In The Dragons and the Snakes, David Kilcullen asks what the opponents of the West have learned in the past quarter-century and how they have evolved. He shows how Russia, China, Iran and North Korea developed new tactics by copying terrorists and guerrillas, and how guerrilla groups have been able to access new technologies that allowed them to take on the states that oppose them. More broadly, Kilcullen explains how evolution happens in combat, how states and non-state groups copy each other, how our enemies have sought to exploit our tunnel-vision on terrorism since 9/11, and how we can respond.

David Kilcullen is a Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of New South Wales, and a Professor of Practice in Global Security at Arizona State University. He heads the strategic research firm Cordillera Applications Group. A former soldier and diplomat, he served as a counterinsurgency advisor during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In recent years he has supported aid agencies, non-government organizations, and local communities in conflict and disaster-affected regions, and developed new ways to think about highly networked urban environments. Dr. Kilcullen was named one of the Foreign Policy Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2009 and is the author of the highly acclaimed The Accidental Guerrilla, Out of the Mountains, and Blood Year.