The rapid advance in June of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Shām (ISIS) across northern Iraq, capturing its second largest city, Mosul and threatening to advance on Baghdad, stunned global security experts and policy makers alike. The collapse and retreat of the Iraqi army demonstrates, more than anything, the abject failure of American policy 
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Tag | Syria
Backgrounder – The Emergence of the Islamic State
By: Matthew Morgan | Friday, August 22nd, 2014Against the Odds: The Case for Greater Western Intervention in Syria and Iraq
By: Erwin van Veen | Thursday, August 21st, 2014The Syrian civil war is now in its third year and continues unabated. A battlefield resolution remains unlikely: the imminent capture of Aleppo by the regime is being offset by rapid advances of the Islamic State in eastern Syria – taking in the city of Deir-ez-Zour, major oilfields, and nearly all strongpoints on the Euphrates
Humanitarian Intervention Advocates Vindicated
By: Zach Paikin | Wednesday, June 19th, 2013According to the dominant narrative, the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine — adopted at the United Nations World Summit of 2005 — has hit a roadblock in Syria. The most prominent claim we’ve seen to date — rooted in the realist paradigm of international relations — is that R2P is a norm, and that norms
Planning for SSR in a Post-Assad Syria
By: Vanessa Humphries | Friday, October 12th, 2012Even though the 18-month long civil war in Syria shows no signs of abating, many are wondering what will occur should the Assad regime collapse. Under this premise, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), in partnership with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), recently brought together 45 opposition representatives from Syria to discuss
NATO’s Role in Libya and Syria?
By: Michael Lawrence | Friday, October 28th, 2011NATO voted today to end its mission in Libya on October 31 even though Libya’s National Transitional Council asked the Organization to stay until at least the end of the year. A recent opinion piece by Mark Sedra indeed argues that Libya provided NATO with a quick win that did not entail troops on the
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