In the contemporary world, war rivals infectious disease as a global cause of morbidity and mortality. Since the end of World War II, there have been at least 160 wars around the world with as many as 25 million (and probably many more) people killed, most of them civilians. Directly or indirectly, war touches the lives of most people on the planet, often with lasting and costly impact. Framed by the holistic and ethnographically grounded theoretical perspective of critical medical anthropology, and more broadly by the political economy of health, this book of essays by leading medical anthropologists and other health social scientists carefully examines the global effects of war, the war industry, and the international weapons trade on human health and well-being. Further, this book goes beyond offering a lively and readable account of a pressing health concern by critically analyzing the political and economic forces driving the war machine to inflict ever-increasing levels of social suffering and loss of life.

The Routledge Handbook of Asian Security Studies provides a detailed exploration of security dynamics in the three distinct subregions that comprise Asia, and also bridges the study of these regions by exploring the geopolitical links between each of them. The Handbook is divided into four geographical parts: Part I: Northeast Asia Part II: South Asia Part III: Southeast Asia Part IV: Cross-regional Issues This fully revised and updated second edition addresses the significant developments which have taken place in Asia since the first edition appeared in 2009. It examines these developments at both regional and national levels, including the conflict surrounding the South China Sea, the long-standing Sino-Indian border dispute, and Pakistan's investment in tactical nuclear weapons, amongst many others. This book will be of great interest to students of Asian politics, security studies, war and conflict studies, foreign policy and international relations generally.

This book brings together a variety of perspectives on how religion can be related to violence and war - both in a destructive and constructive way. Religion can justify and mobilize violence - even terrorism or guerilla wars - just like political ideology. But how is such a link between religion and violent behavior established in the first place? How can we go further in understanding this possible connection between religion and war? Is religious peace work just the flip side of religious support of war? Or can peace work be informed by knowing about how religion promotes violence and war? In the search for answers to the puzzle of religion and war, it is easy to focus on conflict and war situations, but maybe there is as much to learn from peace work as from war studies? Therefore, this book also analyses religious peace work from different contexts. The multifaceted presence of religion in conflict situations - whether justifying violence or promoting peace - is illustrated in this book using a variety of situations, in an enlightening panorama of one of today's must puzzling social connections: religion and armed conflict.

This book analyses the problematique of governance and administration of cultural diversity within the modern state of Afghanistan and traces patterns of national integration. It explores state construction in twentieth-century Afghanistan and Afghan nationalism, and explains the shifts in the state's policies and societal responses to different forms of governance of cultural diversity. The book problematizes liberalism, communitarianism, and multiculturalism as approaches to governance of diversity within the nation-state. It suggests that while the western models of multiculturalism have recognized the need to accommodate different cultures, they failed to engage with them through intercultural dialogue. It also elaborates the challenge of intra-group diversity and the problem of accommodating individual choice and freedom while recognising group rights and adoption of multiculturalism. The book develops an alternative approach through synthesising critical multiculturalism and interculturalism as a framework on a democratic and inclusive approach to governance of diversity. A major intervention in understanding a war-torn country through an insider account, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, especially those concerned with multiculturalism, state-building, nationalism, and liberalism, as well as those in cultural studies, history, Afghanistan studies, South Asian studies, Middle East studies, minority studies, and to policymakers.

This book offers a theory and model of counterterrorism based on emancipation and non-violence. Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) scholars have produced wide-ranging and rich critiques of terrorism-related research, as well as state counterterrorism policies and practices. This work aims to fill in a gap in the current literature by constructing an original and specifically CTS model of counterterrorism. The model outlines the basic assumptions, priorities, principles, strategies and tactics, measures and evaluation of counterterrorism. It challenges prevalent models of counterterrorism through a radical rethinking of the ontology, epistemology and the agenda of counterterrorism. The model aims to prevent future acts of terrorism by (1) re-conceptualising how we study and understand terrorism, and; (2) suggesting that our efforts to counter and prevent terrorism must commensurate with the goals we want to achieve. Essentially, this involves a commitment to emancipation, and a rejection of violence as a tool. The second part of the book is a case study of Norwegian counterterrorism which shows how the theory and model developed in the book can be used. This is the first substantial analysis of Norwegian counterterrorism in almost ten years, and produces encouraging findings which support the potential for non-violent solutions to terrorism. This book will be of particular interest to students of terrorism and counterterrorism, critical security studies, and international relations in general.

