Strategic competition and resistance in the 21st century
Subtitle: irregular, catastrophic, traditional, and hybrid challenges in context
By: Nathan Freier
Contributors: Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute
Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Carlisle Barracks, Pa.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 103
Subjects: National security; Planning; Strategic planning; Asymmetric warfare; Military policy; United States. Department of Defense; United States
Description: The 2005 National Defense Strategy introduced the now prolific concept of the four challenges -- traditional, irregular, catastrophic, and disruptive. Reference to the challenges is now an essential feature of defense deliberations. Yet in spite of the concept's central place in the defense debates in and out of government, there have been persistent gaps in how the individual challenges are defined and how they should be applied in defense and security policymaking. Written by one of two working-level strategists responsible for the 2005 defense strategy's conceptual development, this monograph addresses that deficit. It provides the reader with the foundational substance underwriting the three most active challenges -- irregular, catastrophic, and traditional -- while introducing the concept of the "hybrid norm."
Notes: "May 2007."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-103).

Electronic version also available on the SSI website.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Defense-relevant calculations in the post-9/11 world; title: The strategic environment and its challenges; title: Strategic implications: inevitable competition and resistance or the "long war."