Research Summaries

Back USJFCOM and NPS Professional Seminar Partnership

Fiscal Year 2007
Division School of International Graduate Studies
Department National Security Affairs
Investigator(s) Clunan, Anne L.
Trinkunas, Harold A.
Sponsor U.S. Joint Forces Command (Joint)
Summary The purpose of this project is to provide professional and technical subject matter expertise to USJFCOM Headquarters, and to acquaint NPS faculty and students with ongoing JFCOM analysis interests. The United States Joint Forces Command in collaboration with the Center for Contemporary Conflict at the Naval Postgraduate School will conduct an on-site graduate seminar on national security threats posed by "ungoverned spaces" within sovereign states. The basic concept is to expand JFCOM's understanding of ungoverned spaces beyond the traditional notions of "failed states" to include areas that are located within otherwise functioning states but over which the state is unable to exercise sovereign control, such that non-state actors take over their de facto governance. The specific focus of this seminar is on "states within states" such as Hezbollah, Waziristan, or the Islamic Courts in Somalia, and on so-called "feral" cities and megacities such as Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, or Lagos. In each case, terrorists, criminal gangs, or warlords rule with without regard to human rights and national objectives, and consequently are likely to threaten the interests of the United States and her allies. Since US military operations are increasingly conducted in or near such areas, developing a better understanding will contribute to the professional military education of future leaders at the operational level.
Keywords
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal