The Role of Terrorism in 21st-Century Warfare looks critically at the major armed conflicts that occurred during the 1990s and first decade of the present century. Conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria all involved the use of terrorism by one or more of the contestants, and at one time or another. What does this fact mean for violent conflicts yet to come? Authors Weinberg and Martin apply a comprehensive and systematic analysis to a variety of case studies examining the role played by terrorism as a stand-alone tactic as well as one used to ignite broad-scale conflict. Does terrorist violence occur during the early stages of an insurgency, as a leading indicator of a wider conflict? Or, is terrorism employed throughout the conflict's duration? On what occasions does terrorism tend to occur as an armed conflict begins to subside? When, in other words, is it a trailing indicator? This book represents the results of Weinberg and Martin's thorough investigation into the timing and role of terrorist violence in multi-dimensional conflicts. It is an essential text for understanding the role acts of terror play in warfare today and into the future.

This book presents a critical reflection on the major armed conflicts that occurred during the 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria all involved the use of terrorism by one or more groups. Looking to the future, the book asks what this means for violent conflicts yet to come? Using a variety of case studies, the authors provide a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the role played by terrorism as a stand-alone tactic as well as one used to ignite broad-scale conflict. They also pose the question on what occasions does terrorism tend to occur as an armed conflict begins to subside, and when, in other words, is it a trailing indicator?

On September 11, 2001, a small number of desperate men hoping to earn paradise attacked New York and Washington, D.C. Their spectacular acts of destruction concluded America's nearly decade-long vacation from insecurity, known as the "post-Cold War era." As eras go, this one was short and it certainly ended with a bang, not a whimper. The United States, still sole superpower, was now challenged by a bleak new world. Americans do not care for the bleak and do not tolerate it for long. Predictably, national shock soon became righteous anger, coupled to international campaigns against groups and states held responsible for the scourge of terrorism. These were short-term measures that hurt our enemies but did not "fix" the problem.Not long after these events, the Foreign Policy Research Institute organized a new Center on Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Homeland Security. Its purpose was to take a longer term view of the terrorism problem and what might be done about it--not only academic research but also policy suggestions. This book contains a broad selection of the Center's output, including essays on American strategy, homeland security, knowing the enemy, and the military dimension. A notable feature is the discussion of the educational issue: what and how to teach our children about terrorism.

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict, Security, grade: 2,7, , language: English, abstract: Under the term of asymmetric threats or warfare are these actions of combat summarized which deal with the unknown and surprise in terms of timings, ends, ways and means. The party in a conflict using asymmetric strategies and tactics is in comparison to their opponent usually poorly equipped and trained but very elusive and violent in their actions. In the same context they are often called by their enemies, usually regular forces, as terrorists. They call themselves frequently freedom fighters. Therefore one of the intellectual starting points for this essay is the often used citation, that “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”2. The more or less clear distinction between guerilla’s and terrorist’s used in the mid twenties century is becoming more and more blurred and obsolete3. The key difference between both, the guerilla warfare and terrorism, was defined by the aims, the means and the targeted group4. Guerilla is a warfare tactic, which is generally used by groups, who lack in conventional military force. They try to hit conventional forces and the government with unconventional means in order to support their political or military agenda. On the other hand, terrorism was a tactic used by more or less unorganized and less structured groups, aiming as well on governmental as on civilian targets5. Tactics of terrorism are designed to install fear and to de-motivate the enemy. This line which distinguishes both concepts became blurred and obsolete within the last two decades. Was terrorism once a mean to address and influence the public opinion for the purpose of predominantly political aims, it is now a tool to conduct significant strike against self declared enemies on behalf or by the instrumentalization of religion or politics. The distinction between guerilla and terrorism is almost not more existing. Terrorism is nowadays a method to use violence against enemies, who have a huge advantage in military power, in order to achieve desired aims by taking the advantage of psychological effects of physical violence7. For this reason, one of the assumptions for this essay is that terrorist tactics might influence modern warfare by installing a new modus operandi, a modified type of warfare. Therefore the central research question guiding this essay is: Are terrorist tactics shaping the modern type of warfare?

