Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / The military changes that have transformed global politics in recent years - especially since the end of the Cold War - have brought about a new revolution in military affairs (RMA) by the United States. The PLA has begun to study the RMA by focusing on asymmetric warfare capabilities under high technological conditions. China believes that asymmetric operations have the advantages of enabling a swift and precise attack and avoiding mass destruction on Taiwan's infrastructure and hightech industry. They also have the benefits of low intensity, low collateral damage, high efficiency, fast attack, and fast victory. In summary, asymmetric operations are regarded by the PLA as a kind of warfare that conforms both with the dictum of China's ancient war theorist Sun Tzu to "defeat the enemy without bloodshed and fighting" and the demands of a modern economy. In the face of China's development of asymmetric capabilities, Taiwan should think about how best to confront and counter China's threats and to gain a military edge over China.

This thesis argues that a shift in the doctrine, organization, equipment and training of armies is required due to a shift in the nature of war. This thesis refers to the "new way of war" as Fourth Generation War (4GW) and this analysis is restricted to the army component of the defense forces. Armies at present are geared to fight the earlier generation of attrition and maneuver wars. In 4GW, an army structured for earlier generations of warfare is militarily dysfunctional. The thesis statement is: Infantry based armies practicing unconventional warfare (UW) are essential for the 4GW battlefield. The thesis argues for the conventionalization of UW. Hypothesis One states that heavy armor/artillery based armies should give way to infantry based armies. Hypothesis Two states that the military doctrine of these infantry based armies should be based on UW. The thesis explains 4GW and examines the relationship between terrorism and 4GW. It studies the impact of 4GW on the Principles of War. It examines whether Special Forces (SF) are the panacea for 4GW and whether increasing the size of SF is the solution. Lastly, the thesis discusses the changes required in the army to fight in a 4GW environment and provides recommendations.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Mavris, Dimitri; Committee Member: Bishop, Carlee; Committee Member: McMichael, James; Committee Member: Nixon, Janel; Committee Member: Schrage, Daniel

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / "AD-A405 818." Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-157). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): Kalev Sepp. Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-185). Also available online.

Since Russia´s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, asymmetric warfare has been on the rise, and much effort has been focused on understanding and comparing this warfare to existing theories. This, however, has not been the case for the naval aspects of asymmetric warfare. Even though nations and insurgents alike use these methods it has received little focus and therefore many questions have been left unanswered.  How should naval asymmetric warfare be understood and countered? Does naval asymmetric warfare relate to existing naval theories or is it related to existing asymmetric land theories? This essay aims to answer some of these questions by using Vegos theory concerning sea control to examine asymmetric methods and their correlation to sea control in The Tanker War and the Sri Lankan civil war.  This essay concludes that asymmetric methods and it´s correlation to sea control are, to a great extent, described by Vegos theory. The methods used and level of sea control achieved conform to Vegos theory which, according to this essay, can be used to interpret asymmetric naval conflicts.

Thesis (Master of Military Studies)-Marine Corps Command and Staff College, 2008. / Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on: Jan 11, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

