Enhancing US Global Competitiveness through Women, Peace, and Security

A first-rate example of follow-through is the US military support of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the homegrown defense forces of the Kurdish area of Syria that formed the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces. [...] During the Cold War, the United States spent significant time, effort, and resources preparing for armed conflict with the Soviet Union, however, the deepest causes of Soviet collapse were the decline of communist ideology and the failure of the Soviet economy.41 Indeed, changing gender norms are driving significant economic and ideological changes in North Korea, revealing strategic vulnerabiliti. [...] By analyzing North Korea’s conduct through the lens of gender, we can understand its response to the drastic changes brought on by the end of the Cold War and the catastrophic famine of the 1990s. [...] Drawing attention to women’s active involvement in all elements of the continuum—armed conflict, competing below the threshold of armed conflict, and cooperation—Women, Peace, and Security, like the notion of the competition continuum, expands one’s view of the operational environment. [...] In sum, as a conceptual and practical framework, Women, Peace, and Security helps shape the Department of Defense’s collective mindset, preparing it to operate more effectively in the exceedingly complex and contested space of the competition continuum and to achieve national security objectives along the way.