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Asymmetric Warfare Operations. Research Framework and Some Methodological Remarks

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Leaders for Tomorrow: Challenges for Military Leadership in the Age of Asymmetric Warfare

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Abstract

Since the end of bipolarism the concept of asymmetric warfare, or the more general term of asymmetric conflict, began to be more and more used in connection with conventional armed forces activities and tasks. The term was considered more adequate and inclusive of the wide variety of international missions performed by multinational military units, ranging from classic UN peacekeeping to counterinsurgency operations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Wells et al. [22].

  2. 2.

    Dandeker [25,26,27].

  3. 3.

    A good example is Caforio [20].

  4. 4.

    Soeters and Manigart [29]. See on this also Klein and Kuemmel [30], Klein [31].

  5. 5.

    E. Olivetta, Chap. 2—What does Leadership Mean? in this volume.

  6. 6.

    E. Olivetta, ibidem.

  7. 7.

    See on this Nuciari [18, pp. 25–53].

  8. 8.

    E. Olivetta, Chap. 3—From Culture to Leadership, in this Volume.

  9. 9.

    Nuciari [18, p. 34].

  10. 10.

    Ibidem, p. 35.

  11. 11.

    See Duran M. and Calatrava A. Chap. 5—Military Interaction With Local Actors, in this volume.

  12. 12.

    See Duran M. and Calatrava A., in this volume.

  13. 13.

    Duran M. & Calatrava A., in this volume.

  14. 14.

    Nuciari [18, p. 33].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Torino, Torino, Italy

    Marina Nuciari

  2. Department of Economic and Social Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, Corso Unione Sovietica 218bis, 10134, Torino, TO, Italy

    Marina Nuciari

Authors
  1. Marina Nuciari
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Correspondence to Marina Nuciari .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economic and Social Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Torino (Italy), Torino, Italy

    Marina Nuciari

  2. School of Management and Economics, University of Torino (Italy), Torino, Italy

    Eraldo Olivetta

Annex 1—The Questionnaire And Interviewer Guide

Annex 1—The Questionnaire And Interviewer Guide

Open with a brief explanation of the purposes of the research, as well as its cross-national dimension.

As is customary, assure the interviewee that his or her answers will be anonymous and will be used only in a general comparative statistical context.

  1. 1.

    Record an initial set of information of a socio-demographic nature. In particular:

    Code number (Country code, Service code, No. of the interview): example ITC20 (*)

figure a

(*)The country code is as usual: SL for Slovenia, BG for Bulgaria, etc; The service code is the following: C for Army, B for Navy, A for Airforce

(**)Please indicate the rank in the traditional way: lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel.

  1. 2.

    Training and specific training:

    1. 2a.

      Mastery of languages (what languages?), good training before mission, language problems during the mission, the mission influence of such mastery

    2. 2b.

      Received basic training, his correspondence, proposals

    3. 2c.

      Specific training received (governance, cultural, socio-political training), its correspondence, the mission influence on your ability in these fields, proposals

    4. 2d.

      Suitability of preparation received to acquire intercultural communicative ability in the theater of the mission.

  2. 3.

    Field experiences:

    1. 3a.

      logistical problems encountered

    2. 3b.

      ROEs: Did you have to apply the ROEs in some occasion? If yes, what is your impression on them? Did you face problems in applying them?

    3. 3c.

      hierarchical relationships, (degree of autonomy in the field)

    4. 3d.

      relationships with other actors in the area (other units of the coalition, the local armed forces, local communities, local civil authorities, local authorities and international organizations, NGOs, mass media)

    5. 3e.

      Interoperability problems

    6. 3f.

      operational experiences (baptism of fire and other combat situations; non-combat situations such as participation to local committees, governance experiences with and without civilian leaders and the like, humanitarian support…)

    7. 3g.

      experience of particular problematic situations in the field, solutions and results.

  3. 4.

    Commanded unit:

    1. 4a.

      training level of the unit to the test of facts, proposals

    2. 4b.

      compliance of the materials, proposals

    3. 4c.

      Unit’s morale: trends during mission, influencing factors, cases of defection, possible cases of PTSD.

  4. 5.

    Personal experiences: satisfaction with (the) Mission/s; personal assessment of the results, the desire to be sent in asymmetric warfare missions again in future; anything more to say?

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Nuciari, M. (2021). Asymmetric Warfare Operations. Research Framework and Some Methodological Remarks. In: Nuciari, M., Olivetta, E. (eds) Leaders for Tomorrow: Challenges for Military Leadership in the Age of Asymmetric Warfare. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71714-8_1

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