warfare and armed conflicts: a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1492-2015

This gap in deterrence capabilities requires a greater understanding of the phenomenon. International constraints and rules of engagement against such threats are few, American deterrence capabilities are virtually non-existent, and effective responses equally ill defined or ineffective. Non-linear warfare presents an 'unstructured problem' causing great uncertainty to the national security community. Such activities constitute serious violations of state sovereignty and, while it is not uncommon for states to employ unconventional means to achieve political goals, new technologies enable asymmetrical applications with strategic effects while not 'crossing the line' into traditionally accepted norms of warfare. Hybrid warfare embraces a range of asymmetrical concepts as a domain of strategic conflict, including state-sponsored proxy war and subversion, cyberspace, and politically directed psychological and information warfare. Collectively known as 'non-linear' warfare, these challenges fall between traditional concepts of interstate conflict ('linear warfare') and effectively blur the lines between war and peace.

This paper presents a conceptual approach for devising deterrence strategies-dubbed 'complex deterrence'-that address 21st century threats based on new warfare concepts, known as 'hybrid,' 'unrestricted,' or 'gray area' war.

Warfare and armed conflicts: a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1492-2015