Embedded Files
Dr. Craig Whiteside is Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College resident program at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He is a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism and the International Centre for Counterterrorism-The Hague. Whiteside’s current work focuses on the leadership succession and military doctrine of the Islamic State militant group, and he co-authored The ISIS Reader: Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement (Hurst Publishers/Oxford University Press, 2020). His current book is Non-State Special Operations: Capabilities and Effects (Routledge, July 2025). He is the 2022 winner of the US Naval War College Excellence in Research Award. A West Point graduate, Whiteside earned a doctorate in Political Science from Washington State University and is a former U.S. Army officer with combat experience in Iraq.
Research Interests: Islamic State media, strategy, irregular warfare campaigns, and leadership dynamics
Main projects
Main projects
Routledge, July 2025
Routledge, July 2025
This book examines how non-state actors (VNSA) emulate and develop military special operation capabilities.
Building on previous research on Islamic State special operations, the book develops a theoretical framework surrounding a typology of VNSA (militants, proxies, criminal/cults, and mercenaries) to explore variations of non-state special operations, with multiple cases for each category of actor. Understanding when and why VNSA use special operations provides insights into the inner workings of such groups and how they campaign, and also has implications for the proliferation of special operation forces around the globe and its influence on non-state behaviour. This volume contributes to research on the recent trend of non-state actors surprising, and in some cases humiliating, their state opponents.
This book will be of much interest to students of military and strategic studies, defence studies, and security studies.
www.amazon.com/Non-state-Special-Operations-Capabilities-Military/dp/1032594519
Google Sites
Report abuse