Divining the Strategic Environment: Will the Future Allow United States Intervention
Abstract
In the midst of the United States (U.S.) Army's transition from the Legacy to Objective Force several key determinants have been postulated that are driving the process. Among these is the fact the U.S. military must continue to prepare to meet a peer competitor or other opponent that may emerge sometime in the next several decades. Much has been written regarding the transformation of the U.S. military capabilities to continue its dominance on the conventional battlefield. Still the force structures of the military seem to continue to focus on the fact that force-on-force engagements between sovereign states as the most important matter for the military. But what has the nature of warfare changed to the point that these systems are incapable of meeting the threat and therefore irrelevant in the future? Is the U.S. military preparing for the right fight? Will the conflicts of the future be more consistent with the use of military force for missions that are deemed non-traditional by the Cold War paradigm? What that conflict obscured to some extent was the radical expansion of the community of nation-states over the last six decades. The evolving nature of the state system, changing parameters of conflict management/intervention, and a more informed global society has puts the international system in a state of transition. This transition has changed the fundamental ideas when and why a state will choose to intervene. This monograph examines the changing nature of U.S. interventionist policy due to information technology and a global social cosmopolitanism following the Cold War. It reviews U.S. interventionism following the Cold War as a reflection of traditional U.S. foreign policy underpinnings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA391313
Entities
People
- Charles D. Claggett
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College