Robert J Bunker
Biographic Data
| ID | 259668 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert J Bunker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert J |
| FAMILY NAME | Bunker |
| SIGNATURE | BUNKER R J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Claremont Graduate University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1958 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISK)
The rise of the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISK) from 2015 to the present began largely unnoticed as an insurgency in Afghanistan and has recently been observed as a growing terrorist threat around the globe. This assessment examines the historical precedent, evolution, and strategic objectives of ISK by way of delving into its origins in the jihadist extremist template, and into its operations by area, which increasingly are those outside…
The modern state in epochal transition
This article is intended to serve as a ‘think piece’ which invites readers to view current perceived changes to the conduct of modern warfare in the broader historical light outlined by proponents of epochal change theory. Neo-medievalists have gone a step in this direction and posited that these changes represent the future of warfare and are evidence of a return, in a sense, to the primary tenets of political and social organization that existe…
Cinematic representations of the Mexican Narco War
This essay provides an overview of the eras of Mexican cinema followed by an analysis of 10 Spanish-language narco cinematic representations, an overview of the eras of American cinema followed by an analysis of 10 English language narco cinematic representations, and a conclusion that compares and contrasts the Mexican and US narco war cinematic experience. Due to divergent national trajectories – Mexico is engulfed in narco violence and corrupt…
Global Criminal and Sovereign Free Economies and the Demise of the Western Democracies
Global Security Upheaval
Robert Mandel's eleventh book, Global Security Upheaval, is a thought provoking, iconoclastic, and tightly written work. It focuses on the upheaval taking place within the international state syste
Defeating Violent Nonstate Actors
The role of landpower "at war" is as integral to US defense needs as landpower "short of war." But what about the role of landpower between these two in environments in which violent nonstate actors dominate? In such cases, it is best to devolve opposing violent nonstate actors as quickly as possible so policing forces can implement follow-on strategies. Landpower can help provide security conditions under which these strategies can be facilitate…
Just where do Mexican cartel weapons come from
This essay will provide an overview of the major policy positions articulated in the literature pertaining to Mexican cartel weapons origins. The four major positions related to firearms are those of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), the Mexican government under the Felipe Calderón administration, US interest groups focusing on firearms regulation, and US interest groups focusing on firearms deregulation. The essa…
Grand strategic overview
This grand strategic overview highlights and analyzes the influence of epochal change on the state and conflict and the new realities with which the United States must now contend. This deep context is being provided so that (1) the belligerent and politicized non-state entities that have emerged in Mexico and the Americas can be better understood within the larger three-front grand strategic temporal conflict the US is now engaged in; and (2) th…
Integrating feral cities and third phase cartels/third generation gangs research
This essay addresses and integrates ‘feral cities’ with ‘third phase cartel’ and ‘third generation gangs’ (3GEN Gangs) research. The feral cities diagnostic tool will be expanded from three levels (green, yellow, and red) to five (adding purple and black). This will be accomplished by means of the addition of two new levels that model the shift from ferality (de-institutionalization) to criminal re-institutionalization of urban social and politic…
Rethinking insurgency
Driven by globalization, Internet communications technology (ICT), and new economic forms the nature of states may be changing. Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) – including what are commonly known as cartels – are early adopters to the new political/economic landscape. In addition to seeking to rule the illicit economy, criminal actors (networked cartels and gangs) are challenging states through high-order violence and leveraging nasce…
Torture, beheadings, and narcocultos
This essay provides an overview of those incidents of torture and beheadings linked to the Mexican cartels and their mercenary and gang affiliates taking place both within Mexico and the United States. Specific forms of torture are discussed as well as the most likely victims and perpetrators. Beheadings, primarily taking place only in Mexico, are also analyzed with supporting database information provided. The occurrences of torture and beheadin…
Sureños gangs and Mexican cartel use of social networking sites
