A Blessing or a Curse? Aid Rentierism and State-building in Afghanistan
Accountability goes where aid direction flows. Fuelled by foreign aid, the Afghan state tends to be more accountable to donors than to its own people.
State-building and Fragility of Personality-dependent Political Order
There is a need for political imagination that goes beyond immediate security interests, political and military transitions, and reconciliation with insurgent groups.
The Afghan Elections: An Afghan Awakening
The recent Afghan elections represented an aspiration for peace among the population and it is time world leaders acted upon their commitments for this to be realised.
Afghan Women’s Hopes for the Future
Support for Afghan women should be guided by moral commitment to the women themselves and to Afghanistan as their country. The dividends will come to fruition over time.
Review – The Routledge Handbook of War and Society
Carlton-Ford and Ender’s edited collection draws attention to the challenges facing the military in irregular warfare, albeit with its main focus on the American experience.
Review – Counterinsurgency
This expansive compilation of David Kilcullen’s major works on insurgency and counterinsurgency is vital to understanding military tactics in both pre- and post-9/11 epochs.
Gendered Bodies for the ‘Theatre of War’
The disciplining of martial bodies through gender specific regulations tells us a great deal about the relationship between gender, sexuality, militarisation and warfare.
Review – Anatomy of a Bad Idea: COIN Best Practices
Nearly every question about how the U.S. Army came to be entangled in wars it knew better than to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan are answered by three excellent and complementary books.
An Open Rebuttal to Gian Gentile’s Article on Counterinsurgency
Gian Gentile’s article on COIN ignores literature that weigh stability and combat operations equally. The key failure of COIN has been not understanding how to integrate the multiple levels required.
Counterinsurgency: The Graduate Level of War or Pure Hokum?
The US Army’s counterinsurgency manual calls COIN the “graduate level of war.” But, the idea that enlightened soldiers were required to win a war is hokum.
