Irregular Warfare Podcast
Irregular Warfare Initiative
169 episodes
The Irregular Warfare Podcast explores an important component of war throughout history. Small wars, drone strikes, special operations forces, counterterrorism, proxies—this podcast covers the full range of topics related to irregular war and features in-depth conversations with guests from the military, academia, and the policy community. The podcast is a collaboration between the Modern War Institute at West Point and Princeton University’s Empirical Studies of Conflict Project.
Episodes page 3 of 4
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Misguided Citizens: India’s Approach to Counterinsurgency
Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! What lessons can be found in India’s experience with counterinsurgency? Are there elements of India’s philosophical approach to…
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The Arctic Heats Up: Global Competition in the High North
Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! What are America’s interests in the Arctic? Are the traditional institutions that have governed interstate relations in the region equipped…
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Aviation Advising: Access and Influence through Airpower
Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! In this episode, we're joined by two guests to discuss how airpower can be a critical aspect of building partner capacity. Retired…
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Transmitting Values: Can US Security Force Assistance Export Democratic Norms?
Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! What role does promoting liberal values, such as human rights and democracy, play in security cooperation? How should the inherent tension…
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Slow Burn: How US Security Cooperation Shapes Operational Environments
Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! This episode explores how America’s security cooperation programs can help shape regional security environments by training foreign…
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From Street Fights to World Wars: What Gang Violence Can Teach Us about Conflict
Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! Is peace the natural order of things for the human race and war an aberration? Our guests on this episode, Dr. Chris Blattman and Mr. Teny…
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The Great Equalizer: Irregular Warfare in the City
Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! This episode explores the interplay between urban spaces and irregular warfare. Our guests are John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies…
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After Mali: Learning from the French Experience of Irregular Warfare in the Sahel
Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! This episode explores the French experience with irregular warfare in the Sahel region of Africa since 2013 and features two guests.…
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Time, Space, and Material: Metrics for Assessing Irregular Warfare
This episode explores the conceptual structures that undergird irregular warfare. Dr. Thomas Marks and Chief Warrant Officer Maurice "Duc" DuClos join our hosts, beginning the discussion by addressing the various ways…
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Another Forgotten War: America’s Experience in Afghanistan
This episode contemplates lessons learned from America’s twenty years of war in Afghanistan. To do so, we're joined by Dr. Carter Malkasian, author of The American War in Afghanistan: A History, and James Cunningham, a…
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Insurgents Rarely Win: Adaptation in the Face of Failure
This episode explores both the recent history and the future character of insurgency. Our guests are former US Ambassador to Iraq, Turkey, and Albania James Jeffrey and Dr. David Ucko, a professor at the National…
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The Bin Laden Papers: The Inner Workings of Al-Qaeda’s Leadership
This episode dives into the internal workings and communications of al-Qaeda and uses that insight to draw lessons for counterterrorism strategies. From the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden to the recent strike…
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Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: US Intelligence in a Changing World
This episode focuses on the US intelligence community and its role in supporting the spectrum of national security missions, from the heavy counterterrorism focus of the post-9/11 era to today's environment of…
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Money Talks: How Nonstate Armed Groups Finance their Operations and Organizations
How do terrorist organizations and other nonstate armed groups finance their activities? And just as importantly, how can the United States and its allies counter those streams of money? Those questions are the focus…
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Political Warfare and the Road to Invasion: Irregular Warfare in Ukraine since 2014
In this episode, the second in our two-part series focused on irregular warfare in Ukraine, we're once again joined by Michael Kofman and Kent DeBenedictis. After hearing them discuss Russia’s conception and employment…
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From Little Green Men to Tanks Outside Kyiv: Irregular Warfare in Ukraine since 2014
