Item category 2: POINTER Monthly Essays

In the mid-20th century, the governments of Malaya and South Vietnam initiated population-resettlement programmes as part of their overall efforts to fight the ongoing communist insurgencies in their countries. The British colonials housed hundreds of thousands of Chinese squatters in “New Villag...

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 examines the view that traditional Non-Offensive Defence (NOD) is not an effective military strategy in current times. He supports his arguments by analysing the origins of this military strategy and its fundamental principles. He then follows up with a discussion on the...

3-Dimensional (3D) printing is a form of Additive Manufacturing (AM) process which creates a 3D object from a model through the fusion of material. Although 3D printing started from as early as the 1980s, the technological leap to move beyond the realm of rapid prototyping only began in the 2010s...

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...

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...

In this essay, the author argues that the Centre of Gravity (COG) concept is not too abstract a concept to be of use to military planners. He begins by defining the physical and moral centres of gravity and then proceeds to examine possible confusions in defining and applying COG which may arise ...

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that can benefit the training community by improving not only the competencies of already skilled personnel, but also that of trainees who may lack knowledge and experience. Popularised by Pokémon GO, it is one of the technologies that have been identified t...

In this essay, the authors first examined the imperative of maritime sense-making in Singapore’s context. Despite its importance, maritime sense-making is not a topic that has been discussed robustly before. Therefore, the authors sought to elaborate what maritime sense-making entails, and how it...