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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > Armed conflict
This book is an introduction to critical approaches to terrorism studies. While there is a growing body of Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) literature devoted to empirical examples and conceptual development, very little has been written about "how "to systematically carry out this kind of research. "Critical Terrorism Studies" fills this gap by addressing three key themes:
Drawing upon a range of engaging material, the volume reviews a series of non-variable based methodological approaches. It then goes on to provide empirical examples that illustrate how these approaches have been and can be utilized by students, teachers, and postgraduate researchers alike to critically and rigorously study terrorism. This textbook will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, sociology, critical security studies, and IR in general.
This book offers a detailed and practically oriented guide to the challenges of conducting terrorist fieldwork. The past decade has seen an explosion of research into terrorism. However, field research on terrorism has traditionally been surrounded by many myths, and has been called anything from "necessary" and "crucial" to "dangerous," "unethical" and "impossible." While there is an increasing interest among terrorism specialists in conducting such research, there is no single volume providing prospective field researchers with a guideline to such work. This edited volume aims to fill this gap and offers a collection of articles from experienced authors representing different risk groups, disciplines, methodological approaches, regional specializations, and other context-specific aspects. Each contributor provides a road-map to their own research, describing planning and preparation phases, the formalities involved in getting into conflict zones, gaining access to sources, managing contacts, interviewing militants in the field, detailed discussion on the risks involved, ethical dilemmas, translation issues, effective interviewing and rapport-building steps, and other practical aspects of conducting field research. The text will also help researchers set realistic expectations of how the process of interviewing militants and secretive government sources in conflict zones is organized, what the likely outcomes are, and assist with many other practical issues such as how to navigate through challenges posed by government forces unsympathetic to researchers, how to reduce risk of physical harm when travelling in conflict zones, how to behave at hostile checkpoints, how to answer specific questions militants tend to ask prior and during interviews. The end product is a 'how to' guide to field research on terrorism, which will be of much value to terrorism experts and novices alike, providing detailed insights into the challenges and obsta
In the popular imagination, the battle fields of the Western Front were dominated by the machine gun. Yet soldiers at the time were clear that artillery - not machine guns - dictated the nature, tactics and strategy of the conflict. Only in the last months of the war when the Allies had amassed sufficient numbers of artillery and learned how to use it in an integrated and coherent manner was the stalemate broken and war ended. In this lucid and prize-winning study, the steady development of artillery, and the growing realisation of its primacy within the British Expeditionary Force is charted and analysed. Through an examination of British and Dominion forces operating on the Western Front, the book looks at how tactical and operational changes affected the overall strategy. Chapters cover the role of artillery in supporting infantry attacks, counter-battery work, artillery in defence, training and command and staff arrangements. In line with the 'learning curve' thesis, the work concludes that despite many setbacks and missed opportunities, by 1918 the Royal Artillery had developed effective and coordinated tactics to overcome the defensive advantages of trench warfare that had mired the Western Front in bloody stalemate for the previous three years.
This volume examines the explanatory nesting approach in the analysis of international relations and its continuing relevance in the 21st century. International relations theory urgently needs strategies for coping with the growing complexity of the international system following the collapse of the US-Soviet bipolar stalemate, the multiple challenges to US unipolar hegemony, and the rise of powerful non-Western actors. Over the course of this book, leading scholars of international relations and diplomatic history return to an approach to explanation pioneered in the writings of the late Robert Jervis. The approach calls for nesting multiple layers of explanation--systemic, strategic, and perceptual--in an integrated causal account that is simultaneously parsimonious and nuanced. Highlighting the logic of strategic interactions under uncertainty, it also integrates the effects of psychological biases and the unintended consequences of acting in complex systems to provide explanations that are at once theoretically rigorous and rich in empirical detail. Analyzing the current state of Realist theory, signaling under conditions of uncertainty and anarchy, the role of nuclear weapons in international politics, the role of cognition and emotions in economic and foreign policy decision making, and questions of responsibility in international affairs, the authors provide a compelling guide for the future of international relations theory. This book will be of much interest to students of international relations, foreign policy, and security studies.
