nationality (provided that they have another passport) and suggested prohibiting the naturalisation of those with several spouses, thereby triggering a heated debate among experts. This contribution sets off to embed the legal-doctrinal analysis into a broader reflection on the role of nationality law as a forum for and vehicle of broader societal debates about the collective identity of Germans in the early 21st century. The article scrutinises this double function from an interdisciplinary perspective and shows that it is entrenched in the history of German nationality law with the extensive reform of 1999 as its climax. By contrast, the latest changes do not bring about a major conceptual or practical shift, since they continue earlier developments. Depriving terrorist fighters of the German passport adapts an established ground for the loss of nationality of those serving in foreign armies to the international context of asymmetric warfare; blocking the naturalisation of foreigners with several spouses reacts to a court judgment and complements several other small reform measures that have reinforced the integration paradigm within German nationality law over the past two decades. Against this background, the time may have come to disentangle nationality law from broader debates about collective identity at a time when many former immigrants have a German passport anyway. Such reconstruction of the national self-image beyond naturalisation may be addressed analytically from the standpoint of the citizenship paradigm, which remains normatively contested, but transcends technical focus of immigration, asylum and nationality legislation.

INTRODUCTION STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN THE FIELD OF SECURITY

The cyclic emergence of various concepts related to communication in the security, defence and military fields continues. The newest one is Strategic Communication that follows Psychological Operations, Information Operations, Public Diplomacy, Public Affairs, Psychological Warfare, Political Warfare and Propaganda. There have been broader concepts developed in the past that involve different communication-related activities to realize interests and fulfil objectives of countries, international organizations as well as other actors. Listed chronologically as they appeared, the Strategy of Indirect Approach, Low Intensity Conflict, Operations Other Than War, Information Warfare, Asymmetric Warfare, Smart Power and Hybrid Warfare are among the most prominent ones. We are not in a position to define and compare all of the above concepts in order to identify the patterns of (dis)continuity or to explore how the concepts duplicate, overlap, and complement each other. The Strategic Communication concept is here, theoretically and in the practical application of various actors. Therefore, this introduction to the special issue of the Contemporary Military Challenges, will dwell upon conceptual issues related to Strategic Communication, and will try to identify the understanding and applying of the concept in the United States of America (USA), the Russian Federation, the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Time is of the essence: The causal effect of duration on support for war

It is often observed that public support for asymmetric wars diminishes over time, but the micro foundations of this observation are not fully understood. I present a modified war of attrition model for asymmetric wars which shows that as time passes, belligerents’ expectations for the remaining duration of war increase and they find fighting less favorable. Even when we keep the average rate of casualty accrual constant, the anticipated length of fighting into the future affects expected remaining costs of war. Therefore, in a cost-benefit calculation, observed duration causally affects expected remaining costs of war and, hence, leads to lower levels of support for war over time. The longer the war lasts, the more it will look like a never-ending war which may encourage the strong side to cut its losses short and stop the war. Because duration and aggregate costs are highly correlated in observational data, I use a randomized survey experiment to separate the effect of duration from the effect of costs on support for war. The result is that duration has a negative effect on public support which is independent of aggregate costs. This helps us better understand the limits of democratic states’ capabilities in fighting asymmetric wars and suggests that when military planners ignore the role of time, they deploy weaker-than-optimal forces.

Can’t live with them, can’t live without them: ‘the enemy’ as object of controversy in contemporary Western wars

ABSTRACTAn authenticated document published in 2008 by Wikileaks and entitled ‘NATO in Afghanistan: master narrative’ implicitly makes clear that the ‘enemy’ should never be recognized as an enemy of NATO by its personnel. This is the point of departure of this article, dealing with the different and partly incompatible uses of the notion of the enemy by (in particular) politicians and the military in contemporary Western conflicts. In this paper I do not give an a priori meaning to the signifier ‘enemy’. I am here interested in the consequences of the loss of previously institutionalized and official definitions of the enemy and the resulting relative avoidance of the term in contemporary wars. At the same time I show how this loss of meaning allows for the cohabitation of widely divergent usages of the term by distinct state-professionals (politicians, diplomats, military leaders, international lawyers…). These uses are at the same time logically incompatible but pragmatically complementary. I hence highlight that the absence of a clear understanding of what enmity implies has become an asset in contemporary unrecognized ‘asymmetric wars’. This confusion around the word ‘enemy’ enables these actors to speak different languages to different people and to engage in ‘wars against enemies’ while presenting them as ‘police operations against criminals’.

Response to Bruce Cronin’s review of Saving Soldiers or Civilians? Casualty-Aversion versus Civilian Protection in Asymmetric Conflicts

Response to Bruce Cronin’s review of Saving Soldiers or Civilians? Casualty-Aversion versus Civilian Protection in Asymmetric Conflicts

Saving Soldiers or Civilians? Casualty-Aversion versus Civilian Protection in Asymmetric Conflicts. By Sebastian Kaempf. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. 302p. $99.99 cloth.

