Research for Reform

Lately, there has been a lot of debate about how military operations are changing. Changes in information technology and the ability to transmit new types of information may be affecting the character of warfare. The end of the Cold War, along with other social and political changes, are also seen as important harbingers of change in the way military forces are used. Some believe that we are either in, or at the beginning of, a revolution in military affairs (RMA). This study looks at what planning and events surrounding a recent operation. Operation UPHOLD DEMOCRACY, the U.S.-led intervention in Haiti, tell us about the question: What do changes in technology and operations mean for the operational level (Joint Task Force) commander?

This research memorandum is part of a study sponsored by the Commander, Seventh Fleet, to assess the security environment of the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) between now and 2010. It focuses on the most probable evolutionary trends for China during this period. China's emergence as a major regional power will be one of the principal factors affecting the security, politics, and economies of Asia and the Pacific between now and 2010. The forces shaping China's emergence are primarily internal, but include such important external factors as Beijing s perceptions of the intentions of its neighbors and of the United States. Much of the uncertainty about China's future course and impact on the region center on whether, and how, China accepts the norms of the international systems that have grown since World War II - norms that have not yet been tested by the rapid rise in national power of a large non-Western country. Alternative scenarios emerging from the rapid changes underway in China could have widely varying implications for this and other issues.

We will not make fundamental progress at reforming the health care system until we, as a nation, come to grips with the issue of how we should ration care. Although we have not been able to come to a consensus on this issue, we remain uncomfortable with our current hybrid system that is a mix of government programs and market options. Recent attempts at comprehensive reform failed because of a lack of agreement on the appropriate shape of reform. These experiences are specifically of interest to those engaged in policy-making with regard to the ongoing evolution of the U.S. health care system. However, we are all likely to be affected by policy changes that alter our health care systems, and it is important to understand what happened during our recent effort to seek health care reform and what is likely to occur in the future. To understand the issues underlying health care reform and the likely future of the American health care system, this paper addresses the following questions: What is the history of health care reform for the United States?; Why did we reengage health care reform in recent years?; What factors caused health care reform efforts to fail?; Does our health care system have major problems (have we begun to fix the problems; or have we decided that we don't know what to do yet)?; How do we compare to other countries?; and, Will health care reform come back again, and, if so, what are the questions we need to answer before then?

This research memorandum outlines four possible directions for the reform of the Russian economy -- Western-led reform (patterned after an approach to reform prescribed by the International Monetary Fund), Russian-led reform, industry-led reform, and a return to a state-run economy (retrenchment). The paper measures how the military and the defense industries will be affected -- in the short- and the long-term -- by these courses of reform. Finally, the paper outlines the most likely course for the future of the Russian Navy.