Supported by genuine historical cases, this book argues that certain new technologies in warfare can not only be justified within the current framework of the just war theory, but that their use is mandatory from a moral perspective. Technological developments raise questions about the manner in which wars ought to be fought. The growing use of drones, capacity-increasing technologies, and cyberattacks are perceived by many as posing great challenges to Just War Theory. Instead of seeing these technologies as inherently unethical, this book adopts a different perspective by arguing that they are morally necessary since they can limit the potential violations of the moral rules of war and ensure that militaries better respect their obligation to protect their members. Caron's research offers insights into how and under what conditions autonomous or semi-autonomous robots, artificial intelligence, cyberwarfare, and capacityincreasing technologies can be considered as legitimate weapons. This book will be of interest to students, members of the armed forces, and scholars studying Politics, International Relations, Security Studies, Ethics, and Just War Theory.

War, migration, and refugeehood are inextricably linked and the complex nature of all three phenomena offers profound opportunities for representation and misrepresentation. This volume brings together international contributors and practitioners from a wide range of fields, practices, and backgrounds to explore and problematize textual and visual inscriptions of war and migration in the arts, the media, and in academic, public, and political discourses. The essays in this collection address the academic and political interest in representations of the migrant and the refugee, and examine the constructed nature of categories and concepts such as 'war,' 'refuge(e),' 'victim,' 'border,' 'home,' 'non-place,' and 'dis/location.' Contributing authors engage with some of the most pressing questions surrounding war, migration, and refugeehood as well as with the ways in which war and its multifarious effects and repercussions in society are being framed, propagated, glorified, or contested. This volume initiates an interdisciplinary debate which re-evaluates the relationship between war, migration, and refugeehood and their representations.

Implicit conceptions of time associated with progress and linearity have influenced scholars and practitioners in the fields of transitional justice and peacebuilding, but time and temporality have rarely been systematically considered. Time and Temporality in Transitional and Post-Conflict Societies examines how time is experienced, constructed and used in transitional and post-conflict societies. This collection critically questions linear, transitional justice time and highlights the different temporalities that exist at local and institutional levels through original empirical research. Presenting empirical and often ethnographic research from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cambodia, Mozambique, Palestine/Israel, Rwanda and South Africa, contributors use a temporal lens to investigate key issues including: transitional justice institutions, peace processes, victimhood, perpetrators, accountability, reparations, forgiveness, reconciliation and memoralisation. This timely monograph will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, interested in fields such as political science, international relations, anthropology, transitional justice and conflict resolution. It will also be relevant to conflict resolution and peacebuilding practitioners.

Presidential Conflict in Cote d'Ivoire: Governance, Political Power, and Social Justice explores the 2011-2012 presidential conflict in Cote d'Ivoire, focusing on the conflict's impact on governance, political power, civil society, security, and social justice. The book examines the ways in which dictatorial governance detracts from democratic and civil society aspiration, the intersection of power based conflict and its impact on citizens and their security, and the role ethnic sentiments and negation play in de-emphasizing the humanity of non-favored groups. Moreover, the presidents' conflicting perspectives on the nature of governance and political power marginalized concerns specifically regarding the significance of democracy, civil society, and social justice. Despite President Laurent Gbagbo's challenge and demand for democracy, his presidency was unable to avoid morphing into dictatorial and autocratic governance. Autocracy and dictatorship had already inseminated Cote d'Ivoire during the thirty years of President Felix Houphouet-Boigny's benign dictatorship. It is within this rigidity that Gbagbo, a product of Ivoirian socio-political history, socialized in dictatorial, ethnic, and elite sentiments, constructed his version of autocracy and dictatorship, and refused to yield power to a new president elect, Alassane Ouattara, triggering a national presidential conflict. This analysis of the presidential conflict is an effort to forestall future similar issues around the globe, but specifically in poor and developing nations, from destabilization and violence. The book concludes with an African Conflict Transformation model constructed as a consultative option for political conflict mitigation purposes.

