Asymmetric Operations

Asymmetric challenges are those where the different players and components have different interests, resources, and capabilities, but nevertheless interact in complex ways to make policy extremely difficult.

It is only by clearly articulating U.S. interests and goals, and from there building a strategy to achieve them, that we can make smart decisions about the application of American power.

ASP Fellows are major thought leaders on understand, prioritizing, and crafting policies for achieving American interests in difficult, complex parts of the world. Below is a selection of our work on this critical, emerging topic in foreign policy, with more to come.

ASP Fellow Joshua Foust:

• “Why human rights are, unfortunately, not paramount,” PBS Need to Know, 22 February 2012
• “Carrots, Not Sticks, for Iran,” PBS Need to Know, 02 February 2012
• “ The Political Consequences of a Drones-First Policy,” The Atlantic, 27 January 2012
• “Defense austerity the GOP can believe in,” PBS Need to Know, 17 January 2012
• “No Great Game: The Story of Post-Cold War Powers in Central Asia,” The Atlantic, 16 December 2011
• “What International Aid Can’t Do,” The Atlantic, 18 November 2011
• “In Iraq and Beyond, the U.S. Should Put Politics Before Force,” The Atlantic, 01 November 2011
• “U.S. Nuclear Strategy for the 21^st Century,” PBS Need to Know, 23 November 2011

ASP Asymmetric Operations Main Page

RESOURCES:

20 Years After the Fall: The U.S. and Russia in the Post-Soviet World

Ballistic Missiles: A Serious and Growing Threat

US Measure of Success in Afghanistan Is Still Unclear 10 Years Later

Expeditionary Economics: A New Approach to Foreign Aid

“Are We Winning?” 2010 Shows Problematic Developments in the Struggle Against al Qaeda and Associated Movements