Recent Publications & Presentations

IFPA regularly publishes special reports and monographs on topics of importance to the foreign affairs and security studies communities. The Institute also publishes summary reports on conferences, workshops, special studies, and seminars held by the Institute. Following are all publications completed since 2009 . Please visit our Archived Publications page for a list of earlier materials.

Most publications are available for download at no charge. To order a publication that is not available for download, click on the Available for Purchase link to purchase the publication online through PayPal, or telephone IFPA directly at 617-492-2116 to request a publication. You can also go directly to the Order Publications page to view and select from the complete list of publications available for purchase (but not for download).

  • major publications
  • conference/workshop reports
  • articles & presentations
From Rhetoric to Reality: Foreign-Policy Making under the Democratic Party of Japan
Weston S. Konishi
April 2012, 112 pp
Description
This report examines the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)’s foreign-policy making since it took power in 2009. Prepared as part of a project supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation, the report looks at the key people, policies, and processes that have come to underlie the DPJ’s foreign-policy making as a ruling party, and it includes an attempt to define and categorize four main foreign policy strains within the party. Rather than focus on the current state of U.S.-Japan relations, this study examines Japan’s broader diplomatic and strategic activity beyond the bilateral relationship while considering how these actions might impact the U.S.-Japan relationship in the future.
report (1.51 MB) || project details
New Strategic Dynamics in the Arctic Region: Implications for National Security and International Collaboration
Charles M. Perry and Bobby Andersen
February 2012, 190 pp
Description
A comprehensive examination of the new strategic map now emerging in the Arctic as the polar ice cap continues to melt, opening a new ocean and giving way to new and ever larger waterways in the High North.
monograph (47.36 MB) || project details || selected readings
Denuclearizing North Korea: Exploring Multilateral Approaches to Risk Reduction and Peace Regime Building
Weston S. Konishi
September 2011, 71 pp
Description
The final project report from a nongovernmental (Track 2) multinational working group led by IFPA to address security issues on the Korean peninsula.
project report (765 KB) || project details
Countering the EMP Threat: The Role of Missile Defense
White paper by Henry Cooper and Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
July 2010, 12 pp
Description
Among the threats facing the United States are short-range ballistic missiles launched from vessels such as freighters, tankers, or container ships off our shores to detonate a warhead that could have catastrophic Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) consequences for the United States. After discussing the potential for a successful EMP attack, this report suggests what can (and should) be done to counter such an attack by using existing and near-term missile defense capabilities, beginning immediately.
report(2 MB) || project details
A Comprehensive Approach to Combating Illicit Trafficking
A joint report by IFPA and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP)
June 2010, 176 pp
Description
This report is based on extensive independent research conducted by IFPA on the multifaceted challenges posed by illicit trafficking and efforts to combat it; the report also incorporates discussions held at a high-level international workshop on the topic organized by IFPA and GCSP in Geneva, Switzerland, in September 2009.
report (8.63 MB) || workshop details
Frequently Asked Questions about Ballistic Missile Defense: A Guide
The Independent Working Group
May 2010, 23 pp
Description
This guide is based on information contained in the 2009 Independent Working Group Report entitled Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. The purpose of the guide is to address the most often asked questions and to provide information about missile defense.
guide (11.3 MB) || project details
In Times of Crisis: U.S.-Japan Civil-Military Disaster Relief Coordination
James L. Schoff and Marina Travayiakis
May 2009, 144 pp
Description
The many large-scale natural disasters and ambitious nation-building projects over the last several years call attention to the potential value of deploying national military assets in support of disaster relief and recovery efforts, as well as to the challenges that disaster relief agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) face when working closely with the military. Both U.S. and Japanese policy makers understand that leveraging military resources during a disaster is an opportunity to save lives and property, to help maintain stability and prosperity in affected nations, and to promote the allies' diplomatic interests, but it must be done carefully. Together with a handful of other key countries, the United States and Japan can help form a valuable crisis core group that cooperates in support of large-scale, UN-led disaster relief operations, but effective civil-military coordination is essential to making this work. The In Times of Crisis project was a multi-year joint effort of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) and the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), involving practitioners and policy makers from both countries, the United Nations, and NGOs through interviews and bilateral workshops. This monograph explains the team's findings and ways to improve the allies' ability to effectively pool civilian and military resources and to respond together (bilaterally or as part of a broader coalition) in support of host nations and international relief agencies to speed recovery in times of crisis.