Armed groups operating beyond the state have become the most important actors in most contemporary wars and violent conflicts, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Colombia and Somalia. They come in a dizzying array of forms: some informally linked to the state and state power, others in opposition to the state; some pursuing classic political goals, others primarily predatory and large-scale criminal enterprises. All groups, however, challenge the state's Weberian monopoly of the legitimate use of force, yet their origins, evolution, violent dynamics, and relations with state power are poorly understood. This interdisciplinary collection includes both conceptual and empirical studies of contemporary armed groups, examining cases in Latin America, Asia and Africa. It brings sociological, political economy, and ethnographic approaches to bear on larger questions including armed groups and the changing nature of warfare, the economic dimensions of their activities, and means of engagement with armed actors. It both broadens and sharpens our understanding of how force and violence are used in today's contemporary armed conflicts. This book was published as a special issue of Contemporary Security Policy.
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 UK's Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) annual programme unites senior personnel from around the world who are preparing for the highest responsibilities in civilian and military spheres. Each year, representatives of some fifty countries share on average over a thousand years of experience in some of the most complex and demanding environments on earth. In Business and Battle is the synthesis of the expert analysis and experience of participants in that programme, tested and sharpened by extensive international field work and coupled with contributions by first-rate presenters external to the programme. It deals with strategy and top level strategic leadership together and views them from multinational, multicultural and multisectoral perspectives. In so doing, it pushes the boundaries beyond a mere description of commercial, civilian and military strategic environments; it provides extensive and deep insights into how to interpret and shape those environments.
Dutch Edition/Nederlandse editie: Over de grens On 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese surrender that also brought an end to the Second World War in Asia, Indonesia declared its independence. The declaration was not recognized by the Netherlands, which resorted to force in its attempt to take control of the inevitable process of decolonization. This led to four years of difficult negotiations and bitter warfare. In 2005, the Dutch government declared that the Netherlands should never have waged the war. The government's 1969 position on the violence used by the Dutch armed forces during the war remained unchanged, however: although there had been 'excesses', on the whole the armed forces had behaved 'correctly'. As the indications of Dutch extreme violence mounted, this official position proved increasingly difficult to maintain. In 2016, the Dutch government therefore decided to fund a broad study on the dynamics of the violence. The most important conclusions of that research programme are summarized in this book. The authors show that the Dutch armed forces used extreme violence on a structural basis, and that this was concealed both at the time and for many years after the war by the Dutch government and by society more broadly. All of this - like the entire colonial history - is at odds with the rose-tinted self-image of the Netherlands.
This book presents new theoretical and conceptual perspectives on the problematique of building just and durable peace. Linking peace and justice has sparked lively debates about the dilemmas and trade-offs in several contemporary peace processes. Despite the fact that justice and peace are commonly referred to there is surprisingly little research and few conceptualizations of the interplay between the two. This edited volume is the result of three years of collaborative research and draws upon insights from such disciplines as peace and conflict, international law, political science and international relations. It contains policy-relevant knowledge about effective peacebuilding strategies, as well as an in-depth analysis of the contemporary peace processes in the Middle East and the Western Balkans. Using a variety of theoretical perspectives and empirical approaches, the work makes an original contribution to the growing literature on peacebuilding. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, Middle Eastern Politics, European Politics and IR/Security Studies.
Transitional Justice in Rwanda: Accountability for Atrocity comprehensively analyzes the full range of the transitional justice processes undertaken for the Rwandan genocide. Drawing on the author's extensive professional experience as the principal justice policy maker and the leading law enforcement officer in Rwanda from 1996-2003, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the social, political and legal challenges faced by Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide and the aspirations and legacy of transitional justice. The book explores the role played by the accountability processes not just in pursuing accountability but also in shaping the reconstruction of Rwanda's institutions of democratic governance and political reconciliation. Central to this exploration will be the examination of whether or not transitional justice in Rwanda has contributed to a foundational rule of law reform process. While recognizing the necessity of pursuing accountability for mass atrocity, the book argues that a maximal approach to accountability for genocide may undermine the promotion of core objectives of transitional justice. Taking on one of the key questions facing practitioners and scholars of transitional justice today, the book suggests that the pursuit of mass accountability, particularly where socio-economic resources and legal capacity is limited, may destabilize the process of rule of law reform, endangering core human rights norms. Moreover, the book suggests that pursuing a strategy of mass accountability may undermine the process of democratic transition, particularly in a context where impunity for crimes committed by the victors of armed conflicts persists. Highlighting the ongoing democratic deficit in Rwanda and resulting political instability in the Great Lakes region, the book argues that the effectiveness of transitional justice ultimately hinges on the nature and success of political transition.
