Private military companies have rapidly filled in many operational force capacities that national militaries now longer have the capabilities to fill natively. As such, PMCs have expanded their rosters as well as their services provided to fill in many roles, and have carried out many such roles such as logistics management, personal and site security, and some inherently state functions such as training indigenous security forces and interrogation of prisoners. This rise has impacted national militaries in many facets of their operations and abstract professional bases. The ability of the PMC to carry out operations at the same standard as regular soldiers but with higher pay has impacted how the regular soldier views their own place in the professional national military, and creates problems for the establishment as a whole. This thesis will discuss the Iraq War as a case study and the impact of PMCs on the war, as well as introduce the Huntingtonian theories of soldier professionalism and corporateness, and will also employ a critical Marxist perspective to analyse the role and impact of PMCs in the modern military convention and in civil-military relations.

This thesis deals with the current role of airpower in contemporary warfare. In last 100 years, the aircraft became an indisputable part of today's armed conflict. The aim of this work is to determine the mechanics behind airpower's functions in conflicts and to critically assess airpower's performance. The analyzed conflicts - Persian Gulf 1991, Kosovo 1999, Afghanistan 2001 and U. S.-led counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan - provide the diversity that is needed to reveal the position of airpower in contemporary strategy. The thesis is divided in three parts. The first part follows the evolution of airpower and its theory, providing context to further analysis of contemporary environment. The second part of the thesis identifies key theoretical concepts and modalities connected to airpower and analysis them on a general, theoretical basis. The third part of this thesis applies the concepts and modalities on the picked case studies in order to reach the suggested objectives by analyzing the conflicts and deriving empirical data. The conclusions of the thesis suggest that while slightly exaggerated, airpower grew to vital importance and became one of the key elements in today's conflicts.

With the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center buildings, the intersection of religious ideals in war has been at the forefront of the American discussion on war and conflict. The New York attacks were followed by the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan in October of 2001 in an attempt to destroy the religious government of the Taliban and capture the Islamic terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, and then followed by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, both in an attempt to fight terrorism and religious extremism. In both instances, American forces became embroiled in counterinsurgency operations against insurgent fighters who identified themselves in terms of religion and ethnicity. More recently, all of the regional and nuclear powers are engaged in conflicts against insurgents identified as religious in some form. The purpose of this research is to present tactical and strategic policies that can be implemented when ethno-religious violence occurs in and around religious sites, ensuring that operations at these sites will contribute to successful mitigation of violence in the wider conflict. Based on concepts from classical and contemporary counterinsurgency thought, a set of variables that contributes to successful counterinsurgency operations at religious sites was selected in order to understand successes and failures at previous operations. The results from these comparative studies were then used to develop a theoretical framework that contributes to successful counterinsurgency operations at religious sites. The comparative studies chosen for this research includes four cases from India, with the finding then applied to case studies from Thailand, and Israel. Like India, Thailand and Israel are facing insurgent movements that identify themselves along various ethnic, religious, and national constructs. The findings clearly show that there is a set of operational variables that apply to counterinsurgency operations at religious sites and contribute to tactical and strategic success. Conclusions are drawn that success or failure of counterinsurgency operations at religious sites is not solely tied to a military versus law enforcement approach to the conflict. Contrary to this theory, it is how the operation is carried out, rather than how the counterinsurgents are formed, that contributes to a successful operation.

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No description available.

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No description available.

Cette recherche doctorale en histoire immédiate, s'inscrit dans une réflexion plus large sur l'étude de nouveaux conflits, la culture et l'emploi des forces armées françaises sur le terrain, en prenant l'exemple de son engagement en Afghanistan. Elle porte particulièrement sur l'emploi de l'arme du génie dont nous postulons à la grande importance de ses savoir-faire sur le terrain, en situation de contre-insurrection. / This doctoral research takes part on the study of the new conflicts, by taking the example of the French engineers in Afghanistan. We postulate for the big importance of these combat support units in situation of counterinsurgency.

Thesis (Master of Military Studies)-Marine Corps Command and Staff College, 2008. / Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on: Dec 29, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation is an Investigation into the Tuareg involvement in violent conflict in the Sahara and the Sahel of North Africa from a sociological psychological perspective of unmet human needs. The research begins by establishing the structure and texture of the sociological, psychological, and emotional life patterns of their existence when not involved in violent conflict. This is followed by an examination of the pathology of Tuareg social structures that are engaged in intra and inter communal violence as perpetrators, victims, and bystanders. The first part of the research establishes normal conditions of the sociological life cycle and highlights natural areas of conflict that arise from exposure to rapid and/or external changes to their physical and social environment. The second part establishes parameters of expected damage from trauma, extended conflict, and failure to adapt to rapid environmental, social and political changes. The research methodology relies on a case study format that uses collaborative ethnography and phenomenological inquiry to answer the research questions and validate propositions made from existing literature and pre]existing research. The research questions focus on aspects of the sociological structure and failing psychological and emotional needs that are relevant to the subjectfs involvement in violent conflict. The research propositions are in part shaped from existing knowledge of tribal sociological structures that are related to the Tuareg by ethnicity, environment, and shared psycho]cultural attributes. The expected contribution of this research is the development of an alternative praxis for tribal engagement and village stability operations conducted by the United States Special Operations Command.