Feminist War Games? explores the critical intersections and collisions between feminist values and perceptions of war, by asking whether feminist values can be asserted as interventional approaches to the design, play, and analysis of games that focus on armed conflict and economies of violence. Focusing on the ways that games, both digital and table-top, can function as narratives, arguments, methods, and instruments of research, the volume demonstrates the impact of computing technologies on our perceptions, ideologies, and actions. Exploring the compatibility between feminist values and systems of war through games is a unique way to pose destabilizing questions, solutions, and approaches; to prototype alternative narratives; and to challenge current idealizations and assumptions. Positing that feminist values can be asserted as a critical method of design, as an ideological design influence, and as a lens that determines how designers and players interact with and within arenas of war, the book addresses the persistence and brutality of war and issues surrounding violence in games, whilst also considering the place and purpose of video games in our cultural moment. Feminist War Games? is a timely volume that questions the often-toxic nature of online and gaming cultures. As such, the book will appeal to a broad variety of disciplinary interests, including sociology, education, psychology, literature, history, politics, game studies, digital humanities, media and cultural studies, and gender studies, as well as those interested in playing, or designing, socially engaged games.

Security is undermined worldwide from political dissident activity and acts of terrorism targeted at innocent victims with no relation to the offenders. This political violence and terrorism plagues all continents and does not originate solely from jihadist groups. With a view towards developing more effective measures of prevention and resolution, Examining Political Violence: Studies of Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Internal War examines political violence in various national and international settings. A collection of works, some previously published as articles in the journal Police Practice and Research, the book provides both conceptual analysis and case studies, exploring historical and sociopolitical contexts of conflicts in order to help readers better understand these themes. Divided into three parts, the book begins by defining the concepts of terrorism and radicalization. It discusses countering terrorism through intelligence gathering, examines how a multiagency approach is necessary to be prepared for terrorist acts, and examines different policing models. It discusses the experiences of policing agencies' investigations into terrorist groups, and examines the targeting of police officers by terrorist groups. Specifying the historical and sociopolitical contexts of conflicts is essential for understanding these themes. Control policies must be grounded in empirical realities, not ideological preferences or aversions. Bringing together theoretical concepts examined through operational and empirical findings, the book is written by academics researching the areas as well as practitioners working in the fields of counterterrorism and political violence. The conclusions drawn from these findings may assist in combating terrorism and political violence around the world.

This study discusses salient trends demonstrated by contemporary warfare of these first years of the 21st century. The authors reinforce previous notions of Fourth Generation Warfare, but most importantly explore the workings of new components and how these have modified the theory and practice of warfare beyond the basic divisions of conventional and unconventional warfare as witnessed in the preceding century. Throughout history there has been a close interaction between politics, communication and armed conflict and a main line of investigation of this book is to track changes that are presumed to have occurred in the way and manner in which armed conflicts are waged. Using cogent examples drawn variously from conflicts of the Arab Spring, the Islamic State and Russian adventurism in South Ossetia, Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, the authors demonstrate the application of Information Warfare, the practice of Hybrid Warfare, and offensive use of diplomacy, communications, economics and international law to obtain political and military advantages against the status quo states of the international community. The authors combine a theoretical framework with concrete empirical examples in order to create a better understanding and comprehension of the current events and processes that shape the character of contemporary armed conflicts and how they are informed and perceived in a highly mediatised and politicised world.

Why has social peace been preserved in some new, nationalizing countries in Eastern Europe and broken down in others? While civil peace has reigned in Estonia, Moldova experienced a bloody civil war in 1992, claiming more than a thousand casualties. These two states in question share a number of common characteristics, but there is one important difference. National Integration and Violent Conflict in Post-Soviet Societies analyzes processes of nation-building and ethnic integration in Estonia and Moldova in order to increase our general understanding of how social peace remains strong in one place and disintegrates in another. Chapters employ both 'on the ground' empirical studies and a strong theoretical framework to discuss theories on ethnic violence in the modern world and their possible relevance for these two cases. Additionally, the results of two large-scale surveys and four country chapters written by scholars living and working in Moldova and Estonia round out the book's exploration of each country's similarities and differences. The resulting volume contributes to a better understanding of national integration process in Estonia and Moldova and of national integration and communal violence in general.

