Two recent research publications, the International Handbook on Peace and Reconciliation, and the International Handbook on War, Torture and Terrorism, published by Springer, have provided extensive information on the important issue of Australian attitudes to peace and war.

This paper seeks to explain the reasons for the failure of the war against Al Qaeda so far, but looks at this debate from the perspective of the British rather than the American experience of the war on terror.

The latest formal statement of US defence policy, the QDR, plays down sweeping ambition in order to remain focused on the tasks immediately at hand—Iraq and above all, Afghanistan. And it sees a future of ‘hybrid’ warfare, likely to involve a diversity of actors and to blur the traditional distinction between inter-state conflict and protracted...

This paper argues the importance of a more effective engagement of Afghanistan’s tribes, particularly in the country’s south east. This could help improve stability in a strategically important part of the country and avoid a situation where local tribes were turned against the Afghan national government and international military forces operating in the region. 'Caught...

This Policy Analysis examines a coalition counter-insurgency strategy in a state of flux following a sobering campaign assessment by the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, General Stanley McChrystal, and the deeply flawed August 20 Afghan presidential election. Mr Khosa also discusses the implications of the resulting policy debate in Washington for Australia’s military...