Australian Journal of Defence and Strategic Studies vol 5 number 2

This issue of the Australian Journal of Defence and Strategic Studies reflects on a wide range of topics that often times can pass under the radar as attention is drawn to the urgent. It is in the Defence community’s interest to appreciate that the following articles and commentaries address and acknowledge long-term matters that are as important to understanding Australian national security interests:

• domestically
• regionally
• globally – as the overwhelming current international conflicts which dominate the news.

Associate Professor Ahmed S Hashim posits 'is conventional war dead?'

His article addresses definitions and characteristics of conventional and unconventional war and recent wars that have defied categorisation as they have contained elements of both.

How might Indonesia respond if China launched a military campaign against Taiwan or if China should capture territory in the South China Sea? Would Indonesia continue to uphold its longstanding policy of non-alignment (bebas dan aktif) or would it look to deepen its relationship with AUKUS?

A key issue for governments planning how to respond to climate change is uncertainty. ANU Professor Llewelyn Hughes, Dr Thomas Longden and Dr Yeliz Simsek assess the potential application of integrated assessment models to the practice of strategic foresight in long-term national-security and energy-security strategy.

Mark Devereux highlights overlaps in contemporary leadership research and the impacts of leadership that either cultivate or prevent institutional strategic thinking. He argues that to influence greater strategic thinking behaviours in others and create a culture that supports innovation, leaders must role-model intelligent risk-taking, create a safe environment for others to also do so and reward smart failure.

In the commentary section, Chris Field opens a stimulating discussion on how the ADF can purposefully build the interdependence of its joint fighting power components into a cohesive fighting power system; Peter Layton argues that China's grey-zone grand strategy is discordant; Scott Richardson examines the implications of precision munitions on the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war; and Christopher Johnson argues Australia must consider its long-term Antarctic interests as geopolitical strategic competition for its untapped resources increases.

General Sir Francis Hassett Chair of Military Studies, Professor Michael Evans reviews Elbridge Colby's book Strategy of Denial and discusses the shift in American defence thinking away from strategies of offence based on unipolarity towards defence-by-denial strategies that are optimised for the return of an era of great power competition, focused primarily on Asia rather than Europe.

This issue has book reviews of War's Logic by Antulio J Echevarria II, The Echidna Strategy by Sam Roggeveen, Autumn of Our Discontent by John M Curatola and Kevin D McCraine's Mahan, Corbett, and the Foundations of Naval Strategic Thought.

In memoriam: Rear Admiral James Goldrick. David Stevens reflects on the loss of one of Australia’s most accomplished and internationally acclaimed naval historians and maritime strategists.

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