Modern Political Warfare: Current Practices and Possible Responses
Abstract
The United States today faces a number of actors who employ a wide range of political, informational, military, and economic measures to influence, coerce, intimidate, or undermine U.S. interests or those of friends and allies. The objective of this study is to provide a clearer view of these adversarial measures short of conventional warfare and to derive implications and recommendations for the U.S. government and U.S. military. Toward this end, RAND conducted a year long examination of the historical and current practices that fall into this realm of conflict short of conventional war. The starting point for this examination is the term political warfare, as defined in 1948 at the outset of the Cold War by U.S. diplomat George Kennan: Political warfare is the logical application of Clausewitzs doctrine in time of peace. In broadest definition, political warfare is the employment of all the means at a nations command, short of war, to achieve its national objectives. Such operations are both overt and covert. They range from such overt actions as political alliances, economic measures (as ERPthe Marshall Plan), and white propaganda to such covert operations as clandestine support of friendly foreign elements, black psychological warfare and even encouragement of underground resistance in hostile states.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1085363
Entities
People
- Alireza Nader
- Andrew Radin
- Katya Migacheva
- Linda Robinson
- Madeline Magnuson
- Raphael S. Cohen
- Todd C. Helmus
Organizations
- RAND Corporation