Saving Soldiers or Civilians? Casualty-Aversion versus Civilian Protection in Asymmetric Conflicts. By Sebastian Kaempf. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. 302p. $99.99 cloth. - Volume 17 Issue 2

СИЛИ СПЕЦІАЛЬНОГО ПРИЗНАЧЕННЯ ЗБРОЙНИХ СИЛ КИТАЮ: СУЧАСНИЙ ЕТАП РОЗВИТКУ ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ

The military history of the creation and combat activity of Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) armed forces is analyzed. It is noted that on the cusp of 20 th and 21 st centuries a great leap in the world’s largest army modernization was made. In January 2016, the PRC announced the start of a large-scale reform of the armed forces which ultimate goal is to achieve a new level of manageability and optimal structural construction as well as to ensure the ability of the army to get the victory in the information technology era by 2020. In general, the RPC army reformation is planned for a period up to 2049. As for the elite Special Forces, it is mentioned that the most powerful SOF contingent is comprised of the PRC armed forces. In accordance with the public conceptual paper on military strategy, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is designed to conduct combat operations on the continent, in cooperation with other branches of the armed forces, as part of joint cross-branch groups in order to defeat the enemy, seize the territory, which they occupy etc. It is noted that in the present conditions the Army range of tasks as well as its high-mobility components, including SOF, is expanding. Since 1990, the PLA units have begun to participate in international operations under the authority of the UN, international actions of a humanitarian nature, and the anti-piracy campaign. The PRC also joined the military exercises of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Anti-terrorist Exercises (in particular, in Tajikistan, due to the growing threat of radical Islamist groups invasion, the existence of Uyghur Islamic separatism and terrorism in China). The SOF technical equipment and their combat trainability are improved; world experience is borrowed; specialized research and personnel training are conducted. The SOF own elements consist of the ground, airborne, and naval forces. It is emphasized that China has not established a single authority for SOF management. Special training has become an element of combat readiness in conventional troops, their formation and high-readiness force which dramatically increases the potential of the PRC army in case of asymmetric warfare.

New Wars, New Victimhood, and New Ways of Overcoming It

Contemporary conflicts, asymmetric conflicts, or New Wars as they are now called differ in nature and context from earlier, traditional, or Old Wars. As a result, the effects of these New Wars on women have also altered in various ways. However, when we say that women are suffering in conflicts nowadays, it does not negate their suffering in earlier or traditional wars. The assertion here is that because of the changing nature of conflicts, more civilians, and therefore an increasing number of women and children, are being negatively affected than in the traditional forms of war. This paper will look into how New Wars have made an impact on the lives of women and how they have been rendered more vulnerable as a result. It will also look at the ways in which women have worked towards bringing about positive changes in their societies and tried to influence their governments to prevent violence and work towards sustainable peace. Examples from Jammu and Kashmir will be analyzed to show how women’s groups from across the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan have come together to build a platform for people-to-people interaction, reduce stereotypes of the ‘Other’ and focus on arriving at a common ground. Individual case studies of women having moved beyond victimhood will be highlighted to show how women can make a positive impact and act as role models.

The use of weaponized kites and balloons in the Israeli – Palestinian conflict

Objectives<i>The aim of this paper is to analyse the use of weaponised incendiary kites and helium balloons in the Israeli-Palestinian hostilities between March and December 2018. The paper argues that arson started with incendiary kites and balloons can easily be exploited for terrorist purposes and poses a serious challenge for regular armed forces and for civilian emergency services.</i>Methods<i>The paper examines the Palestinian ‘Great March of Return’ as a background for the development of a new Hamas’ tactic and briefly describes the chronology of arson terrorism in the context of other hostilities at the Gaza-Israeli border. The study focuses on the two following questions: why are the kites and balloons useful for the current goals of Hamas and how do the Israelis respond to this new threat? The study uses comparative scientific literature and document analysis, the analysis of statements released by the Israeli authorities and the Israeli media reports related to the arson attacks.</i>Results<i>The main findings include the role of simple, non-lethal weapons in spreading fear for terrorist purposes and the advantages of turning everyday-use materials into weapons in a situation where there is limited access to regular arms. The second part of the study deals with the effects of arson attacks on the Israeli side of the conflict and the countermeasures undertaken in the Gaza Periphery. The author concludes that airborne arson attacks pose a serious threat to advanced Israeli defence systems, solely because of their primitive and unpredictable character.</i>Conclusions<i>The overall findings of this paper present the threat of arson terrorism in the context of an asymmetric conflict.</i>

Why did Sudan Lose a small war in Southern Sudan?

