A Call to the Future: The New Air Force Strategic Framework
Gen Mark A. Welsh, III, USAF
We need a strategy that points the way forward and does not limit us to an intractable view of the future. One that is actionable, with clear goals and vectors that are implementable, assessable, and revisable. This article describes that strategy—the new USAF strategic framework for strategy-driven resourcing.
Chinese Military Modernization: Implications for Strategic Nuclear Arms Control
Stephen J. Cimbala
Entering China into the US-Russian nuclear-deterrence equation creates considerable analytical challenges, for a number of reasons. To understand these challenges one must consider the impact of China’s military modernization which creates two follow-on challenges: escalation control and nuclear signaling.
Moral and Political Necessities for Nuclear Disarmament: An Applied Ethical Analysis
Thomas E. Doyle, II
The morally required end of nuclear abolition might tragically ensnare nuclear-armed rivals in a range of moral and political dilemmas that involve significant instances of moral violation. If this paradoxical outcome is realized, then the paramount question for all involved is how to satisfy the moral imperative of nuclear abolition in ways that are not morally irresponsible.
Hypersonic Weapons and Escalation Control in East Asia
Eleni Ekmektsioglou
Hypersonic weapons have been a reason for concern, especially after the two Chinese tests in January and August 2014. What has become evident is the emphasis given to a rapid-paced development and the strategic value of the new weapon for China. That said, our theoretical understanding regarding state decisions to adopt hypersonic weapons and the impact of such systems on state behavior, escalatory dynamics, and systemic power distribution must be expanded.
On the Future of Order in Cyberspace
Christopher Whyte
A critique of Forsyth and Pope’s main argument is that the distribution of power in international affairs is likely to shift from unipolarity to multipolarity. Their overreliance on the notion of anarchy, competition, and social order in international politics ignores recent history and scholarship on balance of power politics.
Why International Order in Cyberspace is Not Inevitable
Brian M. Mazanec
Forsyth and Pope postulate that the advent of cyberwarfare poses such a range of challenges to states that constraining norms will inevitably take root. On the contrary, norm evolution theory for emerging-technology weapons leads one to conclude that constraining norms for cyberwarfare may never successfully emerge.
Structural Causes and Cyber Effects: A Response to Our Critics
James Wood Forsyth Jr. and Major Billy E. Pope, USAF
The great powers cannot choose to ignore cyberspace any more than they can choose to ignore land, sea, air, or space. As the distribution of power throughout the world changes, the great powers will strive to create rules, norms, and standards of behavior that will mitigate the challenges posed by cyberspace.
Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea: Implications for Security in Asia and Beyond
Jihyun Kim
America’s handling of this “Asian problem” is becoming a litmus test for the future status of US primacy as the nation faces crucial opportunities to prove its hegemonic resilience as well as its military and diplomatic skills to protect its allies and friends while navigating through its rivalry with a rising China.