Item category 2: POINTER Monthly Essays

In this essay, the author aims to discuss how China will embrace AI and Robotics to enhance its national security and how the security landscape will be affected by this pursuit. The author first identifies China’s national interests and examines how it will use AI and Robotics technologies to en...

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 first describes the concept of national security and how it is typically achieved before attempting to shed light on the concept of Transparency. Next, viewing Transparency as an instrument, he identifies the mechanisms underpinning its effects and discusses its value an...

This essay investigates to an extent to which the Western armed forces were aided in post-1945 counterinsurgency campaigns by their past experiences in imperial warfare. Focusing on key examples, such as the United Kingdom (UK), it examines how colonial military strategies and doctrines influence...

In this essay, the author examines the viability of deterrence strategies for non-nuclear states. He highlights the importance of deterrence strategies, followed by an examination of the various theories of deterrence such as classical deterrence theory and perfect deterrence theory. The author a...

While various factors contributed to Israel’s perceived failure in the 2006 Lebanon War, the author argues that the critical problem in the making of Israel’s strategy was intrusive civilian direction that led to the campaign’s overall failure. The civilian government’s over-representation in str...