Narco use of the Internet, specifically social networking sites by Sureños gang and Mexican cartel members, is a rich yet underexplored area of research in open venues because of its sensitive nature. This essay provides overviews of Sureños gang and Mexican cartel use of the Internet by means of viewing and analyzing primary Internet sources linked to purported narcotics groups and their associates. These patterns of use were then compared to mo…
Strategic threat
This introductory essay provides a strategic overview of the threat posed by the largest Mexican drug cartels (The Federation, Gulf, Juárez, and Tijuana), and affiliated mercenary groups and street and prison gangs, to the United States. Cartel areas of operation in both Mexico and the United States are highlighted along with linkages to affiliated enforcers and gangs such as Los Zetas, the Mexican Mafia (La Eme), and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Th…
Cartel evolution revisited
Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) – commonly called drug cartels – are challenging states and their institutions in increasingly brutal and profound ways. This is seen dramatically in Mexico's drug wars and the expanding reach of Mexican organized criminal enterprises throughout Latin America and other parts of the world. This essay updates a 1998 paper ‘Cartel Evolution: Potentials and Consequences’ and examines current cartel and gang inter…
Counter-demand approaches to narcotics trafficking
The illegal narcotics demand in the US is discussed in relation to the products supplied by the Mexican cartels. This is then contrasted with major legal commodities with addictive properties consumed in the US. Overlaps of use are also noted. Traditional, right of center, and left of center counter-demand approaches to narcotics trafficking are also surveyed. All of these approaches represent no-win scenarios for the US with its ‘troubled popula…
Should police departments develop specific training and policies governing use of multiple Taser shocks against individuals who might be in vulnerable physiological states
Terrorists and Laser Weapons Use
The trends leading to the emergent threat of terrorist laser weapons use are that a military weaponry transition from conventional to Directed Energy Weapons is taking place; that laser weapons offer clear tactical and operational advantages over conventional weapons; that laser prices are dropping while laser performance is increasing; that criminals, criminal-soldiers, and foreign militaries have all utilized laser devices and weapons for count…
Overview
I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to
Defining Criminal-states
Governmental views on belligerent and near-belligerent states are discussed along with evolving US terms for these dangerous states. The post 9/11 security environment requires the recognition of a new form of dangerous state — the ‘Criminal-state’ a by-product of belligerent non-state entities and their networks at war with the nation-state form. Four criminal-state forms originating from Jihadi insurgency, state failure-lawless zones, external …
Perpetual Jihad
Many Sunni and Shiite groups have embraced a more radical version of Islam spawned by Al Qaeda. Those who adhere to this version view the struggle within Islam and against the West as a perpetual jihad ordained by God until a just caliphate emerges. Their jihad must be viewed through the lenses of eschatology. This view focuses on the five prophetic stages of Islam. Four of these stages have come to pass with a future stage to result in the rise …
Battlespace Dynamics, Information Warfare to Netwar, and Bond-Relationship Targeting
In the coming wars between nation-states and non-state entities, both traditional and advanced forms of weaponry and concepts will be employed. Increasingly, however, advanced forms of war-fighting will play a dominant role in counter-OPFOR (opposing force) strategies because of the new capabilities which they offer. Battlespace dynamics, information warfare to netwar, and bond-relationship targeting all represent viable strategies which can be u…
Introduction and Strategic Overview
(2002). Introduction and Strategic Overview: Epochal Change. Small Wars & Insurgencies: Vol. 13, Non-State Threats and Future Wars, pp. xix-xxiv
Drug Cartels, Street Gangs, and Warlords
The nature of crime and conflict has changed and continues to evolve. The now and future war is and will be influenced by irregular combatants – non-state soldiers – that utilize technology and networked doctrine to spread their influence across traditional geographic boundaries. This era shift in political and social organization, fueled by rapid developments of technology and exploitation of network organizational forms, blurs the distinctions …
Unrestricted warfare
(2000). Unrestricted warfare: Review essay I. Small Wars & Insurgencies: Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 114-121
Weapons of mass disruption and terrorism
New perceptions of weaponry have developed in some counter‐terrorism circles, based on the concept of Weapons of Mass Disruption which target bonds and relationships, rather than things, at the systemic level. These capabilities are derived, in many instances, from advanced (cyber) forms of weapons which could eventually be employed by terrorists against the United States
