Decoding Morris Janowitz: Limited War and Pragmatic Doctrine

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald S. Travis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unconventional Warfare ◽  
Stability Operations ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
Limited War ◽  
The U.S

The American sociologist Morris Janowitz presented two world views of security named “absolutist” and “pragmatist.” This dualistic paradigm endures into the 21st century and explains how complex and contentious security options are debated within the U.S. security establishment. His paradigm also reveals a condition called the “hegemon trap,” which means that the more powerful militarily that a state becomes relative to other states, the less likely it will fight a large-scale conventional war, resulting in frequent and perpetual limited, low-intensity, and unconventional wars. Based on experiences learned since the Vietnam War, the United States can improve global security by balancing resources between absolutist and pragmatist outlooks. This requires devoting a greater share of resources toward peacetime engagement, stability operations, and unconventional warfare.

Covert Warriors for Hire

2018 ◽  
pp. 86-117
Author(s):  
Kyle Burke
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Vietnam Veterans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Special Operations ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
The World ◽  
Reagan Era ◽  
The U.S

In the late 1970s, a new set of Americans took up the dream of a global anticommunist revolution. Many were high-ranking CIA and military officers who had been forced from their jobs by the Ford and Carter administrations in the wake of the Vietnam War. As Congress passed new laws constraining the United States’ clandestine services, these ex-soldiers and spies argued that the state’s deteriorating covert war-making abilities signaled a broader decline in U.S. power. To remedy that, retired covert warriors such as U.S. Army General John Singlaub, a thirty-year veteran of special operations, entered the world of conservative activism, which promised both steady pay and power in retirement. Working in the shadow of the state, they sought to revitalize a form of combat to which they had dedicated their lives. Some even started private military firms to fill in for the U.S. government. Meanwhile, hundreds of American men, mostly disgruntled Vietnam veterans, sought new lives as mercenaries, first in Southeast Asia and then in Rhodesia and Angola. In the late 1970s, these two camps of revanchist Americans—retired covert warriors and aspiring mercenaries—established patterns of paramilitarism that would transform the anticommunist international in the Reagan era.

“A Hidden War”

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-146
Author(s):  
Pierre-Hugues Verdier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Payment Systems ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Negative Publicity ◽  
State Prosecutors ◽  
Global Banks ◽  
The U.S

This chapter examines the rise of financial sanctions as a tool of U.S. foreign policy and the role of U.S. prosecutors in enforcing sanctions against global banks. It describes how the United States developed its financial sanctions capabilities against terrorist groups, then turned them against state actors such as North Korea, culminating with elaborate sanctions programs against Iran and Russia. It shows how U.S. federal and state prosecutors uncovered large-scale sanctions evasion efforts at numerous global banks that processed U.S. dollar payments. This enforcement campaign led to some of the largest criminal fines ever levied, and global banks such as HSBC and BNP Paribas agreed to implement U.S. sanctions and anti-money laundering controls in their worldwide operations, thus broadening the reach of U.S. policy. Although U.S. enforcement actions faced strong criticism by U.S. allies, banks facing large fines, negative publicity, and potential loss of access to essential U.S. dollar payment infrastructure complied with U.S. demands. Unlike other cases, U.S. sanctions did not lead to multilateral reforms, instead triggering efforts by sanctioned states and bystanders to reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar and U.S. payment systems.

Legacies of War

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard G. Wilshire ◽  
Richard W. Hazlett ◽  
Jane E. Nielson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Military Training ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Foreign Wars ◽  
The U.S

Since 1900, United States troops have fought in more foreign conflicts than any other nation on Earth. Most Americans supported those actions, believing that they would keep the scourge of war far from our homes. But the strategy seems to have failed—it certainly did not prevent terror attacks against the U.S. mainland. The savage Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the 11 September 2001 (9/11) attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. were not the first to inflict war damage in America’s 48 contiguous states, however—nor were they the first warlike actions to harm innocent citizens since the Civil War. Paradoxically, making war abroad has always required practicing warfare in our own back yards. Today’s large, mechanized military training exercises have degraded U.S. soils, water supplies, and wildlife habitats in the same ways that the real wars affected war-torn lands far away. The saddest fact of all is that the deadly components of some weapons in the U.S. arsenal never found use in foreign wars but have attacked U.S. citizens in their own homes and communities. The relatively egalitarian universal service of World War II left a whole generation of Americans with nostalgia and reverence for military service. Many of us, perhaps the majority, might argue that human and environmental sacrifices are the price we must be willing to pay to protect our interests and future security. A current political philosophy proposes that the United States must even start foreign wars to protect Americans and their homes. But Americans are not fully aware of all the past sacrifices—and what we don’t know can hurt us. Even decades-old impacts from military training still degrade land and contaminate air and water, particularly in the arid western states, and will continue to do so far into the future. Exploded and unexploded bombs, mines, and shells (“ordnance,” in military terms) and haphazard disposal sites still litter former training lands in western states. And large portions of the western United States remain playgrounds for war games, subject to large-scale, highly mechanized military operations for maintaining combat readiness and projecting American power abroad.

