What are the role and place of secret services and covert operations in democratic settings? How do states balance the need for both secrecy and openness? What are the challenges to creating effective intelligence practices? Focusing on these crucial questions, the authors of The Conduct of Intelligence in Democracies examine the purposes and processes of intelligence communities in today's security environment.

Edited by Dr. Robert E. Looney, this handbook explores international and regional preferential trade agreements through which countries with similar interests can benefit from economic liberalization and expanded trade. It also explores the strengths and weaknesses of these agreements as well as how agreement members can sustain growth and prosperity given the perpetual challenges of the global economic environment.

Professors Donald Abenheim and Carolyn Halladay have published essays on German-American civil-military relations, an anthology at the center of which is the "citizen in uniform" and concern for this institution. The individual contributions analyze from different perspectives (especially focusing on the problem of tradition), which are challenged by this culture and a corresponding soldierly self-understanding on both sides of the Atlantic. They show how both are harmed under the conditions of the "new wars" of the last decades, with their considerable internal political repercussions—to the detriment of democracy as a whole.

Dr. Thomas-Durell Young delves into the state of defense institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, whose resources have declined at a faster rate than their Western neighbors due to social and fiscal circumstances at home and shifting international attitudes. He documents the status of reform of these armed forces and the role that Western nations have played since the Cold War and identifies barriers to success, the most successful management practices in both Western and Eastern capitals.

Why has the Taliban been so much more effective in presenting messages that resonate with the Afghan population than the United States, the Afghan government and their allies? This book, based on years of field research and the assessment of hundreds of original source materials, examines the information operations and related narratives of Afghan insurgents, especially the Afghan Taliban, and investigates how the Taliban has won the information war.

This book by Scott Jasper offers a systematic analysis of the various existing strategic cyber deterrence options and introduces the alternative strategy of active cyber defense. It examines the array of malicious actors operating in the domain, their methods of attack, and their motivations. It also provides answers on what is being done, and what could be done, by the government and industry to convince malicious actors that their attacks will not succeed and that risk of repercussions exists.

This book by Prof Robert Looney discusses the transformation of the energy security policy arena brought on by two dramatic developments—the increased potential availability of energy in many parts of the world on the supply side, and on the demand side, increasing concerns over the harmful effects on the environment brought on by the use of fossil fuels. It focuses on energy security means to different countries and examines which of those countries appear to be managing their energy/climate transitions successfully and which are having a more difficultly.

The Peacebuilding Puzzle explains the disconnect between the formal institutional engineering undertaken by international interventions and the governance outcomes emerging in their aftermath. Barma's comparative analysis of interventions in Cambodia, East Timor, and Afghanistan focuses on the incentives motivating domestic elites over a sequence of three peacebuilding phases: the elite peace settlement, the transitional governance period, and the aftermath of intervention.

The militant organizations that Pakistan nurtured over the decades are increasingly exceeding its control; continued support for jihad diverts scarce resources from pressing domestic projects, impeding the country's internal development; and the militant campaign's repeated provocations have led India to adopt a more aggressive conventional military posture. Jihad as Grand Strategy shows these developments significantly undermine Pakistani interests, threatening to leave it less politically cohesive and externally secure than it was before. Thus, the strategy has outlived its utility, and Pakistan will have to abandon it in order to avoid catastrophe.

Professor Afshon Ostovar will be joining the Department of National Security Affairs in July. This is the first comprehensive history of the IRGC from its establishment through 2015. This book explores the development of the IRGC as an institution of power in Iran, and as an influential covert and military force in the Middle East. Afshon Ostovar moves beyond standard narratives of the IRGC, and examines the impact of culture, identity, and religion on the organization's politics and activities.