Resilient Civilians (en)

Last’s week election and its aftermath are confirming the breadth and depth of divisiveness in our not-so-United States, to the peril of the great experiment in self-governance the nation’s founders laid out nearly a quarter-millennium ago, and its current place in the pantheon of world powers. Over half the country is hoping a change in…

The Army should manage its capabilities for competition in the moral dimension with the same rigor that it does for capabilities in the material dimension to succeed in conflict. By: Colonel Christopher Holshek, U.S. Army, Retired In war, moral factors account for three quarters of the whole; relative material strength accounts for only one quarter.…

While many policymakers like to refer to ‘connecting the dots’ to derive accurate pictures of forthcoming events, this picture is highly inaccurate and unhelpful. In the case of hybrid threats, the dots are missing because they fall below the threshold, they look different due to deception or disinformation, or are impossible to understand due to…

Whether freedom’s just another word depends on those who use or abuse it. It cannot be doled out to us; we must take it, and all that goes with it. By: Christopher Holshek As editor of my high school newspaper, I interviewed our principal, Herbert Fliegner. Starting in the Hitler Youth, he was pressed, as…

The coronavirus pandemic is the security scenario we were least prepared for. While nation states are responsible for security, they depend highly upon civilian resources and resilient populations. This is a test for civil-military cooperation and requires a comprehensive approach. By: Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv Just like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse…

A common sense of service would make us better citizens, tempering our narcissist tendencies and helping us meet challenges we must inevitably face together. By: Christopher Holshek Over the past few years, every time I heard people thank me for my military service, I responded by asking them about their own careers. Some tell me…

The Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare has published the 2019-20 Civil Affairs Issue Papers on “Integrating Civil Affairs.” Edited by ResilientCivilians senior civil-military advisor retired U.S. Army Civil Affairs Colonel Christopher Holshek, this sixth volume is a collection of five papers authored by various civil affairs (CA) professionals, as well…

Current threats to democracy and the liberal world order from authoritarian populism are due to the failures in governance and civics that have given it fertile ground. Like terrorism, hybrid warfare, and other distributed people-centric challenges in peace and security within and beyond borders, authoritarian populism is an international strategic challenge in human security and…

It is important for us to ask not only why and how actors conduct hybrid threats, but also to ask what about the target enables them to do so. What are the vulnerabilities in society that makes us potentially susceptible to hybrid threats?  Christian Kongstad — an erstwhile graduate student at the Centre for Peace…

Conflicts, both in Afghanistan as well as at home, will continue to have both a complex civilian and military character. Understanding past, current and future civilian domains is more necessary than ever before. Both civilian and military actors tend to focus on lessons emanating from their own niche contributions. There may be lessons learned that…