This paper combines three separate threads of analysis on culture and violent non-state actors as a launching pad to spur further research into this critical arena of culture and security. Jim Smith lays out a series of templates for guiding analysis of culture and violent non-state actors. Mark Long applies cultural analysis of radical Islam and al-Qaida in discussing the influences involved in the core al-Qaida group's WMD decisions. Tom Johnson, in examining a tribal insurgent psychological campaign in Afghanistan, demonstrates that behavioral influences can be manipulated for significant effect in countering our efforts to gain stability and legitimacy for the Afghan government.

"February 2008"--T.p.

Strategic culture and violent non-state actors: concepts and templates for analysis / James M. Smith -- Strategic culture, al-Qaida, and weapons of mass destruction / Jerry Mark Long -- The Taliban insurgency and its tribal dynamics: an analysis of shabnamah (night letters) / Thomas H. Johnson.