A Plan B: How Might Australia Support Resistance? The  Defence Strategic Review (DSR) was a call for action which stated bluntly that we have seen ‘the return of major power strategic competition, the intensity of which should be seen as the defining feature of our region and time’.  Examining the ‘state of competition’ globally might also help explain what it is we are competing for. Given the march of autocratic governance regimes within the international world order – regimes that use tools such as …

Introduction Tomorrow’s protracted battles will occur in complex terrain where casualties are maximised and engagements drawn out for as long as possible. This Land Power Forum Post describes the concept of protracted battle in the context of supporting military theory and its effects on land power. It will demonstrate why battles are becoming longer and larger fights occur in complex terrain. These protracted battles are the domain of semi-national forces who behave with a mix of characteristics, …

To Deter and Respond to Invasion ‘In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity’ Sun Tzu Introduction Modern history depicts some decisive military trends. Among these, counter-insurgency wars are inherently unpopular, demonstrably costly and, for the most part, unsuccessful. If this is the case, it follows that Australia’s Defence policy must include layers of defence that guarantee sovereignty and that capitalise on the asymmetric advantage traditionally experienced by insurgent forces. Specifically, …

A Convergence in Strategic Approach The 2020 Defence Strategic Update normalised ‘grey-zone activities’ in the lexicon, introducing them as a strategic driver shaping Australia’s strategic environment [1] and noting that Defence will expand its capability to respond to such threats. [2] This task will prove difficult without a clear understanding of what is meant by the term ‘grey zone’. To address that question, I will start with an unusual analytic perspective. Professor Theo Farrell argued that Western …

An Australian Approach In recent years, we have seen a substantial rise in measures undertaken by foreign state actors that could be considered foreign interference . There has also been a notable increase in online activity that is labelled as coordinated inauthentic behaviour . Both of these trends have led to the gradual adoption of the terms like Cyber-Enabled Foreign Influence and Interference (C-E FI/I) in Australia’s academic and security community lexicon. Such terms seeks to remove the ambiguity …