front matter and executive summary (3.59 MB) || full monograph available for purchase ($25) || project details
Peace Regime Building for a Nuclear Weapon-free Korean Peninsula: What Next?
James L. Schoff and Yaron Eisenberg
May 2009
Description
North Korea's recent nuclear test is only the latest in a series of moves by Pyongyang that seem directed at "shaping a new diplomatic framework" for the Korean Peninsula, rejecting the Six-Party process and returning to its traditional insistence on bilateral talks with the United States to end the Korean War. These developments illustrate the strong linkages between North Korean denuclearization and peace regime building on the Korean Peninsula (i.e., trying to institute a political solution to the Korean War beyond just a military armistice). Working with partners in South Korea, the United States, and China, IFPA is in the middle of a three-year project exploring peace regime building on the Korean Peninsula in ways that support and facilitate the denuclearization objectives of the Six-Party Talks; this interim report describes the results of over a year's worth of interviews, research, and a U.S.-South Korea bilateral workshop, up to and including North Korea's May 2009 nuclear test.
project report (2.65 MB) || project details
Realigning Priorities: The U.S.-Japan Alliance and the Future of Extended Deterrence
James L. Schoff
May 2009
Description
North Korea's missile/rocket launch over Japan and maritime skirmishes in the South China Sea between the United States and China place new burdens on the U.S.-Japan security relationship. For more than two generations the United States has provided a security guarantee to Japan that is backed by the U.S. nuclear capability. The future of this extended deterrence relationship is the focus of this report. It addresses evolving discussion about deterrence in Japan as well as the United States and examines the conditions under which Japan might consider new approaches to assuring its future security.
project report (1.86 MB) || project details
Updating U.S. Deterrence Concepts and Operational Planning: Reassuring Allies, Deterring Legacy Threats, and Dissuading Nuclear "Wannabes"
Jacquelyn K. Davis, Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Charles M. Perry, and James L. Schoff
February 2009, 22 pp
Description
Among the potentially contentious issues requiring focused attention and innovative thinking by the Obama administration are those relating to the future of U.S. deterrence planning. Members of the administration are already on record as favoring a significant unilateral reduction in U.S. nuclear weapons. Some are calling for the ratification of a Comprehensive (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty; others are questioning proposals to update the U.S. nuclear infrastructure and modernize the U.S. nuclear warhead inventory to make American deterrent forces better able to meet and counter legacy and emerging deterrence threats and challenges. This paper provides an assessment of the future of U.S. nuclear planning and offers new ideas about deterrence in the dramatically changed twenty-first-century security planning environment.
report (1.67 MB)
The Space and U.S. Security Net Assessment
Dr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
January 2009, 83 pp
Description
This report, the product of a year-long study effort, has been prepared as a contribution to the discussion about the future role of the United States in space. It surveys the current status of U.S. space activities and draws comparisons with other countries that have developed space programs in recent decades. It projects major trends into a ten- to twenty-year timeframe to identify factors that may have important positive or negative implications for the position of the United States relative to other nations in the next decade. Because of the inherently dual-use nature of space technology and the growing role of the commercial sector, this net assessment takes a broad view of space, encompassing space technologies for military uses and for commercial purposes. It underscores the mutually important role of space in U.S. national security and in the U.S. economy.