In this first episode of our two-part series focused on irregular warfare in Ukraine, we're joined by Michael Kofman, the research program director in the Russia Studies Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, and…
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Plan Colombia: Anatomy of a Successful Counterinsurgency Campaign
Plan Colombia has been described as a model of successful counterinsurgency and foreign internal defense at a time when large footprints in Iraq and Afghanistan have had mixed results. In this episode, we're joined by…
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Digital Irregular Warfare: Cyber at the Tactical Level
This episode explores how cyber tools and weapons are used at the tactical level within irregular warfare. Our guests, Dr. Trey Herr and Major Sally White, highlight some of the limitations of executing tactical cyber…
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Little Blue Men in the South China Sea: Unmasking China’s Maritime Militia
Since completing its terraforming and island reclamation projects in the Spratly Islands in 2016, the People’s Republic of China has shifted its emphasis to asserting dominance over the South China Sea. A key component…
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Digital Terrorists: Policy and Practice in the Online Counterterrorism Fight
In this episode, we consider how extremists of all types have exploited maneuver space online, and what this means for efforts to counter violent extremism today. To do so, we're joined by Nick Rasmussen, executive…
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Dynamite to Drones: The Diffusion of Lethal Technology to Terrorists and Insurgents
From dynamite in the early twentieth century to drones, bioweapons, and private-sector satellite constellations today, lethal technologies are increasingly available to nonstate actors and individuals. At a time when…
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COIN and Culture: How Important is Cultural Intelligence in Counterinsurgency?
It has become axiomatic that cultural intelligence is key to success in counterinsurgency operations. But is it? This episode examines this assumption, exploring whether the cultural training we receive in the military…
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The Motivations and Methods Behind Russian Hybrid Warfare
How do significant historical events and Russian cultural memory—especially those surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union—shape the Russian worldview? How do they motiviate Russia President Vladimir Putin? And…
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Russia, China, and Iran: The Face of Competition in the Middle East
Russia, China, and Iran have all been learning how to conduct irregular warfare from the United States, modeling their approaches to IW on observations of recent US interventions in the world. This episode examines…
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The Kill Chain: Why America Faces the Prospect of Defeat
A fundamental change in warfare is occurring, one that risks rendering the American way of war obsolete. As China uses technology to enhance the primacy of its kill chain, the United States has pursued a method of war…
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Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Enduring Lessons of Security Force Assistance
What is the role of security force assistance in achieving national security objectives? Where did security force assistance work well in the post-9/11 era, and where was it unsuccessful? How did policy considerations…
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Anytime, Anyplace: Air Force Special Operations Command in Future Irregular Warfare
Irregular warfare is executed across all domains. In the air, the responsibility for IW falls to Air Force Special Operations Command. Today, the command stands at an inflection point in which it must prepare to…
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Two Sides of the COIN: Good Governance vs. Compellence
In counterinsurgency warfare, how can powerful states reform corrupt or repressive governments into legitimate ones? Our guests on this episode, Jacqueline L. Hazelton and Anne-Marie Slaughter, discuss this fundamental…
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The Future of Coalition Building and Irregular Warfare
In the aftermath of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the country's chaotic collapse, it is easy to forget the prominent role that the United States played in building, leading, and sustaining a forty-nation…
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Learning from the Past, Anticipating the Future: Organizational Change in Irregular Warfare
hroughout history, IW organizations have undergone dramatic changes at all levels to meet the demands of new operating environments and threats. The book The Changing of the Guard: The British Army since 9/11 explores…
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Cyberspace as a Battlespace: Irregular Warfare through Bits and Bytes
What is the intersection between cyber and irregular warfare? Should the United States consider cyberspace a typical or exquisite domain? How did the counterterrorism fight serve as a proving ground for the application…
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Special Operations Forces and Great Power Competition
Will the role and capabilities required of special operations forces change in a geopolitical context characterized by great power competition? How will SOF balance enduring counterterrorism missions with new…
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What Have We Learned from Twenty Years of War?
