Finding the Balance: U.S. Military and Future Operations (PKSOI Papers)

Abstract

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Policing Africa: The US military and visions of crafting ‘good order’

“…Critical observers argue that the US military’s development activities are dangerous, not least because they disguise the USA’s real security interests, namely, counter-terrorism (Besteman, 2009; Keenan, 2009). On the other hand, US military analysts have taken counterinsurgency thinking and practice to non-war spaces, arguing that future military engagement in the context of so-called ungoverned spaces will have to be less kinetic, more preventative, and concentrate on the population (Flavin, 2011; Taw, 2012; United States Institute for Peace and US Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (USIP/PKSOI)). Both sides would argue that the military’s new modus operandi results in the redrawing of the boundary between civilian and military responsibilities.…”