Conflict in a Changing World: Looking Two Decades Forward
- A view of conflict and its strategic environment two decades ahead. Author: C.J. Dick. Published by The Conflict Studies Research Centre, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK, 2002.
- http://www.defac.ac.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/special/M25

Chemical and Biological Terrorism in the 21st Century
- The zigzag evolution of chemical and biological weapons in the 20th century give causes for both optimism and pessimism in the course it will take in the 21st, by Greg Goebel, Jun 2003.
- http://www.vectorsite.net/twgas_5.html

Fourth Generation Warfare and the Information Arrow
- States the importance the information in the new way of fighting wars. By Greg Wilcox, July 2005.
- http://www.d-n-i.net/wilcox/information_arrow_draft_8p.doc

Nation-State Failure: A Recurring Phenomenon?
- Analyzes the weakness and failure of nation-states as a potential source of future conflicts. Essay by Robert Rotberg, for NIC 2020 Project, Inaugural Workshop, November 2003.
- http://www.dni.gov/nic/PDF_GIF_2020_Support/2003_11_06_papers/panel2_nov6.pdf

NIC - 2020 Project
- Information about a research project aimed at covering influences that would shape the world to the year 2020. Contains papers about the nature of future conflicts. Sponsored by the US National Intelligence Council.
- http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2020_project.html

The War Ahead And The Way Ahead
- The possible use by insurgecy of tactical success for operational and strategic impact is analyzed by Charles K. Bartles, Lester W. Grau and Jacob W. Kipp from the Foreign Military Strategic Office.
- http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/war-ahead.htm

Recognizing and Understanding Revolutionary Change in Warfare: The Sovereignty of Context - Strategic Studies Institute
- The author, Colin S. Gray, provides a critical audit of the great RMA debate and of some actual RMA behavior and warns against a transformation that is highly potent only in a narrow range of strategic cases. He warns that the military effectiveness of a
- http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=640

War Paradigm
- A look into the fundamental changes happening in warfare and how they may, in turn, effect the world system. By Will Waddell, June 2004.
- http://www.omninerd.com/2004/06/29/articles/1

The Revenge of the Melians: Asymmetric Threats and the Next QDR
- An assessment of future security environment for 2025, by Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., National Defense University, McNair Paper 62, 2000.
- http://www.ndu.edu/inss/McNair/mcnair62/mcnair62.pdf

Globalization and the Nature of War
- The article shows how globalization is enhancing the role of political guidance and changing the nature of war. Author: Antulio Echevarria II. Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of the US Army War College, 2003.
- http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=215

Fighting in the Gray Zone. A Strategy to Close the Preemption Gap.
- The US 2002 National Security Strategy (NSS) identified the proliferation, privatization, and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups and rogue states as the critical nontraditional threat of the 21st century. Published in September
- http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=412

From The Military: Applying 4GW Theory to The Intelligence Community
- The article states that the intelligence community is key to the 4th generation warfare, so it's important that they understand what they're looking for. By Myke Cole.
- http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/cole_lessons_from_the_military.htm

Matrix Warfare: The New Face of Competition and Conflict in the 21st Century
- A description of new organizational patterns and their application to war and business. By J. Noel Williams for Small Wars Journal, USA, August 2005. (pdf file)
- http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/documents/williams2.pdf

Beyond vom Kriege: The Character and Conduct of Modern War
- An effort to understand war and the role of armed forces in modern societies, based on the last years experiences and the classic theories. Author: R.D.Hooker Jr., Parameters, US Army War College Quarterly , Summer 2005.
- http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/05summer/hooker.pdf

Warfare in the 21st Century
- Books, documents, articles and web sites. References gathered in a selected bibliography compiled by Jane E. Gibish, U.S. Army War College Library, July 2003.
- http://www.carlisle.army.mil/library/bibs/warfar03.htm

The Dangers of Warfare in a Media Age
- The author alerts about the dangers of the contemporary media age, in which events across the world are instantly brought before vast international audiences, for example, that tomorrow’s wars could be at risk of being overly influenced by the views of
- http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Articles/Vol2Issue16/vol2issue16howardpfv.html

The War in Iraq: the Nature of Insurgency Warfare
- An overview of the challenges derived from this revitalized kind of war. Andrew Krepinevich, Jun 2004.
- http://www.csbaonline.org/4Publications/Archive/B.20040602.NatofInsurge/B.20040602.NatofInsurge.pdf

A Warning from Clausewitz on 4GW
- William S. Lind alerts about the dangers for USA of being the only superpower. CounterPunch, March 2003.
- http://www.counterpunch.org/lind03082003.html