What lessons should the United States and its allies take from twenty years of irregular warfare since 9/11? What will the future of irregular warfare look like? Episode 38 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast is a…
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On the Road to Jihad: The Role of Foreign Fighters in Irregular Warfare
Foreign fighters play an influential role in Islamic extremist groups. They tend to be more violent, more committed, and more resistant to reconciliation than their indigenous counterparts. Perhaps most significantly,…
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Information Operations for the Information Age: IO in Irregular Warfare
When information can travel globally at the tap of a finger, irregular warfare professionals must contend with an ever-changing environment. How does strategic messaging tie into operations on the battlefield? How can…
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Lessons from the Hardest Place: Twenty Years of War in Afghanistan
What lessons should the United States military take from twenty years of war in Afghanistan? This episode focuses on US efforts in the Pech valley, where the United States waged an enduring counterinsurgency and…
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China’s Strategically Irregular Approach: The Art of the Gray Zone
How does China operate in the space between war and peace to gain strategic advantage in Asia and globally? What do these gray zone activities look like, and how do they facilitate China’s influence in the region? What…
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An Un-American Way of War: Why the United States Fails at Irregular Warfare
The United States and other nations have spent billions of dollars and invested untold effort, not to mention lives, in a global campaign against Islamist terrorism—and yet the threat landscape is arguably worse now…
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Land Forces, Irregular Warfare, and a New Strategic Landscape
The US military and its allies are faced with the challenges of shifting focus toward great power competition while still maintaining the ability to counter threats on the fringes. Where does irregular warfare fit in…
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Closing the Chapter: Ending Afghanistan for US Army Special Forces
US Army Special Forces units continued to quietly operate in Afghanistan when conventional troops withdrew around 2015. These soldiers have worked closely with Afghan commandos and government partners to hold the…
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Back to the Future: Resetting Special Operations Forces for Great Power Competition
Special operations forces have been a favorite national security tool during the United States' post-9/11 wars. However, the release of the 2017 National Security Strategy pivoted the United States’ strategic focus…
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American Decline: Losing the Campaign for Influence
A new US administration is eager to reengage with both allies and competitors, reasserting the role of global leader that the United States has claimed since World War II. At the same time, former partners wary of…
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How a Group of Women Brought the Fight to the Islamic State
How did the United States leverage local partners in the fight against the Islamic State? What were the unique dynamics of partnering with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, particularly the Women’s Protection…
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Irregular Warfare in the Next World War
What would a conflict with China look like? How will irregular warfare fit into a conflict before and during large-scale combat operations? Retired Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman explore the theme of…
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The Harsh Lessons of Anbar: Insurgency, the Awakening, and the rise of ISIS
In this episode, we discuss US counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq's Anbar province, Iraq—from the 2006 surge through the rise of the Islamic State in 2013–2014—with two guests who both experienced the US COIN fight…
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From SAR to GFA: The ABCs of Conflict Prevention and Stabilization
How can the military and civilians work together to prevent or manage conflict? Two seminal policy initiatives, the Stabilization Assistance Review and the Global Fragility Act, provide important answers by emphasizing…
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Airpower in Irregular Warfare
Aviation has played an important role in irregular warfare, from its use by the British against rebellious tribesmen in Iraq and Transjordan in the interwar period to the era of the unblinking eye and precision strike…
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Masters of Irregular Warfare—Past, Present, and Future
Irregular warfare practitioners have played a major role in just about every war over the past 250 years. In this episode, Dr. John Arquilla and Maj. Gen. John Brennan explain how the masters of irregular warfare have…
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The View from Washington: Civilian Oversight of SOF
As policymakers’ focus shifts from counterterrorism to great power competition, the implications for special operations forces are unclear. In this episode, our guests—Senator Joni Ernst and Owen West, a former…
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War Entrepreneurs: Economic Drivers of Insurgency, Terrorism, and Crime
What drives illicit violence by substate groups such as terrorists, insurgents, and criminals—and how can states counter these threats? Our guests in this episode, Juan Zarate and Gary Shiffman, argue that social…
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