Principal Investigator Roger Petersen
Project Website http://mit.edu/cis/wg_suof.html
The Working Group on the Strategic Use of Force seeks to convene individuals interested in studying both state and sub-state actors' strategies and tactics to deploy force or coercion in order to achieve their objectives. This group is interested both in the strategies themselves and a variety of conditions that influence the strategic effectiveness, including civil-military relations, alliances, and regime type.
This is an MIT working group for individuals with research interests in violent state and non-state actors and will serve as a forum for students, faculty, and outside researchers to present their ongoing work and received feedback. Its aim is to examine why particular actors select the coercive strategies they do, as well as the means and tactics they use. Topics may include but are not limited to the causes, organization and consequences of inter-state conflict, inter-state coercion, deterrence, military intervention, as well as studies of sub-state violence including civil war, terrorism, and insurgency.
The working group is meant to cover a number of questions and theories on security within the fields of international relations and comparative politics that specifically deal with the threat or application of force.