Counterinsurgency in United States Army History, 1860 to 1975

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
United States Army ◽  
American History ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Indian Wars ◽  
Empire Building ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
The U.S

American history is replete with instances of counterinsurgency. An unsurprising reality considering the United States has always participated in empire building, thus the need to pacify resistance to expansion. For much of its existence, the U.S. has relied on its Army to pacify insurgents. While the U.S. Army used traditional military formations and use of technology to battle peer enemies, the same strategy did not succeed against opponents who relied on speed and surprise. Indeed, in several instances, insurgents sought to fight the U.S. Army on terms that rendered superior manpower and technology irrelevant. By introducing counterinsurgency as a strategy, the U.S. Army attempted to identify and neutralize insurgents and the infrastructure that supported them. Discussions of counterinsurgency include complex terms, thus readers are provided with simplified, yet accurate definitions and explanations. Moreover, understanding the relevant terms provided continuity between conflicts. While certain counterinsurgency measures worked during the American Civil War, the Indian Wars, and in the Philippines, the concept failed during the Vietnam War. The complexities of counterinsurgency require readers to familiarize themselves with its history, relevant scholarship, and terminology—in particular, counterinsurgency, pacification, and infrastructure.

“Mourning a Loss: Conservative Support for Ngo Dinh Diem”

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-284
Author(s):  
Seth Offenbach
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conservative Movement ◽  
Great Hope ◽  
The Vietnam War ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Ngo Dinh Diem ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. conservative movement in the mid-20th Century argued that the United States needed to continuously get tougher in the fight against communism worldwide. It remained supportive of U.S. efforts throughout the Vietnam War. However, in the period immediately preceding Americanization of the war in 1965, conservatives were uncertain about the outcome of any fighting in Vietnam. Specifically, they claimed that optimism for the Republic of Vietnam was lost with the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. Without Diem, conservatives claimed, the Vietnam War was likely lost before it began. This article discusses how Diem went from a barely talked-about anti-Communist ally prior to his death to becoming posthumously the last great hope for Southeast Asia. Conservatives argued that without Diem, the only way the United States would be able to stop Communist expansion in Indochina would be to engage in a massive aerial bombing campaign and find a regional partner to deploy troops. Had he survived, this might not have been necessary. Learning why and how conservatives supported Diem after his death helps us better understand how conservatives reacted to the Vietnam War once Americanization began in 1965.

Diverse and Transnational: Chinese (PRC) Immigrants in the United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia-Huang Yin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Group ◽  
Recent Immigrants ◽  
American Experience ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Socioeconomic Diversity ◽  
American Society ◽  
The U.S

AbstractThis article studies characteristics of recent immigrants from China (PRC) in the United States, especially their socioeconomic status and networking with their native land. The unprecedented, large-scale, and highly diversified immigration from China to the U.S. since the late 1970s has not only turned the Chinese into the second largest immigrant group in American society, but has also created new opportunities for interpretation of the Chinese diasporic experience. By examining the socioeconomic diversity among PRC immigrants in their American life and the extensive networks they have established across the Pacific, the article shows how class, ethnicity, and transnationality work at cross purposes in the Chinese American experience and sheds light on the new dynamics in overseas Chinese communities in this rapidly changing era.

scholarly journals TEXAS 2050

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Caine ◽  
◽  
Trenton Tunks ◽  
Carlos Serrano ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Infrastructures ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
United States Population ◽  
Regional Plan ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Critical Link ◽  
Increasing Efficiencies

By the year 2050 the United States population will increase by half, with 70% living in a megaregion (Regional Plan Association, 2006). These numbers emphasize the critical link between large-scale territorial expansion and the prospects for successful urbanism. Currently, 11 mega-regions exist in the U.S., each bound together by a unique mixture of demographics, infrastructure, culture, and environment. As each megaregion grows, it must identify and leverage critical infrastructures that are capable of binding geographies and increasing efficiencies. This project speculates about one such strategy for the emerging megaregion known as the Texas Triangle.

