Select Publications
Books
2024, The Art of War and Peace: Understanding Our Choices in a World at War, Penguin Random House, Cape Town, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/book/art-war-and-peace-understanding-our-choices-world-war/9781776391851
,2021, The Ledger Accounting for Failure in Afghanistan
,2020, The Dragons and the Snakes How the Rest Learned to Fight the West, Oxford University Press, USA
,2016, A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Divergence, Hurst
,2016, Blood Year The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism, Oxford University Press
,2015, Out of the Mountains The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla, Oxford University Press
,2015, Quarterly Essay 58: Blood Year Terror and the Islamic State, Black Inc.
,2014, Reconstructing Afghanistan: Civil-Military Experiences in Comparative Perspective, Maley W; Schmeidl S, (ed.), Routledge, London, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138810679/?utm_source=adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sbu1_lan_4mx_8cm_2sec_00000_hottopic_afghan
,2014, Mapping the Conflict in Aleppo, Syria
,2013, Somalia: Fixing Africa's Most Failed State, Tafelberg, Johannesburg, http://www.tafelberg.com/Books/15644
,2010, Counterinsurgency, Oxford University Press
,2009, The Accidental Guerrilla Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One, Oxford University Press
,Book Chapters
2024, 'The Rise of China and the Consequences for Special Operations', in Kitzen M; Kiras J (ed.), Into the Void: Special Operations Forces After the War on Terror, Hurst & Co, London, pp. 73 - 88, https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/into-the-void/
,2024, 'Postscript: The Future of Urban Operations in Context', in Sullivan JP; Jones NP; Argomedo DW (ed.), Urban Operations: War, Crime and Conflict, Keypoint Press, Boulder, Colorado, pp. 345 - 359, https://www.urbanoperationsbook.com/about-the-book
,2023, 'Irregular and unconventional warfare', in Routledge Handbook of the Future of Warfare, pp. 166 - 177, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003299011-19
,2023, 'How Raqqa became the capital of ISIS', in Understanding the New Proxy Wars: Battlegrounds and Strategies Reshaping the Greater Middle East, pp. 115 - 150
,2023, 'Syria 2011-19: Lessons for US proxy warfare', in Understanding the New Proxy Wars: Battlegrounds and Strategies Reshaping the Greater Middle East, pp. 47 - 72
,2022, 'The case of Afghanistan: How wars end', in How Wars End: Theory and Practice, pp. 123 - 138, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003317487-11
,2021, 'Foreword', in American Defense Policy, JHU Press, Baltimore, pp. xi - xx, https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/american-defense-policy
,2020, 'Enhancing Special Operations for Sustained Counterterrorism Operations', in Bowman B (ed.), Defending Forward: Securing America by Projecting Military Power Abroad, FDD Press, Washington DC, pp. 93 - 93
,2020, 'A Military Perspective', in Frame T (ed.), INTERFET Lessons and Legacies from East Timor 20 Years on, Connor Court Publishing Pty Ltd, Redland Bay, QLD, pp. 94 - 105
,2019, 'Strategic Culture', in Mansoor PR; Murray W (ed.), The Culture of Military Organizations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 33 - 52, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108622752
,2019, 'Strategic culture', in The Culture of Military Organizations, pp. 33 - 52, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108622752.003
,2019, 'The Roles and Utility of Ground Forces in Counterinsurgency and Stability Operations', in NIDS MGJ (ed.), A New Strategic Environment and Roles of Ground Forces, National Institute of Defense Studies, Tokyo, pp. 69 - 78, http://www.nids.mod.go.jp/english/event/international_symposium/pdf/2018/e-04.pdf
,2018, 'Australian Contributions to Strategic and Military Geography Introduction', in Pearson S; Holloway JL; Thackway R (ed.), AUSTRALIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATEGIC AND MILITARY GEOGRAPHY, SPRINGER, pp. 1 - 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73408-8_1
,2018, 'Geographies of irregular warfare', in Advances in Military Geosciences, pp. 103 - 108, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73408-8_7
,2018, 'Geographies of Irregular Warfare', in Pearson S; Holloway J; Thackway R (ed.), Australian Contributions to Strategic and Military Geography, Springer Verlag, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 103 - 108, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73408-8