Global Guerrillas: 4GW -- Fourth Generation Warfare
- An overview of the key concepts by John Robb, May 2004.
- http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2004/05/4gw_fourth_gene.html

Evolution of War
- A slide presentation showing the past, present and future of the war.
- http://www.defense-and-society.org/fcs/defense_death_spiral/5_evolution.htm

Will Special Ops Success Change the Face of War?
- The role of U.S. special operations forces in future conflicts explained by a number of specialists. Author: Harold Kennedy, National Defense Magazine, Feb 2002.
- http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2002/Feb/Will_Special.htm

Violent Conflict in the 21st Century: Causes, Instruments, and Mitigation
- Collection of essays including 'The New Evils of the 21st Century' by Robert D. Kaplan; 'Weapons of Mass Destruction and Physical Heritage of the Cold War' by W.K.H. Panofsky and 'Group Loyalty and Ethnic Violence' by Donald L. Horowitz. [PDF]
- http://www.amacad.org/publications/violent.aspx

Future War: What Trends in the America Post-Cold War Tell Us About Early 21st Century Warfare
- Examines the performance of U.S. forces in three major post-Cold War military conflicts to identify commonalities and trends that may have implications for the conduct of warfare in the early 21st Century. By Christopher J. Bowie, Robert P. Haffa Jr. and
- http://www.analysiscenter.northropgrumman.com/files/future_war.pdf

Toward the 21st Century: Trends in Post-Cold War International Security
- Addresses key changes since the Cold War ended, lessons, current problems and issues. Commissioned by the Swiss Ministry of Defense, 1998.
- http://www.isn.ethz.ch/pubs/ph/details.cfm?r_oID=6810&sid=C119C06DD2C2184ABE6A5EF90547BC05

The New Craft of Intelligence: Achieving Asymmetric Advantage in the Face of Non Traditional Threats
- A paper where the author, Robert M. Steele, examines two paradigm shifts--one in relation to the threat and a second in relation to intelligence methods-- while offering a new model for threat analysis and a new model for intelligence operations in non-tr
- http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ssi/pubs/display.cfm/hurl/PubID=217

A Military for the 21st Century: Lessons from the Recent Past
- A study about the required post-Cold War military transformation which takes into account the changing nature of war and the experiences of past conflicts. By Anthony C. Zinni, Strategic Forum, US National Defense University, July 2001.
- http://www.ndu.edu/inss/strforum/SF181/sf181.htm

A 21st. Century Security Architecture for the Americas: Multilateral Cooperation, Liberal Peace and Soft Power.
- A paper showing a response to the question of "How can the United States best develop security cooperation within the Americas?" by Col. Joseph R. Nunez. Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, August 2002.
- http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ssi/pubs/display.cfm/hurl/PubID=15

Homeland Security: The New Role for Defense
- Shows the change of US strategic vision of national and global security after September 11 attacks, by Steven J. Tomisek. Strategic Forum No.189, February 2002.
- http://www.ndu.edu/inss/strforum/SF189/sf189.htm

All Possible Wars? Towards a Consensus View of the Future Security Environment, 2001-2025
- Sam Tangredi presents a set of assumptions and possible scenarios about the future security environment for the next 25 years. National Defense University, USA. McNair Paper No. 63, November 2000.
- http://www.ndu.edu/inss/McNair/mcnair63/m63cvr.html

Thinking Asymmetrically in Times of Terror
- An approach to the better understanding of asymmetric threats. By Colin S. Gray, Parameters, US Army War College Quarterly - Spring 2002.
- http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/02spring/gray.htm

Welcome to the Postmodern Warfare Era
- An anticipatory article by David Isenberg, October 2000.
- http://www.speakout.com/activism/opinions/2973-1.html

Changing the Paradigm of the War
- A paper about the nature of fourth generation warfare and the form it may take in Middle East. By Steve Daskal, November 2003.
- http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/daskal_changing_paradigms.htm

The Changing Face of War: Into the Fourth Generation
- An article that intends to anticipate what the future conflicts will be like. Introduces the concept of fourth generation war. By William S. Lind, Keith Nightengale, John F. Schmitt, Joseph W. Sutton and Gary I. Wilson, published in Marine Corps Gazette,
- http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/4th_gen_war_gazette.htm

Global Challenges for the 21st Century: Nonproliferation and Arms Control
- Remarks by John Gannon from the National Intelligence Council to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, about the globalization of the security environment and the implications for counterproliferation, May 2000.
- http://www.nti.org/e_research/official_docs/cia/53100CIA.pdf

The Future of War and the American Military
- Shows how the process of developing and building new weapons, as does the process of recruiting and training new military officers takes decades, so that, leaders need to be futurists by making statements, implicitly or explicitly, about what they think w
- http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/050218.html

