Under operation Iraq Freedom uppvisades i media en bild av en snabb och tempofylldframryckning mot Bagdad. Denna bild kontrasterade mot den som normalt förknippas med USArmy och dess krigföring. Skulle denna bild kunna vara med verkligheten överrensstämmande?Har nya tankegångar och doktriner fått ett sådant genomslag att US Army anammatmanöverkrigföringens elementa och faktiskt nyttjar det, även på taktisk nivå? Har teori såledesblivit praktik?Syftet med denna uppsats är följaktligen att verifiera eller falsifiera en hypotes, utgående i frånatt amerikanska enheter ur US Army anammat manöverteorins nyckelbegrepp och numeraanvänder sig av manöverkrigföring på taktisk nivå och således lyckats implementera en ny teori ipraktiken. Detta har gjorts genom att genomföra en fallstudie av den tredje amerikanskainfanteridivisionen (mek) och dess agerande vid olika händelser från dess att framryckningenstartar i Kuwait den 20 mars och intill Bagdad faller den 9 april.Analysen visar att divisionens agerande under dessa studerade händelseförlopp i hög gradpräglades av manöverkrigföring och att förbandet följde gällande doktrin vilken i sin tur byggerpå hörnstenarna i manöverteorin. Således har hypotesen kunna verifieras och teori har blivitpraktik. Avslutningsvis diskuteras resultatet utifrån uppsatsens slutsatser, problemställningarsamt där nya frågeställningar också förs fram. / Avdelning: ALB - Slutet Mag 3 C-uppsHylla: Upps. ChP 02-04

This dissertation explores the application of spatial organization models to medieval Islamic urbanism. In particular, the systems of urban settlements in Mesopotamia and Persia during the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. are investigated, depending primarily on medieval indigenous sources. The study of Islamic urbanism in general, and medieval Islamic urbanism in particular, remained for a long time obscured by an inadequate single perspective: the "Islamic city" as an individual social entity occupying a fixed geographical area. The conventional approach can be criticized for its restricted focus on Islamic cultural tradition as the only explanatory variable and for its search for an ideal-type construct in the tradition of Western urban-ecological writings of the first half of the twentieth century. The alternative approach put forward in the present thesis examines the city as part of a larger urban network extending over several regions. It is argued that the application of spatial organization models to medieval Islamic urbanism will help to clarify the place and role of cities in both the regional and national structures and will provide a suitable framework for comparing the stages of urban and regional development. Following a historical perspective, the study results indicate the sequence in the evolution of a distinctive form of Islamic urbanism through the operation of several spatial processes. Such processes signify the expansion, assimilation, and integration of urban settlements in former Sasanian lands. Analysis of the road network provides the necessary framework by which interurban contacts are examined on both the national and the regional levels. Hierarchical organization of space and settlement interdependencies are further demonstrated by the analysis of long-distance kharaj (land tax) mobility. This medieval fiscal system is used as a surrogate for human spatial interaction and is supplemented by an evidence for the existence of an urban hierarchy derived from the actual methods and approaches used by the medieval Arab geographers themselves. The findings of the present study demonstrate the evidence for the evolution first of a nationally integrated urban system and second of several regionally organized urban subsystems.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Tübingen. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 186-210).

Abstract This study examines the conclusions made by Roland Paris in his case study of fourteen major post-war reconstruction efforts following the end of the Cold War, and applies them to the current reconstruction process in post-war Iraq. Paris found a common denominator of the fourteen cases – a belief that a rapid liberalization process, turning war-torn states into liberal market democracies, would foster sustainable peace. Paris calls this belief “Wilsonianism” after Woodrow Wilson, who was one of the first advocates of it. However, as it turned out this immediate liberalization generated a number of destabilizing side-effects, which endangered the very peace such policies were designed to strengthen. Thus, the aim of this study is: to try whether the developments in Iraq after 1 May 2003 correspond with Paris’ conclusion from his study of peacebuilding operations during the 1990:s, that a rapid liberalization process endangers the very peace it is expected to bring about. Even though I had some difficulties separating the involvement of the American-led coalition as an invading power as opposed to the power behind the liberalization process, I found Paris’ conclusion to be well in accordance with how the post-war reconstruction effort of Iraq has developed.