Drug Cartels, Street Gangs, and Warlords
The nature of crime and conflict has changed and continues to evolve. The now and future war is and will be influenced by irregular combatants – non-state soldiers – that utilize technology and networked doctrine to spread their influence across traditional geographic boundaries. This era shift in political and social organization, fueled by rapid developments of technology and exploitation of network organizational forms, blurs the distinctions …
Rethinking insurgency
Driven by globalization, Internet communications technology (ICT), and new economic forms the nature of states may be changing. Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) – including what are commonly known as cartels – are early adopters to the new political/economic landscape. In addition to seeking to rule the illicit economy, criminal actors (networked cartels and gangs) are challenging states through high-order violence and leveraging nasce…
Torture, beheadings, and narcocultos
This essay provides an overview of those incidents of torture and beheadings linked to the Mexican cartels and their mercenary and gang affiliates taking place both within Mexico and the United States. Specific forms of torture are discussed as well as the most likely victims and perpetrators. Beheadings, primarily taking place only in Mexico, are also analyzed with supporting database information provided. The occurrences of torture and beheadin…
Sureños gangs and Mexican cartel use of social networking sites
Narco use of the Internet, specifically social networking sites by Sureños gang and Mexican cartel members, is a rich yet underexplored area of research in open venues because of its sensitive nature. This essay provides overviews of Sureños gang and Mexican cartel use of the Internet by means of viewing and analyzing primary Internet sources linked to purported narcotics groups and their associates. These patterns of use were then compared to mo…
Cartel evolution revisited
Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) – commonly called drug cartels – are challenging states and their institutions in increasingly brutal and profound ways. This is seen dramatically in Mexico's drug wars and the expanding reach of Mexican organized criminal enterprises throughout Latin America and other parts of the world. This essay updates a 1998 paper ‘Cartel Evolution: Potentials and Consequences’ and examines current cartel and gang inter…
The modern state in epochal transition
This article is intended to serve as a ‘think piece’ which invites readers to view current perceived changes to the conduct of modern warfare in the broader historical light outlined by proponents of epochal change theory. Neo-medievalists have gone a step in this direction and posited that these changes represent the future of warfare and are evidence of a return, in a sense, to the primary tenets of political and social organization that existe…
Strategic threat
This introductory essay provides a strategic overview of the threat posed by the largest Mexican drug cartels (The Federation, Gulf, Juárez, and Tijuana), and affiliated mercenary groups and street and prison gangs, to the United States. Cartel areas of operation in both Mexico and the United States are highlighted along with linkages to affiliated enforcers and gangs such as Los Zetas, the Mexican Mafia (La Eme), and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Th…
Terrorists and Laser Weapons Use
The trends leading to the emergent threat of terrorist laser weapons use are that a military weaponry transition from conventional to Directed Energy Weapons is taking place; that laser weapons offer clear tactical and operational advantages over conventional weapons; that laser prices are dropping while laser performance is increasing; that criminals, criminal-soldiers, and foreign militaries have all utilized laser devices and weapons for count…
Unrestricted warfare
(2000). Unrestricted warfare: Review essay I. Small Wars & Insurgencies: Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 114-121
Unconventional warfare philosophers
The philosophies of unconventional warfare philosophers can be divided into four schools. The classicists, or early school, represented by Sun Tzu and his ‘indirect approach’, have existed for thousands of years. Marxist‐Leninist revolutionaries gave new emphasis to unconventional warfare as a vehicle for revolution. The theories of these philosophers of the middle school were opposed by those of counterrevolutionaries. With the end of the Cold W…
The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISK)
The rise of the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISK) from 2015 to the present began largely unnoticed as an insurgency in Afghanistan and has recently been observed as a growing terrorist threat around the globe. This assessment examines the historical precedent, evolution, and strategic objectives of ISK by way of delving into its origins in the jihadist extremist template, and into its operations by area, which increasingly are those outside…
Cinematic representations of the Mexican Narco War
