Asymmetric conflicts

For more on weapons of choice in asymmetric warfare, see Roberts, Bradley. 1998. Biological Weapons in Major Theater War, Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria, Va., November, and Roberts, Bradley. 2000. Asymmetric Conflict 2010, Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria, Va., November. 

The kinds of operational capabilities that the Navy needs in order to be able to carry out its missions in a chemical or biological threat environment appear within its reach. To attain the necessary capability and readiness, it should support and sustain improvements in passive defenses, training, and leadership awareness—but it should also do some major things quite differently. It should see the threat in an entirely new way. It should not rely solely on the notion that the mobility of ships at sea is adequate defense against this threat in the era of asymmetric conflict. The Navy should look well beyond passive defenses to understand the full contours of a CW or BW defense posture. It must plan on the basis of a risk-management approach and train and test to refine its TTPs.27... 

Several countries are currently developing and implementing new non-lethal capabilities. They do so in the belief that this will enable many emerging and non-traditional threats (which may appear in low intensity, asymmetric conflicts and non-combatant operations) to be countered with a progressive response. Non-lethal weapons are of interest to the military and to law enforcement agencies as, in many cases, the character of the scenarios is similar.61... 

Since the end of the Cold War, the world has seen an increasing number of asymmetric conflicts in a multipolar world. Non-State armed groups, which themselves are often fragmented, together with the constant emergence of new armed groups raise new hurdles for IHL and related assistance and protection efforts. 

New Laws for New Wars Responding to the Challenge of Asymmetric Conflict... 

Arreguln-Toft I (2001) How the weak win wars a theory of asymmetric conflict. Int Secur 26 93-128... 

Fearon J, Laitin D (2003) Ethnicity, insurgency and civil war. Am PoUt Sci Rev 97 75-90 GeiB R (2006) Asymmetric conflict structures. Int Rev Red Cross 88 757-777 Goulding Jr V (2000-2001) Back to the future with asymmetric warfare. Parameters 30 21-30 Greenwood C (2003) The laws of war (international humanitarian law). In Evans M (ed) International law. OUP, Oxford, pp 789-824... 

Mack A (1975) Why big nations lose small wars the politics of asymmetric conflict. World Polit 27 175-200... 

On the underdog s use of unconventional tactics to counteract the unfair advantage of its opponent, see Shaimon E. French, Murderers, not Warriors The Moral Distinction between Terrorists and Legitimate Fighters in Asymmetric Conflicts, in Terrorism and International Justice, ed. J. P. Sterba (Oxford Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 34. 

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