Staters förmåga att samordna tillgängliga militära medel med strategi i krig, i en tid då tekniken utvecklas i snabb takt, är ett problem. Tidigare forskningsresultat pekar på att tekniska detaljer på taktisk nivå inte kan vara dimensionerande och tillräckliga för att se hur och om teknikutveckling påverkat modern krigföring i praktik och i teorin. I den pågående analysen avseende teknikens påverkan på krigföring bör denna påverkan i kombination med strategisk tillämpning analyseras innan sådana slutsatser kan tas. Vid detta finns en lucka när det gäller akademiska studier kring teknikens påverkan på strategi i krig. Det som denna undersökning bidrar med är att ge en ökad förståelse avseende teknikens påverkan på krigföring i allmänhet och strategi i synnerhet, relativt den militärtekniska utvecklingen som ägt rum i modern tid. Denna uppsats syftar därför till att undersöka teknikens påverkan på en stats strategi i krig. Resultatet av undersökning påvisar att teknikens påverkan på en stats vilja att uppnå en sammanhållen och samordnad strategi formas av hur den tekniska utvecklingen politiskt prioriteras och militärstrategisk förmåga att hantera ny avancerad teknik som informations-, cyber-, och precisionsvapen. Tekniken påverkar en stats strategi i hur människan har vilja och kunskap att åtgärda samt omhänderta teknisk under-, och överlägsenhet på militär-, och politiskstrategisk nivå. En stats åtgärder att överkomma oväntade konsekvenser vid användandet av ny teknik exemplifieras med att militärstrategiskt anpassa stridskrafter till rådande läge och att hitta alternativa politiskstrategiska åtgärder med tillgängliga medel.

Since 2010 The Islamic State (IS) has resurrected from virtual extinction and has conquered vast territories in Iraq and Syria. It has transformed from a simple group of insurgents to a conventional army which has claimed to be a state of its own since it announced the for-mation of the Caliphate in mid-2014. Researchers have used many different theories to un-derstand the success of IS which has increased our knowledge of the phenomenon. Even so there are still questions that need to be answered in order to fully understand what we are facing in the Middle East (ME) today and what we might encounter in other parts of the world tomorrow. This essay uses revolutionary theories about Communism and Nationalism with the intent to expand our view of modern insurgencies. More precisely it investigates why IS has been so successful in its conquests, which are done through the narrative of its attitude towards the population of Iraq and Syria. The result reveals that IS uses a combination of the two above-mentioned ideologies. IS keeps conflicts going through constant terror against specific groups thus creating a gap be-tween the governments and the Sunnis in the region. Simultaneously it is trying to create an environment where the inhabitants can experience normal living conditions. The future of the ME is worrying since IS and its way of gaining conquests is hard to battle for whoever is intervening.

The motivation of the bachelor thesis is to provide an understanding of democracy in Iraq from 2003 until present. After the fall of Saddam’s regime, there have been general elections but there is still an unstable democracy in Iraq. What are the reasons behind the failure of democracy in Iraq? Of course, there are many reasons behind this but my choice is to focus on three specific ones. How do these three variables that I have chosen, affect the possibility of democracy in Iraq? These two questions will be answered in this bachelor thesis, using Path Dependence Theory and Dahl’s Polyarchy Model and its Criteria that help to analyze and answer the research questions. Iraq has many major problems but the three I have focused on are ethnic and religious divides between Shia and Sunni, the violent environment and the presence of terrorist groups.

The wars in the Middle East (Afghanistan and Iraq) in which the United States has been involved are widely debated and often seen as asymmetrically full-scale wars. What is characteristic of these conflicts are that there is no research to map these conflicts regarding the US application of hybrid warfare. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of US contemporary warfare by consuming the modern theory of New Generation Warfare (NGW) on the conflicts in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. The ambition is, therefore, to consuming the existing theoretical starting point to analyse existing research in the field to contribute to the war science research. The conclusions drawn from this study are that US contemporary warfare is moving in the same direction as Russia. It has shown that US contemporary warfare is a precursor to Russian contemporary warfare, which is characterized by military interventions with special operations forces and fewer conventional forces with great emphasis on psychological and information operations. Based on the analysis of the Middle East conflicts in which the United States has been involved.

No description available.

The world is rapidly becoming more urbanised and with key infrastructure being located inside or close to cities the probability of urban warfare in the next major conflict is very high. This thesis examines how the use of Alice Hills theory can explain success in urban warfare on the tactical level of war. The purpose of the thesis is to test the validity of Hills theory. To examine to what extent Hills’s theory can explain the success of the coalition forces during Operation Phantom Fury and the failure of Operation Vigilant Resolve, a theory testing case study is applied. The two cases have similar background variables, which allows for a structured comparison of the two cases. The analysis is based on Hills’s success factors in urban warfare. The results of the analysis reveal that Hills theory can explain the success of the coalition during Operation Phantom Fury and the failure of Operation Vigilant Resolve, thereby strengthening the validity of Hills theory. The results highlight the need to control the civilian population during urban combat. However, due to the difficulties of measuring success factors such as leadership and morale with the chosen method, the external validity of the results is negatively affected.