Abstract

American dominance of conventional military capabilities has forced potential competitors to explore asymmetric responses. Some of these, such as cyber conflict capabilities, may appear primarily tactical, but taken together with emerging strategic doctrines such as Russian "new generation warfare" or Chinese "unrestricted warfare" and unpredictable and potent technological evolution, an arguably new form of warfare - "civilizational conflict" - is emerging. This does not mean that current strategic and operational doctrine and activities are obsolete, but it does mean that a new conceptual framework for conflict among cultures is required, within which such more traditional operations are developed and deployed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)60-74
Number of pages15
JournalBulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Volume71
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 15 2015

Keywords

  • ISIS
  • Islamic State
  • civil-military relationships
  • civilizational conflict
  • fourth generation warfare
  • new generation warfare
  • unrestricted warfare

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Political Science and International Relations

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