As grandes guerras da Idade Moderna foram, em sua maioria, travadas por inimigos que se organizavam sob a forma de Estado-nação. Após o final da Guerra Fria, entretanto, um conjunto múltiplo e disperso de fenômenos e atores, predominantemente não-estatais e transnacionais, tem se tornado um importante alvo das políticas de segurança internacional, especialmente as dos Estados do Ocidente. Esses novos fenômenos e atores de caráter nãotradicional são definidos na política de defesa dos EUA – bem como na daqueles Estados, setores e organismos internacionais por ela influenciados – como as “novas ameaças”, um conceito que abrange atividades diversificadas, tais como o terrorismo e o crime organizado em geral (narcotráfico, tráfico de armas e de pessoas, por exemplo). Ao mesmo tempo, estaríamos vivenciando um processo de “securitização” de novas questões a partir da extensão do conceito de “segurança” para novas áreas, como a economia, o meioambiente, a sociedade e a política, supostamente superando a segurança entendida em termos militares e estratégicos. O objetivo da presente dissertação é analisar a posição do Exército Brasileiro com relação a quatro problemas de segurança não-tradicionais presentes na Amazônia, quais sejam: as questões ambientais, os problemas relacionados aos povos indígenas, os crimes transnacionais e a guerrilha colombiana. A nossa hipótese é de que a atuação das Forças Armadas brasileiras na Amazônia continue prevendo fundamentalmente a defesa da soberania nacional contra inimigos tradicionais externos (estatais) e que, neste sentido, as questões de segurança de caráter não-tradicional presentes na Amazônia brasileira sejam vistas e tratadas pelo Exército Brasileiro como ameaças à segurança nacional a partir de um quadro tradicional – na medida em que poderiam servir de pretexto para justificar uma ingerência ou mesmo intervenção externa sobre a região amazônica, sob a alegação de que o Brasil seria incapaz de resolver esses problemas por si próprio. / Most of the important wars of the Modern Age were fought by enemies organized under the state-nation form. After the end of the Cold War, however, a multiple and spread complex of phenomena and actors, mostly transnational and non-state, has become an important target of the international security policies, especially in the Western states. This new phenomena and actors with non-traditional characteristics are defined in the United States’ defense policy – as in the policies of those states and international organisms influenced by it – as the “new threats”, a concept that entails very diversified activities such as the terrorism and the organized crime (drugs, weapons and people traffic, for example). At the same time, we are supposedly experiencing a process of “securitization” of new issues through the stretching of the concept of “security” to fields like the economy, the environment, the society and the politics, allegedly overcoming the state-military-strategic understanding of security. The purpose of the present dissertation is to analyze the position of the Brazilian Army about four non-traditional security issues present in the Amazon, which are: the environmental issues, the problems related to the indigenous peoples, the transnational crimes and the Colombian guerrilla. Our hypothesis is that the activity of the Brazilian Armed Forces in the Amazon continues to predict fundamentally the defense of the national sovereignty against traditional state enemies; in this sense, the non-traditional security issues present in the Amazon are treated by the Brazilian Army as threats to the national security considering a traditional perspective – which predicts that those issues could be used as excuses to justify external interferences or even a foreign intervention by some of the “great powers” over the Amazon, under the allegation that Brazil would not be able to solve those problems by itself.

As grandes guerras da Idade Moderna foram, em sua maioria, travadas por inimigos que se organizavam sob a forma de Estado-nação. Após o final da Guerra Fria, entretanto, um conjunto múltiplo e disperso de fenômenos e atores, predominantemente não-estatais e transnacionais, tem se tornado um importante alvo das políticas de segurança internacional, especialmente as dos Estados do Ocidente. Esses novos fenômenos e atores de caráter nãotradicional são definidos na política de defesa dos EUA – bem como na daqueles Estados, setores e organismos internacionais por ela influenciados – como as “novas ameaças”, um conceito que abrange atividades diversificadas, tais como o terrorismo e o crime organizado em geral (narcotráfico, tráfico de armas e de pessoas, por exemplo). Ao mesmo tempo, estaríamos vivenciando um processo de “securitização” de novas questões a partir da extensão do conceito de “segurança” para novas áreas, como a economia, o meioambiente, a sociedade e a política, supostamente superando a segurança entendida em termos militares e estratégicos. O objetivo da presente dissertação é analisar a posição do Exército Brasileiro com relação a quatro problemas de segurança não-tradicionais presentes na Amazônia, quais sejam: as questões ambientais, os problemas relacionados aos povos indígenas, os crimes transnacionais e a guerrilha colombiana. A nossa hipótese é de que a atuação das Forças Armadas brasileiras na Amazônia continue prevendo fundamentalmente a defesa da soberania nacional contra inimigos tradicionais externos (estatais) e que, neste sentido, as questões de segurança de caráter não-tradicional presentes na Amazônia brasileira sejam vistas e tratadas pelo Exército Brasileiro como ameaças à segurança nacional a partir de um quadro tradicional – na medida em que poderiam servir de pretexto para justificar uma ingerência ou mesmo intervenção externa sobre a região amazônica, sob a alegação de que o Brasil seria incapaz de resolver esses problemas por si próprio. / Most of the important wars of the Modern Age were fought by enemies organized under the state-nation form. After the end of the Cold War, however, a multiple and spread complex of phenomena and actors, mostly transnational and non-state, has become an important target of the international security policies, especially in the Western states. This new phenomena and actors with non-traditional characteristics are defined in the United States’ defense policy – as in the policies of those states and international organisms influenced by it – as the “new threats”, a concept that entails very diversified activities such as the terrorism and the organized crime (drugs, weapons and people traffic, for example). At the same time, we are supposedly experiencing a process of “securitization” of new issues through the stretching of the concept of “security” to fields like the economy, the environment, the society and the politics, allegedly overcoming the state-military-strategic understanding of security. The purpose of the present dissertation is to analyze the position of the Brazilian Army about four non-traditional security issues present in the Amazon, which are: the environmental issues, the problems related to the indigenous peoples, the transnational crimes and the Colombian guerrilla. Our hypothesis is that the activity of the Brazilian Armed Forces in the Amazon continues to predict fundamentally the defense of the national sovereignty against traditional state enemies; in this sense, the non-traditional security issues present in the Amazon are treated by the Brazilian Army as threats to the national security considering a traditional perspective – which predicts that those issues could be used as excuses to justify external interferences or even a foreign intervention by some of the “great powers” over the Amazon, under the allegation that Brazil would not be able to solve those problems by itself.