ABSTRACT When on the wrong end of an asymmetry in the projection of hard power, weaker sides countenance the grim arithmetic of avoiding direct and massed confrontations. Invariably, insurgents have over the ages tended to employ indirect tactical methods to render their stronger opponents ineffective. Ultimately – interest asymmetry, regime type, asymmetries of strategy, and external intervention – combine in a complex interplay and pattern, to militate against a strong side. In Sudan, these factors interacted throughout the civil wars to produce regional autonomy and finally an independent South Sudan in 2011. Similar strategic logic had confronted many large African states battling insurgencies in Ethiopia, Angola, Nigeria, Zaire, and apartheid-era South Africa. Oftentimes, weakening public resolve has caused these governments to accommodate, capitulate or withdraw even if they try not to blink. Notwithstanding the regime type, it can be concluded that the majority of strong actors are prone to fail in a protracted, asymmetric conflict. Hence, the notion of linking victory in counterinsurgency to the degree of openness (democratic polyarchies); or closeness (totalitarianism) – is still valid but highly contestable in the case of Africa’s large dysfunctional states.

Методика оцінювання результативності шляхів взаємодії ЗС України з Північноатлантичним Альянсом

Asymmetrical wars that have continued for more than twenty years on theterritoryofIraq,AfghanistanandSyria, and the hybrid aggression ofRussiaagainstUkrainerequire the search for fundamentally new forms and ways of achieving goals in modern military conflicts. The North Atlantic Alliance considers support and development of the security and defense sector (Security Force Assistance, SFA) capabilities of partner countries that are not members of NATO as one of the areas to counter the new threats and security. Analysis of the possibilities of applying the new concept to ensure the security ofUkraineis relevant. The purpose of the article is to improve the methodological provisions for assessing the effectiveness of the ways the Ukrainian armed forces interact with NATO in solving the conflict in the east of Ukraine based on the use of the fuzzy set theory method and cluster analysis. The North Atlantic Alliance is introducing an effective concept of supporting and developing the capabilities of the security and defense sectors and practical mechanisms for its implementation, which can solve many security and defense problems of non-NATO countries. At the same time, the introduction of such a concept requires partner countries to change the regulatory framework and appropriate infrastructure preparation. The methodology for assessing the effectiveness of the ways in whichUkraine’s armed forces interact with NATO is analogous to the Methodology for evaluating modern military conflicts and is adapted to create a database of the routes themselves and to clarify the phases (stages) of the development of modern military conflicts. Using the adapted Methodology, a numerical experiment was conducted, which allowed: identify effective ways of interaction of the armed forces with NATO in modern conditions; clarify the phases (stages) of conflict development; to numerically determine the performance factors of the ways of interaction of the armed forces of NATO in modern conditions, depending on the phases (stages) of the development of the conflict; to numerically determine the performance factors of the ways the Ukrainian armed forces interact with NATO to resolve the conflict in the east ofUkraine. For the conflict in the east of Ukraine in modern conditions, except for the existing initiatives, there will be a new initiative “support for security and defense forces”. “підтримка сил безпеки і оборони”.

One Minute in Haditha: Ethics and Non-Conscious Decision-Making

ABSTRACTIn November 2005, U.S. Marine Sergeant Frank Wuterich fired on and killed five unarmed Iraqi men standing by a car near the site of an improvised explosive device explosion (IED) in Haditha, Iraq. Moments earlier, the IED had destroyed a vehicle in the convoy that Wuterich led, killing one of the men in it. This article argues that analyzing Wuterich's conduct as a rapid non-conscious response captured by the model of Recognition-Primed Decision-Making (RPD) allows us to reconstruct his implicit decision-making in ways that provide insight into psychological processes that may operate during combat. Emerging research in neuroscience suggests that RPD in situations with moral significance involves a complex neural computational process in which emotion plays a powerful role. This article maintains that incorporating these insights can provide greater understanding of the moral psychology of behavior in combat, and may help guide military-ethics training for asymmetric conflicts that pose difficult significant challenges in distinguishing combatants from civilians.

Asymmetric conflicts in the British Empire in the writings of W. Churchill

This paper analyzes the materials of Winston Churchill of the first third of the XX century, dedicated to his participation in asymmetric military conflicts on the periphery of the British colonial empire. First, it allows us to consider the concept of asymmetric conflict in relation to the British army at the turn of the century and after the First World War. Secondly it allows us to analyze methods, forms and ways of waging war in the conditions of unequal power capabilities, which help to get to know the way of the colonial margins, which was formed by the British in the context of ongoing conflicts. The paper traces a clear chronology in accordance with the works of Winston Churchill: the Cuban War of Independence, the uprising of the Pashtun tribes in Malakand, the Mahdist uprising in Sudan, the second Anglo-Boer War, and the Irish War of Independence. Winston Churchill served in the British Army personally, at the same time he served as a war correspondent covering military events from the front line. Only the Irish War of Independence is knocked out of the chain of events. It was an asymmetric military conflict, perceived by W. Churchill from a completely different perspective: through the prism of political experience and from the height of his position of a Minister of Colonies. In the paper we conclude that the colonial era is the basis for the formation of the theoretical component of the asymmetric conflict concept.