Item category 2: POINTER Monthly Essays

In this essay, the author first defines deterrence and explains its concept and its key elements. He then explores the application of conventional deterrence strategies, whether it is through denial, or through punishment, and touch on its limitations. He proceeds to examine the existential natur...

In this essay, the author feels that threat assessments are the foundation of a state's national security policy. To explain how threat assessments become self-fulfilling prophecies, he has organised the essay into five parts. In the first part, the author highlights the features of threat assess...

In this essay, the author examines the continuities and developments in naval warfare in three sections. First, he examines the concept of naval warfare. Second, he studies the role of naval thought and technology in the revolution and evolution of naval warfare. In the third and final section, t...

In this essay, the author examines the challenges faced by states seeking to deter threats without the advantage of possessing nuclear weapons. He first examines the principles behind deterrence such as the two main strategies of denial and punishment. The factors needed for successful deterrence...

Both World War Two (WWII) and World War One (WWI) mark some of humanity’s darkest moments in the 20th century—cities razed to the ground, acts of unspeakable cruelty and deaths numbering in the untold millions. In this essay, the author argues that, despite the undeniably bloody legacy left by bo...

States are increasingly vulnerable in the modern-day 21st century geopolitical environment, arising from globalization, connectivity and disruptions from the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). Economic interdependency and the global free flow of ideas and information have increased the vulnerabilit...

In this essay, the author cites Mary Kaldor1, who argues that armed conflicts in the post-Cold War era is fundamentally different from traditional Clausewitzian interstate conflicts. Unlike old wars, which were fought between state-controlled militaries for geopolitical and ideological reasons, '...

In this essay, the author highlights that while civilian leadership may help to drive top-down military innovation in peacetime, a civil-military relationship characterised by directive civilian control breeds a culture of deference and thus negatively affects a military's spontaneity in adapting...

In this essay, the author theorises that a state’s growth in economic might is often matched by an increasingly outward-facing strategic vision and a corresponding build-up of military power projection capabilities. He cited the example of the United States, a growing economic power by the late 1...

In this essay, the author discusses the various dimensions of strategy. He examines Clausewitz’s five elementsof strategy in his seminal work On War. He also explores Colin Gray’s 17 Dimensions and Michael Howard’s FourDimensions of Strategy. The author then studies the ques􀆟on that some dimensi...