Canadians often characterize their military history as a march toward nationhood, but in the first eighty years of Confederation they were fighting for the British Empire. War forced Canadians to re-examine their relationship to Britain and to one another. As French Canadians, Indigenous peoples, and those with roots in continental Europe and beyond mobilized for war, their participation challenged the imagined homogeneity of Canada as a British nation. Fighting with the Empire examines the paradox of a national contribution to an imperial war effort, finding middle ground between affirming the emergence of a nation through warfare and equating Canadian nationalism with British imperialism.

Through the lens of readiness theory, this book focuses on elements that determine the success and failure in negotiating peace agreements in intractable ethno-national conflicts. Examining three cases of mediated negotiation in Aceh, Sudan, and Sri Lanka, the book provides an analytical framework for studying the processes underlying the movement toward conflict resolution. By studying readiness theory's capacity to identify the factors that influence parties' readiness to reach an agreement, it constitutes another step in the development of readiness theory beyond the pre-negotiation stage. The work highlights the central role that third parties - mediators and the international community - play in the success or failure of peace processes, illuminating the mechanisms through which third parties affect the dynamics and outcome of the process. The systematic examination of readiness theory in these cases is instructive for researchers as well as for practitioners who seek to successfully mediate intractable conflicts and help adversaries achieve peace accords. This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peace studies, Asian politics, African politics and international relations in general.

This book addresses the conceptual and evidentiary issues relating to the treatment of propaganda in international criminal law. Bringing together an interdisciplinary range of scholars, researchers and legal practitioners from Africa, Australia, Europe and the United States, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the nature, position and role of the concept of propaganda in mass atrocity crimes trials. A sequel to the earlier Propaganda, War Crimes Trials and International Law: From Speakers' Corner to War Crimes (Routledge, 2011) this book is the first to synthesize the knowledge, procedures and methods of international criminal law with the social cognitive sciences. Including a comprehensive overview of the most relevant case law, jurisprudence and scientific studies, the book also offers a series of practical insights and strategies for both academics and legal professionals. An invaluable resource for those working in the area of international criminal law, this book will also be of interest to academics, practitioners and students with relevant interests in legal theory, politics, linguistics and psychology.

'Ideologies need enemies to thrive, religion does not'. Using the Sahel as a source of five comparative case studies, this volume aims to engage in the painstaking task of disentangling Islam from the political ideologies that have issued from its theologies to fight for governmental power and the transformation of society. While these ideologies tap into sources of religious legitimacy, the author shows that they are fundamentally secular or temporal enterprises, defined by confrontation with other political ideologies-both progressive and liberal-within the arena of nation states. Their objectives are the same as these other ideologies, i.e., to harness political power for changing national societies, and they resort to various methods of persuasion, until they break down into violence. The two driving questions of the book are, whence come these ideologies, and why do they-sometimes-result in violence? Ideologies of Salafi radicalism are at work in the five countries of the Sahel region, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, (Northern) Nigeria and Senegal, but violence has broken out only in Mali and Northern Nigeria. Using a theoretical framework of ideological development and methods of historical analysis, Idrissa traces the emergence of Salafi radicalism in each of these countries as a spark ignited by the shock between concurrent processes of Islamization and colonization in the 1940s. However, while the spark eventually ignited a blaze in Mali and Nigeria, it has only led to milder political heat in Niger and Senegal and has had no burning effect at all in Burkina Faso. By meticulously examining the development of Salafi radicalism ideologies over time in connection with developments in national politics in each of the countries, Idrissa arrives at compelling conclusions about these divergent outcomes. Given the many similarities between the countries studied, these divergences show, in particular, that history, the behaviour of state leaders and national sociologies matter-against assumptions of 'natural' contradictions between religion (Islam) and secularism or democracy. This volume offers a new perspective in discussions on ideology, which remains-as is shown here-the independent variable of many key contemporary political processes, either hidden in plain sight or disguised in a religious garb.

