Conventional Coercion Across the Spectrum of Operations: The Utility of U.S. Military Forces in the Emerging Security Environment, Issue 1494The raison d'âetre for any military force is to deter an adversary from acting inimically to the nation's interests or, if the adversary is undeterred, to coerce him into ceasing, or in some cases reversing, the inimical actions. After carefully defining terms and reviewing the literature on coercion, this report delves into a study of the utility of military power as a coercive instrument of deterrence and compellence. The authors then analyze cases (both U.S. and foreign, successes and failures) that provide insights into conventional coercion at all levels of conflict. They conclude by stressing that the essential nature of coercion remains unchanged and that only a thorough understanding of the nation's adversaries, and of our own will and capabilities, will yield a successful coercive strategy. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
METHODOLOGY | 5 |
THE THEORY OF COERCION | 7 |
Deterrence | 10 |
Compellence | 13 |
COERCIVE STRATEGY | 15 |
Coercion Outcomes | 18 |
Capability | 19 |
Force Structure Implications of SSCs | 48 |
MAJOR THEATER WARS | 51 |
Force Structure Implications of MTWs | 57 |
STRIKES AND RAIDS | 60 |
IMPLICATIONS AND INSIGHTS | 65 |
MAJOR ONGOING US MILITARY COERCION EFFORTS | 70 |
MTW DeterrenceKorea | 71 |
MTW DeterrenceIraq | 72 |
Credibility | 20 |
What Is at Stake for the Enemy? | 21 |
Coercion and Countercoercion | 22 |
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO COERCE? | 23 |
Categorizing the Adversarys Coercion Threshold | 28 |
Assessing an Adversarys Capabilities to Resist Military Coercion | 30 |
Insights from a Matrixed View of Potential Adversaries | 32 |
CASE STUDY RESULTS | 35 |
STABILITY AND SUPPORT OPERATIONS | 37 |
Force Structure Implications of SASO | 42 |
SMALLERSCALE CONTINGENCIES | 44 |
Ongoing NonMTW Coercive Operations Involving US Military Forces | 73 |
INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE | 75 |
Appendix | 83 |
STABILITY AND SUPPORT OPERATIONS | 87 |
SMALLERSCALE CONTINGENCIES SSCs | 94 |
MAJOR THEATER WARS | 109 |
STRIKES | 117 |
RAIDS | 120 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 125 |
Common terms and phrases
ability achieve adversary's Afghanistan aggression air and naval Air Force Air Power aircraft American armed assessment attack bombing Bosnia brigade Calif Category Cedras Chechen Chechnya Chiefs of Staff coalition coerce coercer coercion coercive effort coercive strategy commitment compellence conflict Conventional Deterrence defeat Defense deployed deployment Deterrence Theory enemy escalation failure Falklands ground forces Haiti intervention invasion involved Iraq Iraq's Joint Chiefs Joint force Joint Publication KFOR Korean War Kosovo Kuwait MFO Sinai military capability military coercion military forces military power mission North Korean North Vietnam nuclear Operation Allied Force Operation Just Cause Operation Restore Hope Operation Urgent Fury Osirak peacekeeping political presence RAND regime resist Result Santa Monica SASO Serb Serbian soldiers Somalia South Korea Subcase success Synopsis target Task Force theater threat tion U.S. Army U.S. forces U.S. military UNITAF United University Press UNOSOM UNOSOM II UNPROFOR weapons York