Explaining political precursors to violence in African civil conflicts. Introduction The Mozambique war of independence from Portugal has been regarded as one of Africa’s greatest stories of liberation to date. Scholars from around the globe have written about the conflict and subsequent civil war, exploring the complex factors within the narrative by applying theories of irregular warfare to better understand its drivers, events, and outcomes. Typically, researchers seek to fit a theory to a case study, …

Adaptation and Innovation in the British Military, 1792 -1945 Series:  Wolverhampton Military Studies  #3 Editor:  Michael LoCicero ,  Ross Mahoney ,  Stuart Mitchell Helion , 256pp, Images: 10 tables 9781911096702 - Paperback 9781909384460 - Hardback Reviewed by BRIG Chris Roberts (Retd.) Being another excellent publication in the Wolverhampton Military Studies series (University of Wolverhampton), A Military Transformed? offers valuable insights into the factors that enable or impede adaptation, …

This article was originally published on 7th of October 2020. Our Unchecked Indo-Pacific Strategic Faultline Demanding greater strategic attention from Canberra is the future of the Antarctic, a frontier where Indo-Pacific contestation is rising. This is the second post in a two-part blog piece examining the strategic impact of inattention; Part 1 can be read from here . While the ATS explicitly bans militarization, incremental militarization is none the less underway in Antarctica. The grey-zone …

    By Gwynne Dyer Black Inc , 2021, ISBN 9781760641696, 243pp Reviewed by Dr Albert Palazzo   The eminent historian Michael Howard in his classic 1988 essay, “The Use and Abuse of Military History,” offered to the military profession his sage words on the education of its members. He advised soldiers to read military history in its width , depth and context so that the study of past wars can help them prepare for future wars. [1] Now along comes Gwynne Dyer and his notably brief book The Shortest History …

Clausewitzian friction and autonomous weapon systems Source: Comparative Strategy – Jan 21 Friction is a constant companion in the human activity of war. A lot of effort seeks to reduce this friction, with autonomous systems and weapons being amongst the latest solutions. It is a tempting argument: an autonomous system can be free of human frailty and errors, focusing on a single mission with relentless mechanical application. As with all solutions though, these systems bring in their own friction sources …

How Not To Do COIN The ongoing Malay-Muslim secessionist insurgency in Southern Thailand represents a cogent challenge to the legitimacy of the Thai state in the southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, and adjoining districts of neighbouring Songkhla. Since re-igniting in the early 2000s, this conflict is far from abating. As the insurgency reaches its 17th year, Thai authorities are no closer to a solution than they were in the early stages of the conflict, with violence continuing at a slow …

This article was originally published on 29th of September 2020. Our Unchecked Indo-Pacific Strategic Faultline Demanding greater strategic attention from Canberra is the future of the Antarctic, [i] a frontier where Indo-Pacific contestation is rising. Currently, the trajectory of the last unclaimed continent on earth, is all but overlooked in the Indo-Pacific narrative. This is a two-part blog piece examining the security challenges relating to the Antarctic. Antarctica is at an inflection point where …

The South Sudanese Civil War as a Case Study for the Insecurity of Women as the Greatest Predictor of Rebellion ABSTRACT This paper aims to provide a context in which the literature of two generally separate fields—gender and insecurity, and predictors of rebellion—can be combined to strengthen the existing framework of security studies. Using the South Sudanese civil war as a case study, it will propose that the greatest indicator of a future uprising is the insecurity of women and that until literature, …

This article was originally published on 12th of February 2019. “My past is an armour I cannot take off, no matter how many times you tell me the war is over.” -  unknown Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is often thought to have arisen with the advent of mechanised warfare—think shell shock and the First World War—but the examination of ancient texts offers sufficient evidence that PTSD may be as old as the act of war itself. This raises the question of how might have ancient cultures dealt with PTSD …

This article was originally published on 7th of October 2021. Do you have something to say about the future of Australian Army land power?  The Australian Army Research Centre (AARC) invites your contribution to our series of publications; the Australian Army Journal, Occasional Paper Series and the Land Power Forum.  The AARC fosters thought leadership to enhance Australian land power.  We work to raise the level of professional debate on war, military force, future land capability development, and its …