As American and coalition troops fight the first battles of this new century -- from Afghanistan to Yemen to the Philippines to Iraq -- they do so in ways never before seen. Until recently, information war was but one piece of a puzzle, more than a sideshow in war but far less than the sum total of the game. Today, however, we find information war revolutionizing combat, from top to bottom. Gone are the advantages of fortified positions -- nothing is impregnable any longer. Gone is the reason to create an overwhelming mass of troops -- now, troop concentrations merely present easier targets. Instead, stealth, swarming, and "zapping" (precision strikes on individuals or equipment) are the order of the day, based on superior information and lightning-fast decision-making. In many ways, modern warfare is information warfare. Bruce Berkowitz's explanation of how information war revolutionized combat and what it means for our soldiers could not be better timed. As Western forces wage war against terrorists and their supporters, in actions large and small, on several continents, The New Face of War explains how they fight and how they will win or lose. There are four key dynamics to the new warfare: asymmetric threats, in which even the strongest armies may suffer from at least one Achilles' heel; information-technology competition, in which advantages in computers and communications are crucial; the race of decision cycles, in which the first opponent to process and react to information effectively is almost certain to win; and network organization, in which fluid arrays of combat forces can spontaneously organize in multiple ways to fight any given opponent at any time. America's use of networked, elite ground forces, in combination with precision-guided bombing from manned and unmanned flyers, turned Afghanistan from a Soviet graveyard into a lopsided field of American victory. Yet we are not invulnerable, and the same technology that we used in Kuwait in 1991 is now available to anyone with a credit card and access to the Internet. Al Qaeda is adept in the new model of war, and has searched long and hard for weaknesses in our defenses. Will we be able to stay ahead of its thinking? In Iraq, Saddam's army is in no position to defeat its enemies -- but could it defend Baghdad? As the world anxiously considers these and other questions of modern war, Bruce Berkowitz offers many answers and a framework for understanding combat that will never again resemble the days of massive marches on fortress-like positions. The New Face of War is a crucial guidebook for reading the headlines from across our troubled planet.

This edited volume addresses the relationship between the essential nature of war and its character at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The focus is on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, situations that occupy a central role in international affairs and that have become highly influential in thinking about war in the widest sense. The intellectual foundation of the volume is Clausewitz’s insight that though war has an enduring nature, its character changes with time, space, social structure and culture. The fact that war’s character varies means that different actors may interpret, experience and, ultimately, wage war differently. The conflict between the ways that war is conceptualised in the prevailing Western and international discourse, and the manner in which it plays out on the ground is a key discussion point for scholars and practitioners in the field of international relations. Contributions combine insights from social theory, philosophy, sociology and strategic studies and ask directly what contemporary war is, and what the implications are for the future. This book will be of much interest to students of war studies, strategic studies, security studies and IR in general. Caroline Holmqvist-Jonsäter is currently completing a PhD in the conflation of war and policing in international conflicts at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. Christopher Coker is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is the author of 11 books on war and security issues.

This book examines the key dimensions of 21st century war, and shows that orthodox thinking about war, particularly what it is and how it is fought, needs to be updated. Accelerating societal, economic, political and technological change affects how we prepare, equip and organise for war, as well as how we conduct war – both in its low-tech and high-tech forms, and whether it is with high intensity or low intensity. The volume examines changes in warfare by investigating the key features of the conduct of war during the first decades of the 21st century. Conceptually centred around the terms ‘kinetic’, ‘connected’ and ‘synthetic’, the analysis delves into a wide range of topics. The contributions discuss hybrid warfare, cyber and influence activities, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the use of armed drones and air power, the implications of the counterinsurgency experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, as well as the consequences for law(fare) and decision making. This work will be of much interest to students of military and strategic studies, security studies and International Relations. Chapters 1, 2, 5, and 19 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This exceptional volume examines international security issues by way of case studies of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Each of these raises significant issues concerning the use of force between states and the role of the United Nations in maintaining international peace and security. Alex Conte examines international terrorism and the intervention in Afghanistan, including the controversial policy of pre-emptive strikes in the war on terror, and discusses the role adopted by the United Nations in the political and economic reconstruction of states subjected to conflict. Analyzing events in Iraq since 1990, he assesses the legality of the current war and leads to an examination of the role of the UN in maintaining peace and security and possible options for reform and accountability. The study will be a valuable guide for all those keen to understand the use of international law and the United Nations in the first two major conflicts of the 21st century and their implications for the future role of the United Nations.