This book explores the often assumed but so far not examined proposition that a particular U.S. culture influences U.S. foreign policy behavior or, more concretely, that widely shared basic assumptions embraced by members of the U.S. administration have a notable impact on foreign policy-making. Publicly professed beliefs regarding America's role in the world and about democracy's universal appeal - despite much contestation - go to the heart of U.S. national identity. Employing extensive foreign policy text analysis as well as using the case study of U.S.-Egyptian bilateral relations during the Clinton, Bush junior, and Obama administrations, it shows that basic assumptions matter in U.S. democracy promotion in general, and the book operationalizes them in detail as well as employs qualitative content analysis to assess their validity and variation. The research presented lies at the intersection of International Relations, U.S. foreign policy, regional studies, and democracy promotion. The specific focus on the domestic 'cultural' angle for the study of foreign policy and this dimension's operationalization makes it a creative crossover study and a unique contribution to these overlapping fields.

"The variety of the essays and empirical cases demonstrate clearly the necessity of careful analysis of local situations and provide strong arguments for avoiding the overemphasis of singular explanations, such as those based on human rights...Because of its theoretical sophistication as well as empirical force the volume deserves a careful reading." Helsinki Review of Global Governance

."..this volume...provides rich theoretical and empirical inputs for discussions of some of the most important current issues concerning the state, globalization, and the use of violence." Anthropos

Analyzing both historical contexts and geographical locations, this volume explores the continuous reformation of state power and its potential in situations of violent conflict. The state, otherwise understood as an abstract and transcendent concept in many works on globalization in political philosophy, is instead located and analyzed here as an embedded part of lived reality. This relationship to the state is exposed as an integral factor to the formation of the social - whether in Africa, the Middle East, South America or the United States. Through the examination of these particular empirical settings of war or war-like situations, the book further argues for the continued importance of the state in shifting social and political circumstances. In doing so, the authors provide a critical contribution to debates within a broad spectrum of fields that are concerned with the future of the state, the nature of sovereignty, and globalization.

Bruce Kapferer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bergen. He has held academic positions in Zambia, Manchester, Adelaide, London and Queensland and carried out extensive fieldwork in Zambia, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and South Africa.

Bjorn Enge Bertelsen is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bergen. His work focuses on violence, history, sovereignty, and the post-colonial state and is based mainly on fieldwork in Mozambique.

Exploring NATO's post-Cold War determination to support democracy abroad, this book addresses the alliance's adaptation to the new illiberal backlashes in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Afghanistan after the alleged 'return of history'. The book engages the question of what has driven NATO to pursue democratisation in face of the significant region-specific challenges and what can explain policy expansion or retrenchment over time. Explaining NATO's adaptation from the perspective of power dynamics that push for international change and historical experience that informs grand strategy allows wider inferences not only about democratisation as a foreign policy strategy but also about the nature of the transatlantic alliance and its relations with a mostly illiberal environment. Larsen offers a theoretical conception of NATO as a patchwork of one hegemonic and several great power interests that converge or diverge in the formulation of common policy, as opposed to NATO as a community of universal values. This volume will appeal to researchers of transatlantic relations, NATO's functional and geographical expansion, hegemony and great power politics, democracy promotion, lessons of the past, (Neoclassical) Realism, alliance theory, and the crisis of the liberal world order.

