Grand Strategy versus Unending Extremism

John R. Allen (Ret.)

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2016, vol. 668, issue 1, 82-92

Abstract: This article focuses on the lessons learned from American and coalition experience in dealing with extremist groups such as al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State or ISIL. It also deals more generally with extremist networks, which increasingly have the capacity to function as nonstate actors, not only threatening the existence of a growing number of fragile states but increasingly acting as proto-states themselves. I raise issues that should be considered as the United States and its allies and partners gird themselves for the long-term struggle against violent extremism. I also address the challenges faced after long years of war, the general considerations in forming a coalition, the means for establishing and implementing a strategy, and thoughts on a way ahead in a negatively trending security environment. I focus on what needs to be done and avoid specifically praising or condemning successes and failures of the past.

Keywords: counter-ISIL; grand strategy; spheres of influence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716216668813 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:668:y:2016:i:1:p:82-92

DOI: 10.1177/0002716216668813

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().