As grandes guerras da Idade Moderna foram, em sua maioria, travadas por inimigos que se organizavam sob a forma de Estado-nação. Após o final da Guerra Fria, entretanto, um conjunto múltiplo e disperso de fenômenos e atores, predominantemente não-estatais e transnacionais, tem se tornado um importante alvo das políticas de segurança internacional, especialmente as dos Estados do Ocidente. Esses novos fenômenos e atores de caráter nãotradicional são definidos na política de defesa dos EUA – bem como na daqueles Estados, setores e organismos internacionais por ela influenciados – como as “novas ameaças”, um conceito que abrange atividades diversificadas, tais como o terrorismo e o crime organizado em geral (narcotráfico, tráfico de armas e de pessoas, por exemplo). Ao mesmo tempo, estaríamos vivenciando um processo de “securitização” de novas questões a partir da extensão do conceito de “segurança” para novas áreas, como a economia, o meioambiente, a sociedade e a política, supostamente superando a segurança entendida em termos militares e estratégicos. O objetivo da presente dissertação é analisar a posição do Exército Brasileiro com relação a quatro problemas de segurança não-tradicionais presentes na Amazônia, quais sejam: as questões ambientais, os problemas relacionados aos povos indígenas, os crimes transnacionais e a guerrilha colombiana. A nossa hipótese é de que a atuação das Forças Armadas brasileiras na Amazônia continue prevendo fundamentalmente a defesa da soberania nacional contra inimigos tradicionais externos (estatais) e que, neste sentido, as questões de segurança de caráter não-tradicional presentes na Amazônia brasileira sejam vistas e tratadas pelo Exército Brasileiro como ameaças à segurança nacional a partir de um quadro tradicional – na medida em que poderiam servir de pretexto para justificar uma ingerência ou mesmo intervenção externa sobre a região amazônica, sob a alegação de que o Brasil seria incapaz de resolver esses problemas por si próprio. / Most of the important wars of the Modern Age were fought by enemies organized under the state-nation form. After the end of the Cold War, however, a multiple and spread complex of phenomena and actors, mostly transnational and non-state, has become an important target of the international security policies, especially in the Western states. This new phenomena and actors with non-traditional characteristics are defined in the United States’ defense policy – as in the policies of those states and international organisms influenced by it – as the “new threats”, a concept that entails very diversified activities such as the terrorism and the organized crime (drugs, weapons and people traffic, for example). At the same time, we are supposedly experiencing a process of “securitization” of new issues through the stretching of the concept of “security” to fields like the economy, the environment, the society and the politics, allegedly overcoming the state-military-strategic understanding of security. The purpose of the present dissertation is to analyze the position of the Brazilian Army about four non-traditional security issues present in the Amazon, which are: the environmental issues, the problems related to the indigenous peoples, the transnational crimes and the Colombian guerrilla. Our hypothesis is that the activity of the Brazilian Armed Forces in the Amazon continues to predict fundamentally the defense of the national sovereignty against traditional state enemies; in this sense, the non-traditional security issues present in the Amazon are treated by the Brazilian Army as threats to the national security considering a traditional perspective – which predicts that those issues could be used as excuses to justify external interferences or even a foreign intervention by some of the “great powers” over the Amazon, under the allegation that Brazil would not be able to solve those problems by itself.