The Kingdom of Chaos or What Hath the Great Subversive Wrought?
- The article describes the state of chaos of the post-Cold War world, with a steady increase of entropy and anomie, and a crisis of former models of leadership. Also, analyzes the nature of future conflicts and the role of United States and Europe as key p
- http://www.centrotocqueville.org.ar/htm/htm/nab/nb10050401in.htm

Military Role in Countering Terrorist Use of WMD
- The article shows how the end of the Cold War created a new-world order and presented new challenges for future leaders, such as countering the ever growing terrorist threat. Accompanying this threat is a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, now
- http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cpc-pubs/dickinson.htm

Bury Cold War Mindset: Fourth Generation Warfare Rewrites Military Strategy
- Article by Jack Shanahan, Chet Richards and Franklin Spinney, 2002. Describes fourth-generation warfare that pits nations against non-national organizations or networks that include not only fundamentalist extremists, but also ethnic factions, mafias and
- http://www.cdi.org/mrp/4GW.cfm

Fourth Generation Warfare
- Slide show that summarizes the key aspects of asymmetric conflicts, by Greg Wilcox and G.I. Wilson for Boyd Comference, 2002.
- http://d-n-i.net/fcs/pdf/4GW_wilson-wilcox_boyd_conf_2002.pdf

Fourth Generation Warfare: How Tactics of the Weak Confound the Strong
- Postulates that today's global environment is defined by the 4th Generation War reality, with nation-states confronting criminal enterprises, fanatical opportunists, and terrorists whose gang-like networks transcend national boundaries. All these actors o
- http://d-n-i.net/fcs/comments/c490.htm

The War Next Time: Countering Rogue States and Terrorists Armed with Chemical and Biological Weapons
- A compilation of articles by several authors about how future wars are expected to be. Barry R. Schneider and Jim A. Davis, Editors, USAF Counterproliferation Center, April 2004.
- http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cpc-pubs/war_next_time/cover.htm

Watch on the West: War and Strategy in the 21st Century
- Describes how events in the Twenty-first Century will test the limits to American strength but not its fundamentals and postulates that these tests will underscore the inability of technology to overcome all challenges, by Jeremy Black, February 2002.
- http://www.fpri.org/ww/0304.200202.black.warandstrategy21stcentury.html

Past and Future of Nuclear War
- Transcript of a talk given at American University, April 2002, with edits.
- http://www.ieer.org/comments/dsmt/auspeech.html

Historical Perspectives on Future War
- Shows how thinking deeply about the future of war requires careful reflection on its past, by Robert F. Baumann, 1997.
- http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/milreview/baumann-marapr97.htm

Chinese Views of Future Warfare
- Collection of articles about doctrine of future types and causes of warfare, future threats of security environment, short-term future challenges for possible local war, and long-term future warfare from the point of view of several Chinese authors. Publi
- http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/chinview/chinacont.html

Swarming - The Next Face of the Battle
- Technological advances often give rise to new types of weapons, but the achievement of lasting breakthroughs in fighting power requires organizational and doctrinal innovation. Opinion article by J. Arquilla and D. Ronfeldt, Aviation Week & Space Tech
- http://www.rand.org/commentary/100703AWST.html

The Network Is the Battlefield
- The Pentagon's aim is to meld weapons systems and people into a whole, called network-centric warfare, that's greater than the sum of its parts. From Business Week Online, January 2003.
- http://www.businessweek.com/print/technology/content/jan2003/tc2003017_2464.htm?tc&sub=03miltech

Has Warfare Changed? Sorting Apples from Oranges
- States the difference between the conduct of war and the nature of war, and its practical consequences in the information age. Author: James M.Dubik, Landpower Essay, Institute of Landwarfare, July 2002.
- http://www.ausa.org/PDFdocs/lpe02-3.pdf

Information Warfare
- Articles about information warfare, nanowar, and other future conflict scenarios from Plausible Futures Newsletter.
- http://www.plausiblefutures.com/index.php?cat=6694a

May the Smartest Machine Win: Warfare in the 21st Century
- Article from Raymond Kurzweil on future methods of fighting, including pilotless planes and thinking machines. Published in 1993.
- http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0248.html

Nanotechnology and International Security
- How technologies emerging over the coming decades will undermine military stability while causing economic and political turmoil. The need to move beyond deterrence to an integrated international security system. Article by Mark Avrum Gubrud, Center for S
- http://www.foresight.org/Conferences/MNT05/Papers/Gubrud/index.html

Battlefield of the Future - 21st Century Warfare Issues
- Study on future principles of war, military affairs, air power, plus information and biological war. From the U.S. Air Force.
- http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/battle/bftoc.html