The sheer size and influence of the British Indian Army, and its major role in the Allied War effort between 1939 and 1945 on behalf of a country from which it was seeking independence, maintains its fascination as a subject for a wide variety of historians. This volume presents a range of papers examining the Indian Army experience from the outbreak of world war in 1939 to the partition of India in 1947. With contributions from many of those at the forefront of the study of the Indian Army and Commonwealth history, the book focuses upon a period of Indian Army history not well covered by modern scholarship. As such it makes a substantial contribution across a range of subject areas, presenting a compendium of chapters examining Indian Army participation in the Second World War from North Africa to Burma, plus a variety of other topics including the evolution of wartime training, frontier operations, Churchill and the Indian Army, the Army's role in the development of post-war British counterinsurgency practice, and of particular note, several chapters examining aspects of the partition in 1947. As such, the book offers a fascinating insight into one of the most important yet least understood military forces of the twentieth century. It will be of interest not only to those seeking a fuller understanding of past campaigns, but also to those wishing to better understand the development and ethos of the present day military forces of the Indian subcontinent.
This book offers a detailed examination of the professional military education system in the United States, from a critical, insider's perspective. The mission of America's war colleges is to educate senior military officers in both the ways of war and the defence of peace. But are these colleges doing the best job possible in carrying out that important mission? Military education faces many demands, including a lack of preparation by the students, uneven quality of the faculty, and confusion over the curriculum. Many officers attend resident programs at the war colleges programs against the career advice of their leadership, despite the fact that they are virtually guaranteed graduation after less than a year of study, while others do their best to avoid it entirely. As the professional military education system has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism, some have even called for closing the war colleges. That answer, however, does not serve the United States well, especially in a complex, globalized environment, where military leaders need the best specialized education to prepare them for their future challenges. This volume examines the system that created and supports the perpetuation of this system, and why it is imperative that it be fixed. Written by a faculty member at a military college with twenty years' experience of the PME system, this book will of much interest to students of the US Military, US politics and military education in general.
Transitional Justice in Rwanda: Accountability for Atrocity comprehensively analyzes the full range of the transitional justice processes undertaken for the Rwandan genocide. Drawing on the author's extensive professional experience as the principal justice policy maker and the leading law enforcement officer in Rwanda from 1996-2003, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the social, political and legal challenges faced by Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide and the aspirations and legacy of transitional justice. The book explores the role played by the accountability processes not just in pursuing accountability but also in shaping the reconstruction of Rwanda's institutions of democratic governance and political reconciliation. Central to this exploration will be the examination of whether or not transitional justice in Rwanda has contributed to a foundational rule of law reform process. While recognizing the necessity of pursuing accountability for mass atrocity, the book argues that a maximal approach to accountability for genocide may undermine the promotion of core objectives of transitional justice. Taking on one of the key questions facing practitioners and scholars of transitional justice today, the book suggests that the pursuit of mass accountability, particularly where socio-economic resources and legal capacity is limited, may destabilize the process of rule of law reform, endangering core human rights norms. Moreover, the book suggests that pursuing a strategy of mass accountability may undermine the process of democratic transition, particularly in a context where impunity for crimes committed by the victors of armed conflicts persists. Highlighting the ongoing democratic deficit in Rwanda and resulting political instability in the Great Lakes region, the book argues that the effectiveness of transitional justice ultimately hinges on the nature and success of political transition.
First published in 1983, this extraordinary study provides a comprehensive systematic evaluation of cross-national theorizing and quantitative empirical evidence on four interrelated phenomena: Political violence Crises Military Coups D' Etat Revolutions. Findings from social-psychological research on aggression are integrated in this outstanding study, as well as results reported in social-historical studies of revolution. The focus of the book is always on analytical perspectives and corresponding empirical evidence. The author continually highlights the sociostructural and political conditions of political violence, crises and revolutions. This exceptionally detailed and systematic inventory of theories and research on a classic triad of political science (political violence, crises and revolutions) also includes a remarkable bibliography encompassing over 3000 items.
