>> Publications: Strategic Studies

Firepower 2001 - View PDF (288KB)

This paper considers the role of firepower within the Australian Defence Force. The paper examines strategic direction and current practice and policy to recommend tactical and operational changes to organisational structure, tactics and equipment.

Research Project - Women within the Australian Military - View Part 1 (164KB), View Part 2 (144KB), View Interview/Questionnaire (60KB)

This research project into women and their roles within the Australian military from 1914-2000 divides into two parts. The first part compares the role of women between 1918-1918 with 1975-2000. This part of the project uses a range of techniques and methodologies to complete this comparison. The second part of the project provides greater theoretical depth to the analysis within Part 1.

A Comparison of the AIF and NZEF - View PDF (480KB)

During the First World War, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) were renown for their toughness and fighting ability. Successive commanders often used these forces as shock troops in assaults against German strongholds. Considerable debate surrounds the relative merits of the two colonial forces. This article furthers this debate through an analysis of the relative military effectiveness of the two forces on the Western Front during 1917-1918. The article proposes that military effectiveness is the sum of the commanders' ability, the capability of the troops and the overall success achieved in operations.

The Policy of Détente - View PDF (520KB)

An era of confrontation between the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, began in the aftermath of World War Two. This Cold War started to thaw in the early 1970's as the Americans grappled with domestic disorder and economic crisis, and a decline in strategic superiority over their Soviet rivals. These challenges combined to melt the bipolar world into a more diverse and eclectic structure. Consequently, the policy of détente was born to combat the changing nature of the international structure and order. This essay considers the effectiveness of this American policy in dealing with the complexities of an increasingly multipolar world.

Outmanoeuvring the Media: The Presentation of the Gulf War 1990-91 - View PDF (1MB)

The military and media often appear to have conflicting views on the presentation of military operations. Arguably, this discord stems directly from the arrival of the first war correspondent at the front line of the Crimean War (1853-56). However, unlike their predecessors modern military forces now contend with a ubiquitous, sometimes invasive and instantaneous media. This paper considers how the US military framed and executed its news management strategy to 'present' the Gulf War 1990-91. Considerable attention is given to whether the US military manipulated the media in order to ensure military actions were cast in a favourable light.

Europe and Islam - View PDF (356KB)

The growth of the European nation state and its attendant ideologies of nationalism, secularism and democracy posed a significant threat to the conservative and authoritarian Islamic regimes that existed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The philosophical forces unleashed on a relatively unprepared Islamic world in the aftermath of World War I witnessed a fundamental questioning of the tenets of the order and their relevance to both reality and realpolitik. This paper considers how European ideas challenge and threaten Islam.