This essay provides an overview of the eras of Mexican cinema followed by an analysis of 10 Spanish-language narco cinematic representations, an overview of the eras of American cinema followed by an analysis of 10 English language narco cinematic representations, and a conclusion that compares and contrasts the Mexican and US narco war cinematic experience. Due to divergent national trajectories – Mexico is engulfed in narco violence and corrupt…
Integrating feral cities and third phase cartels/third generation gangs research
This essay addresses and integrates ‘feral cities’ with ‘third phase cartel’ and ‘third generation gangs’ (3GEN Gangs) research. The feral cities diagnostic tool will be expanded from three levels (green, yellow, and red) to five (adding purple and black). This will be accomplished by means of the addition of two new levels that model the shift from ferality (de-institutionalization) to criminal re-institutionalization of urban social and politic…
Perpetual Jihad
Many Sunni and Shiite groups have embraced a more radical version of Islam spawned by Al Qaeda. Those who adhere to this version view the struggle within Islam and against the West as a perpetual jihad ordained by God until a just caliphate emerges. Their jihad must be viewed through the lenses of eschatology. This view focuses on the five prophetic stages of Islam. Four of these stages have come to pass with a future stage to result in the rise …
Indian Killer
The First Look at Strangers
Crow Killer
Journal Article Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson. By Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1958. 190 pp. Illustration. $3.75.) Get access Thomas L. Karnes Thomas L. Karnes Tulane University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 45, Issue 3, December 1958, Pages 514–515, https://doi.org/10.2307/1889340 Published: 01 December 19…
Crow Killer, the Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson
Indian Killer
The First Look at Strangers
The Skulking Way of War
Advanced Battlespace and Cybermaneuver Concepts
This article argues that the traditional perception of the battlefield reveals the limiting assumptions upon which Force XXI is built, that it is constrained by its three dimensions, and that it is most likely outmoded. Paradoxically, it is the rise of nonWestern warfare and the proliferation of advanced weaponry that together have made current "spatial concepts" of the modern battlefield obsolete.[1] To be an effective military force into the 21…
Epochal Change
The United States has been less affected by this process than most other Western nation-states; we seem to prosper despite such challenges. However, the breakdown of the family, increased drug use among our children, the growing specter of gang violence, and other forms of social terrorism suggest that our own institutions are not immune to a degree of chaos. Ralph Peters, in an earlier Parameters article, stated succinctly that we are witnessing…
Unconventional warfare philosophers
The philosophies of unconventional warfare philosophers can be divided into four schools. The classicists, or early school, represented by Sun Tzu and his ‘indirect approach’, have existed for thousands of years. Marxist‐Leninist revolutionaries gave new emphasis to unconventional warfare as a vehicle for revolution. The theories of these philosophers of the middle school were opposed by those of counterrevolutionaries. With the end of the Cold W…
Unrestricted warfare
(2000). Unrestricted warfare: Review essay I. Small Wars & Insurgencies: Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 114-121
Weapons of mass disruption and terrorism
New perceptions of weaponry have developed in some counter‐terrorism circles, based on the concept of Weapons of Mass Disruption which target bonds and relationships, rather than things, at the systemic level. These capabilities are derived, in many instances, from advanced (cyber) forms of weapons which could eventually be employed by terrorists against the United States
Battlespace Dynamics, Information Warfare to Netwar, and Bond-Relationship Targeting
In the coming wars between nation-states and non-state entities, both traditional and advanced forms of weaponry and concepts will be employed. Increasingly, however, advanced forms of war-fighting will play a dominant role in counter-OPFOR (opposing force) strategies because of the new capabilities which they offer. Battlespace dynamics, information warfare to netwar, and bond-relationship targeting all represent viable strategies which can be u…
Introduction and Strategic Overview
(2002). Introduction and Strategic Overview: Epochal Change. Small Wars & Insurgencies: Vol. 13, Non-State Threats and Future Wars, pp. xix-xxiv
Drug Cartels, Street Gangs, and Warlords
The nature of crime and conflict has changed and continues to evolve. The now and future war is and will be influenced by irregular combatants – non-state soldiers – that utilize technology and networked doctrine to spread their influence across traditional geographic boundaries. This era shift in political and social organization, fueled by rapid developments of technology and exploitation of network organizational forms, blurs the distinctions …
Overview
I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to
Defining Criminal-states
