The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West

by David Kilcullen Narrated by Christopher Douyard

Overview

Just a few years ago, people spoke of the US as a hyperpower-a titan stalking the world stage with more relative power than any empire in history. Yet as early as 1993, CIA director James Woolsey pointed out that although Western powers had "slain a large dragon" by defeating the Soviet Union in the Cold War, they now faced a "variety of poisonous snakes."



In The Dragons and the Snakes, the eminent soldier-scholar David Kilcullen asks how, and what, opponents of the West have learned during the last quarter-century of conflict. Applying a combination of evolutionary theory and detailed field observation, he explains what happened to the "snakes"-non-state threats including terrorists and guerrillas-and the "dragons"-state-based competitors such as Russia and China. He explores how enemies learn under conditions of conflict, and examines how Western dominance over a very particular form of warfare since the Cold War has created a fitness landscape that forces adversaries to adapt in ways that present serious new challenges to America and its allies. Within the world's contemporary conflict zones, Kilcullen argues, state and non-state threats have increasingly come to resemble each other, with states adopting non-state techniques and non-state actors now able to access levels of precision and lethal weapon systems once only available to governments.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Disturbingly brilliant. David Kilcullen, ever the thoughtful observer of wars and the people who wage them, captures the changes in warfare that already confound-and threaten to overwhelm us. He correctly shows that we are mentally and physically unprepared for the new nature of conflict, and will likely pay dearly for it." -Stan McChrystal, Partner, McChrystal Group

"David Kilcullen has produced another thoughtful, important book. At a time when some believe that the return of competition with great powers (i.e. dragons) might serve as an emotional cathartic to help forget the long war against jihadist terrorist organizations (i.e. snakes), the author exposes and transcends that false choice. His ideas about how to fight for peace in a dangerous world should be read and discussed not only by diplomats, defense officials, and military officers, but also by citizens concerned about securing a better future for their children." -H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and the forthcoming Battlegrounds

"To absorb Kilcullen's insights is to be forced to rethink national and international security in this new century and to adjust military and nonmilitary institutions to a host of new realities. Senior policy-makers have no choice but to do so."—Gary Hart, Member, United States Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees

"An eye-opening look at the state of strategic balance between the United States and its rivals, large and small... The author delivers a detailed and unsettling analysis of how America's rivals have adapted to the modern strategic landscape—and how they hope to defeat us. Essential reading for anyone concerned with America's future on the world stage."—Kirkus, Starred Review

"This book should be read by everyone in a uniform."—The Times (U.K.)

"Kilcullen is a welcome guide, offering a neat summation of how both nation-states and terrorist groups alike learned to cope with America's conventional military primacy... Kilcullen's approach offers readers accessible insights into what are complex and dynamic trends."—Diplomatic Courier

"An impressive exposé on how terrorists and non-state actors outmanoeuvre conventional militaries... [Kilcullen] has a commanding view of a geopolitical landscape."
—Financial Times

"Kilcullen argues persuasively that while the United States has been mired down in forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, our current and potential adversaries have gotten the jump on us. His book offers readers a skillfully annotated road map of contemporary conflict, describing in clear, measured prose how and why the days of American strategic and military preeminence are now behind us."—Daily Beast

"Kilcullen's The Dragons and the Snakes is a timely invitation for the West to get its strategic house in order with some new thinking."—The Bridge

"An incisive work that has deservedly garnered a great deal of attention and is likely to be of enduring importance in debates about the decline of Western power."—RealClearDefense

"The Dragons and the Snakes is the best single piece out there-concise, well-written, and nuanced. It is both a timely introduction to the topic for the unfamiliar and a source of new discoveries and insights for the expert; an important book during changing times."—PRISM

"Thanks to Kilcullen's serious military experience, access to policymakers, thorough research, and eclectic academic interests, this Australian scholar has become one of the sharpest commentators on modern conflicts."—Foreign Affairs

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2019-12-02
An eye-opening look at the state of strategic balance between the United States and its rivals, large and small.

Drawing on his experience in counterinsurgency both as an adviser in Iraq and Afghanistan and as a consultant in counterterrorism measures, Kilcullen (Global Security/Arizona State Univ.; Blood Year: The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism, 2016, etc.) provides lessons on how America's rivals have adjusted their strategies to effectively take on the global superpower. After the quick and overwhelming victory in the 1991 Gulf War, it became obvious that no conventional military force stood a chance against the sort of power the U.S. could unleash on the battlefield. At the same time, the Cold War was ending, and with it the threat of nuclear Armageddon—or so it seemed. That did not mean an end to challenges to American power, and as the Vietnam War had shown, there was more than one way to fight. Kilcullen looks at the strategies used by several adversaries, from the Islamic State group and Hezbollah to Iran and North Korea, which have achieved various degrees of success. In many ways, the most provocative parts of the book are the author's discussions of Russian "liminal warfare," which deploys a large array of tactics, pushing the boundaries to just short of battle. Equally challenging is the Chinese doctrine of "conceptual expansion," which expands competition to include not only trade and economic warfare, but ecological, regulatory, and media warfare—and perhaps even smuggling and other criminal activities, many of which are deniable. A running theme is the idea of evolutionary change, as nations and nonstate actors adapt to the "fitness landscape" they inhabit. As Kilcullen points out, America's adversaries have adapted more quickly than the U.S., and the result may well be the end of the American empire. The author delivers a detailed and unsettling analysis of how America's rivals have adapted to the modern strategic landscape—and how they hope to defeat us.

Essential reading for anyone concerned with America's future on the world stage.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159514554
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	10/24/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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