report (5.96 MB) || project details
Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-first Century
The Independent Working Group
January 2009
Description
This report provides an assessment of missile defense requirements beyond the limited ground-based system currently being deployed, together with opportunities to benefit from existing and new technologies. It presents proven technology options that should form the basis for deployment of an innovative missile defense that draws upon the legacy of technologies developed during the Strategic Defense Initiative program of the Reagan administration and the first Bush administration. The report lays out the necessary vision to exploit existing and future technologies, with space as an indispensable part of missile defense.
report (7.04 MB) || project details
Finding the Right Mix: Disaster Diplomacy, National Security, and International Cooperation
Charles M. Perry, with Marina Travayiakis, Bobby Andersen, and Yaron Eisenberg
January 2009
Description
This study focuses on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR). It explores ways to make civil-military cooperation more effective in supporting a whole-of-government strategy for addressing twenty-first century threats. It is designed to assist those responsible for the management of large-scale HA/DR efforts achieve a greater unity of effort and division of labor among the diverse civilian and military, national and international, and public and private sector entities to execute such operations. It identifies critical capabilities and key operational challenges; reviews existing and proposed cooperative mechanisms to facilitate disaster relief planning, training, and implementation; and examines several recent cases of disaster response for lessons learned.
report (4.29 MB) || project details
The Marine Corps: America's Expeditionary Force in Readiness
39th IFPA-Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy
Conference report
July 2011, 107 pp
report (3.45 MB) || post-conference website
The U.S. Approach to Peacebuilding: From a Whole-of-Government to a Whole-of-Alliance Approach with Japan
Weston S. Konishi and Charles T. McClean
June 2011, 14 pp
Description
This paper was first presented at a one-day bilateral workshop on April 29, 2011, held in conjunction with the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) in Washington, D.C. In the papers, authors aim to assess each government's “whole-of-government” or interagency coordination of peacebuilding policies and to identify priorities, assets, and expertise as applied to Afghanistan and Sudan. The goal of the project is to explore the strengths and weaknesses of both the United States and Japan’s respective initiatives with an eye toward how the two allies can best cooperate and work synergistically in a “whole of alliance” approach to peacebuilding operations in vulnerable or failing states.
peacebuilding paper (164 KB) || workshop agenda || project details
Peacebuilding as a U.S.-Japan Alliance Mission: Developing a Complementary “Whole-of-Alliance” Approach
Weston S. Konishi
May 2011, 8 pp
Description
Summary of an April 29, 2011, workshop held in conjunction with the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Washington, D.C.
workshop summary (164 KB) || workshop agenda || project details
Risk Reduction & Confidence Building on the Korean Peninsula: Challenges, Opportunities & Implications for Regional Stability
Workshop report by Charles M. Perry, Jacquelyn K. Davis, and Weston S. Konishi
May 2011, 21 pp
Description
Report on a January 19, 2011, workshop that brought together approximately fifty prominent policymakers and experts from the United States, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea for in-depth discussions focusing on the current security situation on and surrounding the Korean Peninsula and prospects for greater cooperation among the three nations represented at the workshop.
report (8.63 MB) || workshop details
Air, Space, and Cyberspace Power in the 21st-Century
38th IFPA-Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy
Conference report
September 2010
Description
The conference report from the 38th IFPA-Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy, "Air, Space, and Cyberspace Power in the 21st-Century," addresses the defining issues for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in the twenty-first-century security environment as well as the planning, operational, and investment challenges facing the USAF in the years ahead. These include balancing legacy missions with irregular warfare demands; determining where the USAF can take risks in platform modernization and how best to assign acquisition priorities in a constrained budget environment; identifying and promoting new mission areas and service competencies; and articulating an up-to-date strategy for enabling and supporting twenty-first-century security planning that facilitates combatant-commander security cooperation and joint and Allied/coalition operations, and contributing as well to broader interagency requirements.