Bringing together contributors from philosophy, international relations, security studies, and strategic studies, New Wars and New Soldiers offers a truly interdisciplinary analysis reflective of the nature of modern warfare. This comprehensive approach allows the reader to see the broad scope of modern military ethics, and to understand the numerous questions about modern conflict that require critical scrutiny. Aimed at both military and academic audiences, this paperback will be of significant interest to researchers and students in philosophy, sociology, military and strategic studies, international relations, politics, and security studies, acting as an ideal course text or as supplementary reading.
This book provides a comprehensive survey of the development and operations of the navies of South-East Asia since the end of World War II. The navies of South-East Asia have rarely been the subject of systematic attention but, as the maritime strategic balance within Asia becomes more complex and open to challenge through the rise of China, they will play increasingly significant roles. While most have had only limited strength in the past, the majority are acquiring new capabilities, notably submarines, which will profoundly alter their ability to influence events. This volume outlines the difficulties that each navy has faced in developing capability in competition, not only with local armies and air forces, but with other national requirements. The authors analyse the way in which each has been shaped by history and by changing maritime strategic concepts, particularly through developments such as the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention. Drawing upon this contextual information, the book goes on to examine how the navies are likely to develop in the future, what new challenges they will face and the nature of the roles they will play within a region of increasing global strategic significance. This book will be of much interest to students of naval policy, SE Asian politics, regional security, strategic studies and IR in general.
Fallgirls provides an analysis of the abuses that took place at Abu Ghraib in terms of social theory, gender and power, based on first-hand participant-observations of the courts - martials of Lynndie England and Sabrina Harman. This book examines the trials themselves, including interactions with soldiers and defense teams, documents pertaining to the courts-martials, US government reports and photographs from Abu Ghraib, in order to challenge the view that the abuses were carried out at the hands of a few rogue soldiers. With a keen focus on gender and sexuality as prominent aspects of the abuses themselves, as well as the ways in which they were portrayed and tried, Fallgirls engages with modern feminist thought and contemporary social theory in order to analyse the manner in which the abuses were framed, whilst also exploring the various lived realities of Abu Ghraib by both prisoners and soldiers alike. Providing a unique perspective and a thorough theoretical examination of the events, their framing and depiction, this book will be of interest to sociologists, feminists, and social and political theorists concerned with cultural studies, political communication and gender and sexuality.
This volume critically examines what happens when war formally ends, the difficult and complex challenges and opportunities for winning the peace and reconciling divided communities. By reviewing a case study of the West African state of Sierra Leone, potential lessons for other parts of the world can be gained. Sierra Leone has emerged as a 'successful' model of liberal peacebuilding that is now popularly advertised and promoted by the international community as a powerful example of a country that they finally got right. Concerns about how successful a model Sierra Leone actually is, are outlined in this project. As such this volume: -
The secession of South Sudan in July 2011 took place against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, spurring hopes of a "new beginning" that might lead to a more just, democratic Sudan. Nonetheless, the years following secession have witnessed new wars, growing unrest, and renewed calls for the removal of the Islamist regime in Khartoum. This book examines how the Islamist project has shaped developments in Sudan, with a particular focus on how divisive policies at the local and regional levels have created growing regional subcultures of ethnic violence and fragmentation - as well as renewed struggles to fight continued marginalization.
Private Contractors and the Reconstruction of Iraq examines the controversial role of military contractors in the reconstruction of Iraq. When 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' was launched in March 2003, few, if any, of the Coalition's political leaders could have envisaged that within a few months the number of private contractors engaged to keep the troops supplied would exceed their actual combat strength. This alternative 'army' was not only to become the largest assemblage of contractors in living memory to accompany a military force into a war zone, but was also responsible for a fundamental transformation of how military logistics were delivered. This book explains how and why the US and UK governments became so dependent upon military contractors during the war in Iraq. It also examines the ramifications this new dependency will have on future military operations, as the conflict in Iraq has shown that private contractors are now indispensable to the attainment of both the military and political objectives of war. Finally, the book discusses what advantages and disadvantages these companies have brought to the reconstruction of Iraq, and what lessons need to be learned from this experience. This book will be of great interest to students of military and strategic studies, Middle Eastern politics and international security, and as well as policymakers and military professionals. Christopher Kinsey is a lecturer in international security at King's College London, Defence Studies Department, at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham. His previous publications include Corporate Soldiers and International Security: The Rise of Private Military Companies (Routledge: 2006)
Fratricide has been defined as firing on your own forces, when mistaking them for enemy forces, which results in injury or death. Rates of fratricide incidence have been steadily increasing and the complexity of the contemporary operating environment may lead to a continuation of this trend. Although the majority of research into fratricide has focused on the development of technological decision aids, recent explorations highlight the need to emphasise the social aspects within a socio-technical framework. This book presents and validates, via the use of case studies, a model of teamwork and decision-making factors that are associated with incidents of fratricide. In summary, it offers a review and evaluation of contemporary theoretical perspectives on teamwork and fratricide, as well as a range of accident analysis approaches. A novel theory of fratricide is then presented followed by a new methodology for assessing fratricide. Naturalistic case studies of teams are undertaken in the military domain. These studies illustrate the approach and offer early validation evidence. In closing, the book presents a series of principles designed to reduce the likelihood of fratricide in the future.