,2018, 'Strategic Military Geographies in the South China Sea', in Pearson S; Holloway J; Thackway R (ed.), Australian Contributions to Strategic and Military Geography, Springer, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73408-8
,2014, 'Fumbling the baton: US civil-military relations in the Afghan war', in Reconstructing Afghanistan: Civil-Military Experiences in Comparative Perspective, pp. 10 - 24, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315749389-8
,2012, 'Counterinsurgency: The State of a Controversial Art', in The Routledge Handbook of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency, Routledge, pp. 128 - 154
,2012, 'Taliban and Counter-Insurgency in Kunar', in Decoding the New Taliban, Hurst Publishers, pp. 231 - 246
,2011, 'Deiokes and the Taliban: Local governance, bottom-up state formation and the rule of law in counter-insurgency', in The Rule of Law in Afghanistan: Missing in Inaction, pp. 35 - 50, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760082.004
,2010, 'Intelligence', in Understanding Counterinsurgency Doctrine, operations, and challenges, Routledge, pp. 141 - 159
,Journal articles
2023, 'Wake-Up Call: Pacific Islands are potential missile launch pads', Australian Foreign Affairs, pp. 27 - 41, https://www.australianforeignaffairs.com/articles/extract/2023/04/wake-up-call
,2023, 'Stand-in Manoeuvre in a Contested Littoral Environment', Australian Army Journal, 19, http://dx.doi.org/10.61451/225858
,2022, 'Russia's War in the Ukraine is Complex and Probably Already Underway', UNSW Opinion, https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/general/russias-war-ukraine-complex-and-probably-already-underway
,2021, 'Conceptualizing a model of antifragility for dense urban areas', Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, 2021, pp. 75 - 84, http://dx.doi.org/10.14627/537705004
,2020, 'Liminal Manoeuvre and Conceptual Envelopment: Russian and Chinese Non-Conventional Responses to Western Military Dominance since 1991', Journal of Future Conflict, 1, pp. 1 - 14, https://www.queensu.ca/psychology/sites/webpublish.queensu.ca.psycwww/files/files/Journal%20of%20Future%20Conflict/Issue%202%20Fall%202020/Issue_2-Kilcullen.pdf
,2019, 'Feature Review: How to Defend Australia, by Hugh White', Australian Foreign Affairs, 1, pp. 117 - 6, https://www.australianforeignaffairs.com/articles/review/2019/11/how-to-defend-australia/david-kilcullen
,2019, 'The Evolution of Unconventional Warfare', Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies, 2, pp. 61 - 71, http://dx.doi.org/10.31374/sjms.35
,2014, 'Afghanistan in 2024: Muddling through?', Stability, 3, http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.ej
,2011, 'Interview with David Kilcullen', International Review of the Red Cross, 93, pp. 587 - 601, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1816383111000397
,2011, 'The art of post-conflict economic recovery and reconstruction', RUSI Journal, 156, pp. 100 - 107, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2011.606656
,2007, 'Australian Statecraft: The Challenge of Aligning Policy with Strategic Culture', SECURITY CHALLENGES, 3, pp. 45 - 65, https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000214006000004&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a29b250adbe88d1
,2007, 'Subversion and countersubversion in the campaign against terrorism in Europe', Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 30, pp. 647 - 666, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10576100701435746
,2006, 'Counter-insurgency redux', Survival, 48, pp. 111 - 130, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00396330601062790
,2006, 'Globalisation and the development of Indonesian counterinsurgency tactics', International Journal of Phytoremediation, 17, pp. 44 - 64, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09592310500431521
,2005, 'Countering global insurgency', Journal of Strategic Studies, 28, pp. 597 - 617, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01402390500300956
,Conference Papers
2022, 'Terrorism crisis: cosying up to the Americans?', in Blyth A (ed.), Howard Library Policy Perspectives Paper No. 4, University of New South Wales; John Howard Prime Ministerial Library, Canberra, pp. 1 - 11, presented at The Art of Crisis Management: The Howard Government Experience, 1996–2007, Canberra, 23 June 2022 - 24 June 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/28559
,Conference Presentations
2021, 'A Future of Risk and Opportunity for the Indo-Pacific', presented at Pacific Future Forum 2021, Portsmouth, UK, 20 October 2021 - 21 October 2021, https://www.pacificfutureforum.com/EN/pages
,