The conference was held on January 20–21, 2010, in Washington, D.C. Building on previous conferences in this series, the 38th IFPA-Fletcher National Security Conference brought together a unique mix of expertise from government and the private sector; from the civilian and military communities; from think tanks, industry, and academia; and from the United States and abroad.
report (3.45 MB) || post-conference website
A New NATO, Euro-Atlantic Security, and the Greek-American Partnership
June 2009
Description
Report on a high-level conference convened April 28-29, 2009, by the Defense Analysis Institute of the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense, the Konstantinos G. Karamanlis Foundation, and the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) with official NATO sponsorship. As NATO marks its sixtieth anniversary, it faces enduring questions about strategic focus, operational priorities, military requirements, and collaborative ties with partner nations and other international institutions. Some of these questions were addressed at the April 2009 NATO summit in Strasbourg-Kehl, but a broader and ongoing dialogue will be essential as the Alliance moves forward in the years ahead; this conference addressed and contributed to that process.
conference report (1.44 MB) || NATO 60th anniversary events
The Six-Party Talks and New Opportunities to Strengthen Regional Nonproliferation and Disarmament Efforts
Matthew Martin
March 2009
Description
Report of an October 2008 conference sponsored by the Stanley Foundation, the National Committee on North Korea, the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, and the Chinese Arms Control and Disarmament Association.
report (152 KB)
NATO after 9/11: A US Perspective
By Jacquelyn K. Davis, September 2011
article available online
A Fiscal 2012 Missile Defense Agenda
By the Independent Working Group, February 14, 2011
article (219 KB)
A Dangerous Gap in Our Defenses? An EMP Attack Is a Terrible Threat That Could Be Countered Now
Op-ed by Henry F. Cooper and Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
National Review Online, December 14, 2010
op-ed (216 KB)
Consensus Building and Peace Regime Building on the Korean Peninsula
Charles M. Perry and James L. Schoff
International Journal of Korean Unification Studies 19, no. 1 (June 30, 2010)
article
Achieving Strategic and Economic Balance in the Japan-US-China Triangle
James L. Schoff and Jun Kurihara
Cambridge Gazette: Politico-Economic Commentaries, no. 4, March 29, 2010
article || project details
For Whom Japan's Last Dance Is Saved — China, the United States, or Chimerica?
Lecture by James L. Schoff
Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS), Tokyo, Japan, March 29, 2010
lecture || about the lecture || project details
The Road to Better US-North Korea Relations Starts in Seoul
James L. Schoff
PacNet, no. 8, February 22, 2010
article || project details
Broaching Peace Regime Concepts to Support North Korean Denuclearization
James L. Schoff
Produced as part of the Nautilus Institute study, Improving Regional Security and Denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula: U.S. Policy Interests and Options, 2009
paper || project details || about the Nautilus Institute study
U.S. Extended Deterrence Commitments in East Asia and U.S. Nuclear Posture
Speech by James L. Schoff
Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., June 3, 2009
U.S.-Japan Alliance and the Future of Extended Deterrence
Speech by James L. Schoff
Stanford University Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, May 11, 2009
China-U.S. Strategic Stability
Speech by Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
Prepared for Nuclear Order — Build or Break, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C., April 6, 2009
lecture (51 KB)
Boost-Phase Missile Defense
Talk by Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
Boost-Phase Missile Defense: Present Challenges, Future Prospects, seminar at the Capitol Hill Club, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2009
lecture (43 KB)
An Iran with Nuclear Weapons
Lecture by Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
Foreign Policy Challenges for the New Administration: Iran and the Middle East, seminar at the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, March 6, 2009; Dr. Pfaltzgraff also served as panel moderator
talk (38 KB)
Does the Nonproliferation Tail Wag the Deterrence Dog?
James L. Schoff
PacNet, no. 9, February 5, 2009
article (32 KB)
An Alliance in Need of Attention
Op-ed by Richard J. Samuels and James L. Schoff
International Herald Tribune, January 22, 2009
available online (32 KB)