The Future of Force

Security threats have evolved in recent decades, and governments must likewise prepare strategies beyond the use of force to monitor, control insurgent groups that are destabilizing so much of the Middle East and Africa. Joseph Nye of Harvard University who coined the phrase soft power points to a trend pf blurred boundaries between military troops and civilians: “Accelerating this shift is the replacement of interstate war by armed conflict involving non-state actors such as insurgent groups, terrorist networks, militias, and criminal organizations.” Some receive government support, their own or from external sources, and many take advantage of power vacuums. Quick availability of news reports from battle zones shape public opinion and draw recruits on both sides. The new forms of battle have no rules, Nye notes. Major powers must be ready for any type of attack; over-reaction can be as dangerous as under-reaction. – YaleGlobal