To What Extent does Asymmetrical Warfare Challenge American Power Essay

To What Extent does Asymmetrical Warf ar Challenge American Power (with Some Reference to the War in Afghanistan) - Essay ExampleOne condition notes Strategists define asymmetric warfare as contravention deviating from the norm or an indirect approach to effect a counter-balancing of force (Grange, p. 1). A retired serving incumbent on the other hand notes that Judging by the multiple applications of the term Asymmetry in military journals, - -not fighting fair, attacking a weak point, selective information or cyber-war, public relations war, weapons of mass distraction, - very few people understand asymmetrys formal definition (doubting Thomas, 2001, p. 32) This differs quite significantly from Thomass more practical definition Asymmetry is a matter of two unlike systems interacting, each within its capabilities (Thomas, 2001, p. 37). Perhaps the most memorable direction of describing what it is like to fight an asymmetric war is given by Thomas as follows in relation to disast rous American involvement in Somalia The puzzle was about apples attending an oranges event any hardware-only solution suggests asymmetric vulnerability (Thomas, 2001, p. 34). ... 225). Bipolarity has the advantage of being evenly balanced. Attention was focused on one major point of friction, namely the ideological gulf between the two main opponents with clear lines drawn up and bystanders encouraged to take up a emplacement on one side or the other. In the absence of Cold War bipolarity, everything takes on a much more complicated turn, and potential areas for conflict spring up in multiple directions. This creates ambiguity and confusion, and the potential for crisis is multiplied. In the short term this situation appears to be working in Americas favor, but it is likely that over time the forces in the world which oppose American values and policies will regroup, so that one or more untried super-powers will emerge. China is an obvious candidate for this role, but there are flashpoints in the Islamic world and in Africa which could lead to new geopolitical alliances forming which could exist Americas supremacy. The work of Joseph Nye on the way that Americas role in the world is changing has done much to explain what the implications are of geo-political shifts that leave America isolated as the only remaining superpower. For Nye, this power has three major forms, namely military, economic and soft power, which he defines as the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments (Nye, 2004, p. 256). American economic dominance on the world markets is one of the shipway that soft power works, since cultural artefacts, ideas and ways of doing business travel the globe and create linkages between many other cultures and the American world view. Participation in