Strategic Cultures and Unconventional Conflict

The world system has been redefining itself in novel ways since the end of the Cold War. Terrorist attacks on New York, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, Barcelona and London, as well as the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon, have demonstrated the impact of these deadlier forms of power and fear that can have an impact on developed and developing countries alike. No longer is national security seen as a strictly military issue, as many other non-military factors are emerging in discussions on how to protect the political sovereignty of individual states. Governments find it increasingly difficult to counter the work of people-smugglers, narcotics traffickers and terrorist groups. These organisations are armed with large amounts of untraceable cash, easily accessible commercial technologies, and a new degree of ruthlessness (as demonstrated by the work of the modern terrorist). Ideology has, moreover, provided a further complication in this complex matrix: the willingness to die for a cause, a feature of modern political violence that can negate the ability of national governments to secure their international boundaries and the safety of their citizens within those borders. The diffuse and globalised nature of many of these transnational threats makes their operations difficult to decisively eliminate. Even relatively small or weak states and international actors, using conventional military means in unconventional ways, coupled with misinformation strategies that permeate modern communications, can significantly constrain the actions of larger, better-equipped military opponents. This course sets out to examine how strategic cultures and unconventional conflict are beginning to undermine the traditional discourse on global security and the instrumentalities of international power.