Governmental views on belligerent and near-belligerent states are discussed along with evolving US terms for these dangerous states. The post 9/11 security environment requires the recognition of a new form of dangerous state — the ‘Criminal-state’ a by-product of belligerent non-state entities and their networks at war with the nation-state form. Four criminal-state forms originating from Jihadi insurgency, state failure-lawless zones, external …
Perpetual Jihad
Many Sunni and Shiite groups have embraced a more radical version of Islam spawned by Al Qaeda. Those who adhere to this version view the struggle within Islam and against the West as a perpetual jihad ordained by God until a just caliphate emerges. Their jihad must be viewed through the lenses of eschatology. This view focuses on the five prophetic stages of Islam. Four of these stages have come to pass with a future stage to result in the rise …
Terrorists and Laser Weapons Use
The trends leading to the emergent threat of terrorist laser weapons use are that a military weaponry transition from conventional to Directed Energy Weapons is taking place; that laser weapons offer clear tactical and operational advantages over conventional weapons; that laser prices are dropping while laser performance is increasing; that criminals, criminal-soldiers, and foreign militaries have all utilized laser devices and weapons for count…
Should police departments develop specific training and policies governing use of multiple Taser shocks against individuals who might be in vulnerable physiological states
Torture, beheadings, and narcocultos
This essay provides an overview of those incidents of torture and beheadings linked to the Mexican cartels and their mercenary and gang affiliates taking place both within Mexico and the United States. Specific forms of torture are discussed as well as the most likely victims and perpetrators. Beheadings, primarily taking place only in Mexico, are also analyzed with supporting database information provided. The occurrences of torture and beheadin…
Sureños gangs and Mexican cartel use of social networking sites
Narco use of the Internet, specifically social networking sites by Sureños gang and Mexican cartel members, is a rich yet underexplored area of research in open venues because of its sensitive nature. This essay provides overviews of Sureños gang and Mexican cartel use of the Internet by means of viewing and analyzing primary Internet sources linked to purported narcotics groups and their associates. These patterns of use were then compared to mo…
Strategic threat
This introductory essay provides a strategic overview of the threat posed by the largest Mexican drug cartels (The Federation, Gulf, Juárez, and Tijuana), and affiliated mercenary groups and street and prison gangs, to the United States. Cartel areas of operation in both Mexico and the United States are highlighted along with linkages to affiliated enforcers and gangs such as Los Zetas, the Mexican Mafia (La Eme), and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Th…
Cartel evolution revisited
Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) – commonly called drug cartels – are challenging states and their institutions in increasingly brutal and profound ways. This is seen dramatically in Mexico's drug wars and the expanding reach of Mexican organized criminal enterprises throughout Latin America and other parts of the world. This essay updates a 1998 paper ‘Cartel Evolution: Potentials and Consequences’ and examines current cartel and gang inter…
Counter-demand approaches to narcotics trafficking
The illegal narcotics demand in the US is discussed in relation to the products supplied by the Mexican cartels. This is then contrasted with major legal commodities with addictive properties consumed in the US. Overlaps of use are also noted. Traditional, right of center, and left of center counter-demand approaches to narcotics trafficking are also surveyed. All of these approaches represent no-win scenarios for the US with its ‘troubled popula…
Just where do Mexican cartel weapons come from
This essay will provide an overview of the major policy positions articulated in the literature pertaining to Mexican cartel weapons origins. The four major positions related to firearms are those of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), the Mexican government under the Felipe Calderón administration, US interest groups focusing on firearms regulation, and US interest groups focusing on firearms deregulation. The essa…
Grand strategic overview
This grand strategic overview highlights and analyzes the influence of epochal change on the state and conflict and the new realities with which the United States must now contend. This deep context is being provided so that (1) the belligerent and politicized non-state entities that have emerged in Mexico and the Americas can be better understood within the larger three-front grand strategic temporal conflict the US is now engaged in; and (2) th…
Political science (28 works) · Law (26 works) · Sociology (22 works) · Political economy (14 works) · Politics (12 works) · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance (11 works) · Criminology (11 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · History (10 works) · Law (10 works)