scholarly journals Military cooperation between the United States of America and the Republic of Vietnam (1969-1973)

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. first
Author(s):  
Le Thi Nhuong
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Cooperation ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
South Vietnam ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

President M. Richard Nixon took office in the context that the United States was being crisis and deeply divided by the Vietnam war. Ending the war became the new administration's top priority. The top priority of the new government was to get the American out of the war. But if the American got out of the war and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) fell, the honor and and prestige of the U.S will be effected. Nixon government wanted to conclude American involvement honorably. It means that the U.S forces could be returned to the U.S, but still maintaining the RVN government in South Vietnam. To accomplish this goal, Nixon government implemented linkage diplomacy, negotiated with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Paris and implemented "Vietnamization" strategy. The aim of the Vietnamization was to train and provide equipments for the RVN's military forces that gradually replace the U.S. troops, take responsibility in self-guarantee for their own security. By analyzing the military cooperation between the United States and the RVN in the implementation of "Vietnamization", the paper aims to clarify the nature of the "allied relationship" between the U.S and the RVN. It also proves that the goal of Nixon's Vietnamization was not to help the RVN "reach to a strong government with a wealthy economy, a powerful internal security and military forces", served the policy of withdrawing American troops from the war that the U.S could not win militarily, solving internal problems but still preserving the honor of the United States.

scholarly journals Emergence of an early SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Zeller ◽  
Karthik Gangavarapu ◽  
Catelyn Anderson ◽  
Allison R. Smither ◽  
John A. Vanchiere ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mardi Gras ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The City ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The U.S

AbstractThe emergence of the early COVID-19 epidemic in the United States (U.S.) went largely undetected, due to a lack of adequate testing and mitigation efforts. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana experienced one of the earliest and fastest accelerating outbreaks, coinciding with the annual Mardi Gras festival, which went ahead without precautions. To gain insight into the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S. and how large, crowded events may have accelerated early transmission, we sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes during the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in Louisiana. We show that SARS-CoV-2 in Louisiana initially had limited sequence diversity compared to other U.S. states, and that one successful introduction of SARS-CoV-2 led to almost all of the early SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Louisiana. By analyzing mobility and genomic data, we show that SARS-CoV-2 was already present in New Orleans before Mardi Gras and that the festival dramatically accelerated transmission, eventually leading to secondary localized COVID-19 epidemics throughout the Southern U.S.. Our study provides an understanding of how superspreading during large-scale events played a key role during the early outbreak in the U.S. and can greatly accelerate COVID-19 epidemics on a local and regional scale.

scholarly journals First Record of the Large-Scale Loach Paramisgurnus dabryanus (Cobitidae) in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 246-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph E. Kirsch ◽  
Richard F. Feeney ◽  
Alisha Goodbla ◽  
Christopher Hart ◽  
Zachary J. Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fish Communities ◽  
The United States ◽  
San Francisco Estuary ◽  
Bifurcation Structure ◽  
Paramisgurnus Dabryanus ◽  
San Joaquin River ◽  
The U.S

Abstract Exotic species have been implicated as a major threat to native freshwater fish communities in the Unites States. The San Francisco Estuary watershed has been recognized as one of the most invaded systems where exotics often dominate the fish community. On October 6, 2014, members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service detected a previously unknown exotic fish in a disconnected pool immediately upstream from the Chowchilla Bifurcation Structure in the San Joaquin River, a major tributary of the San Francisco Estuary. A member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initially identified the fish as an Oriental Weatherfish Misgurnus anguillicaudatus using external morphological characteristics. We conducted additional fish sampling near the Chowchilla Bifurcation Structure in November 2014 and collected a total of six additional specimens in disconnected pool habitats. Unexpectedly, genetic and meristic techniques revealed that these specimens were Large-Scale Loach Paramisgurnus dabryanus. To our knowledge this is the first confirmed occurrence of Large-Scale Loach in the United States and the suspected pathway of introduction is release from aquaria. Very little is known about the population in the San Joaquin River. We recommend further evaluation of the ecology, distribution, and abundance of Large-Scale Loach to better understand their potential impact on the fish communities of the San Joaquin River and the likelihood of establishment throughout the United States.

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