This book describes, compares, explains, and contextualises the positionings, i.e. discourses and activities, which feminists in Belgrade, Serbia and Zagreb, Croatia produced in relation to the (post-)Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Two types of positionings are analysed: those which the feminists have produced on the (sexual) war violence and those which they have produced on each other. Applying a Bourdieuian framework and using interviews with key feminist and peace activists in the region alongside a thorough examination of organisational documents and printed media articles, Ana Miskovska Kajevska challenges the common suggestion that the outbreak of the war violence in 1991 led to the same reorganisation of the Belgrade and Zagreb feminist fields. She corrects the understanding that the activists in each city, who had up until then worked together without tensions, divided at the same time and in the same manner into antinationalists and nationalists and began clashing with each other because of the different war-related positionings. Miskovska Kajevska explains further that the terms 'antinationalist' and 'nationalist' were not completely value-free and objective, and had different meanings attached to them. These designations were an essential part not only of the local and international efforts to stop the (sexual) war violence, but also of the struggle for legitimacy among the feminists in each city - endeavours in which many Western (feminist) academics, activists, and funders were involved, too. In addition to providing insights into the situation in Croatia and Serbia, this book will also help increase the understanding of intra-feminist dynamics in other regions of the world which are dominated by nationalism and war violence, and where the work of the local feminists is closely intertwined with - and often dependent on - these activists' contacts with foreign academic, funding, activist, and/or political entities.

Although child soldiers have received considerable media and policy attention, they remain poorly understood and inadequately protected. This Research Handbook addresses this troubling gap by offering a reflective and nuanced review of the complex issue of child soldiering. Containing original contributions from leading experts in many disciplines working across six continents, this comprehensive Handbook showcases diverse experiences and unique perspectives. The Handbook unpacks the life-cycle of youth and militarization: from recruitment, to demobilization, and return to civilian life. Challenging prevailing assumptions and conceptions, this uplifting Handbook focuses on the child soldier's capacity to cope with adversity. In so doing, it emphasizes the resilience, humanity and potential of children affected - rather than 'afflicted' - by armed conflict. The Research Handbook on Child Soldiers will be of interest to academics, practitioners and activists alike, with its extensive incorporation of cutting-edge fieldwork and the voices of the children themselves. Promoting equity between generations, this Handbook will also appeal to individuals from many walks of life who are concerned with the rights of the child in times of conflict, peace, and the in-between.

This book examines the politics of military families in relation to the tensions between the state, military organization, and private life. It elaborates on the tensions between the advent of challenging worldwide deployment for the military and the prominence of the home front. The volume aims to understand the dynamics of conflict and change within triad figurations at the macro (society), meso (organizational), and micro (family) level and is guided by the following overarching research questions: What are the key issues in the three-party dynamics? What tensions exist in these dynamics? How do actors seek to arrive at a balance? What initiatives for change are made? With contributions from international scholars, who examine the workings of politics in military families at all three levels, the book argues that members within military families deal with shifting power balances and these are impacted by demands from organizations and the state. This book will be of much interest to students of military studies, sociology, organizational studies and politics.

Robert J. Pauly, Jr examines the history of US foreign policy toward the Greater Middle East in general and focuses specifically on the fundamental economic, military and political causes of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf crisis. He investigates to what extent these causes were internal and external in origin, looks at the principal actors in the crisis, and determines whether and how these actors have continued to drive unfolding events in the Persian Gulf ever since. The volume explores in detail the role of American leaders since 1989, including how far the US should collaborate with Europe to pursue both American and collective Western economic, military and political interests in the Gulf. It also considers the prospects for the future of American-led nation-building operations in Iraq and the outlook for the eventual liberal democratization of the Greater Middle East.

This volume is the first of two addressing the legal regime governing the use of force during armed conflicts. Traditionally labeled 'Hague Law', today the norms it examines are commonly referred to as 'conduct of hostilities rules'. At the heart of this body of law is the principle of distinction, which requires that civilians and civilian objects be distinguished from combatants and military objectives during military operations. It is the purest expression of the foundational balance between humanitarian considerations and military necessity that has underpinned international humanitarian law since its inception. The essays selected consider the theoretical and practical difficulties of maintaining the balance in the face of evolving means and methods of warfare and competing perspectives as to how it is best achieved. Also addressed is the law governing warfare at sea and in the air. Essays focusing on the former examine early norms and analyze their continuing relevance to today's maritime operations whilst those exploring the latter inject much needed clarity into the subject, an essential task in light of the centrality of aerial warfare in modern combat operations.