Measuring and Mapping Political Will

Today's strategic threat is far more fragmented than during the Cold War era. The 21st century strategic threat triad - failed states, global terrorism, and WMD proliferation -represents the greatest modern day threat to our national security interests . The common factor that exacerbates this threat triad is that of instability, and addressing it requires support from counterpart leaders to stabilize local and regional populations. This, in turn, requires the understanding of and ability to influence political will. However, political will in today's world is not well understood and is evaluated in a subjective, binary manner without consideration of the complexities. Without properly gauging political will there is no way to influence it and align leaders with USG objectives. Furthermore, miscalculating political will negatively impacts strategies for dealing with insurgency, terrorism and democratization. To objectively evaluate political will, Securboration, Inc., teaming with Dr. Peter Brecke from the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr. Eugene Santos from Dartmouth College, are pleased to propose the Objective Political Will Mapping System (OPWIMS).