This edited volume explores the theoretical and practical implications of war and terror situations for citizenship in democratic states. Citizenship is a key concept in Western political thought for defining the individual's relations with society. The specific nature of these rights, duties and contributions, as well the relations between them, are determined by the citizenship discourses that prevail in each society. In wartime, including low-intensity wars, democratic societies face different challenges than the ones facing them during peacetime, in areas such as human rights, the status of minorities, the state's obligations to its citizens, and the meaning of social solidarity. War situations can affect not only the scope of citizenship as an institution, but also the relations between the prevailing discourses of citizenship and between different groups of citizens. Since 9/11 and the declaration of the 'war on terror', many democracies have been grappling with issues rising out of the interface between citizenship and war. This volume examines the effects of war on various aspects of citizenship practice, including: immigration and naturalization, the welfare state, individual liberties, gender relations, multiculturalism, social solidarity, and state - civil society relations. This book will be of great interest to students of military studies, political science, IR and security studies in general.
This volume provides the first comprehensive history of education and training for officers of the Royal Navy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It covers the development of educational provision, from the first 1702 Order in Council appointing schoolmasters to serve in operational warships, to the laying of the foundation stone of the present Royal Naval College Dartmouth in 1902. Educating the Royal Navy 1702-1902 includes the establishment of the Royal Navy's first naval academy, the commissioning of the officer training ship HMS Britannia, and the conduct of education at sea. It also covers the birth of higher education in the Service with the opening of the Royal Naval College Greenwich, and the provision of technical education and training for a new category of officer, the naval engineer. This book will be essential reading for students of naval history and naval education, and of much interest to professional military colleges studying the development of naval training.
Without money, terrorists cannot function as organizations and cannot conduct attacks. Yet the questions remain, how vulnerable are terrorists to financial disruptions? Can governments put pressure on their finances in meaningful ways or are they too resilient and adaptive to be affected by state actions? These and other questions about terrorism financing are vigorously debated by scholars and policymakers, particularly since the attacks of September 11th 2001 . While there is a growing literature on policy issues, strategies, and countermeasures, states must first understand their enemies before developing strategies to defeat them. So, instead of focusing on the state response, this book asks a more foundational question: How do different terrorist groups actually raise money? What are their budgets? What do their portfolios look like? How have they changed over time? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different sources of financing? The book includes case studies of 11 different terrorist groups or sets of groups within a country. It is clear that each group has a different portfolio tailored to their needs and their environment and this makes countering terrorist financing more challenging for the state. This topical book will be required reading for all students and scholars interested in terrorism financing as well as those working in government agencies tasked with combating terrorist groups and their financial resources.
"Peace and Conflict" is a biennial publication that provides key data and documents trends in national and international conflicts ranging from isolated acts of terrorism to internal civil strife to full-fledged inter-country war. A major trend it tracks is the incidence of wars beyond the protracted conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.For 2012, "Peace & Conflict" focuses on the theme of policy guidance for preventing conflict. It covers special topics with original contributions that focus on mediation, economic recovery, and the impact of elections."Peace and Conflict" is a large format reference including numerous graphs, tables, maps, and appendices dedicated to the visual presentation of data. Crisp narratives are highlighted with pull-quote extracts that summarize trends and major findings such as the continuing increase in high casualty terrorist acts and the likelihood of genocide risk in certain areas."Guest Editor"Birger Heldt is Director of Research at the Folke Bernadotte Academy (Sweden), where he focuses on the statistical study of peacekeeping and preventative diplomacy/peacemaking. |
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