1st Edition

Survival October-November 2021: The Limits of Power

    Survival, the IISS’s bimonthly journal, challenges conventional wisdom and brings fresh, often controversial, perspectives on strategic issues of the moment.

    In this issue:

    · Anatol Lieven argues that realist support for prudence and restraint in foreign policy does not equate to chauvinism, isolationism and opposition to international cooperation

    · Toby Dodge assesses that the United States’ attempt to comprehensively transform Afghanistan was based on its erroneous presumption that the liberal-peacebuilding model was universally applicable

    · Audrey Kurth Cronin contends that the logic of fighting terrorists far from the US homeland no longer holds, as the US faces resource constraints and rising domestic terrorism

    · Jens Ringsmose and Sten Rynning analyse the potential priorities and scope of NATO’s next Strategic Concept, and how it can bridge the Alliance’s political–military divide

    And eight more thought-provoking pieces, as well as our regular Book Reviews and Noteworthy column.

    Editor: Dr Dana Allin

    Managing Editor: Jonathan Stevenson

    Associate Editor: Carolyn West

    Assistant Editor: Jessica Watson

    Survival 63.5 (October–November 2021), pp. 1–248

    Vindicating Realist Internationalism, by Anatol Lieven

    Quiet Engagement with the Taliban, by Arne Strand and Astri Suhrke

    Afghanistan and the Failure of Liberal Peacebuilding, by Toby Dodge

    America’s Architectural Challenge in Southeast Asia, by James Crabtree

    Noteworthy

    Hard Lessons from South Sudan, by Mats Berdal and David Shearer

    US Counter-terrorism: Moving Beyond Global Counter-insurgency to Strongpoint Defence, by Audrey Kurth Cronin

    The Future of US–Israeli Relations, by Jonathan Rynhold

    NATO’s Next Strategic Concept: Prioritise or Perish, by Jens Ringsmose and Sten Rynning

    More than Decorative, Less than Decisive: Russian A2/AD Capabilities and NATO, by Robert Dalsjö and Michael Jonsson

    Understanding Russia: Personalist Autocracy Versus Historical Continuity, by Thomas Graham and Joseph Haberman

    The US Military’s Enduring ‘German Problem’, by Franz-Stefan Gady

    Biography

    The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a registered charity with offices in Washington, London, Manama and Singapore, is the world’s leading authority on political–military conflict. It is the primary independent source of accurate, objective information on international strategic issues. Publications include The Military Balance, an annual reference work on each nation’s defence capabilities; Strategic Survey, an annual review of world affairs; Survival, a bi-monthly journal of international affairs; Strategic Comments, an online analysis of topical issues in international affairs; and the Adelphi series of books on issues of international security.

    ‘In a world of complex security challenges the need for serious, thoughtful analysis is greater than ever. Survival’s combination of elegant writing and rigorous scholarship from the world’s top experts makes it essential reading for both practitioners and academics.’

    Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, War Studies King's College London