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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > Armed conflict
Transitional justice processes are now considered to be crucial steps in facilitating the move from conflict or repression to a secure democratic future. This book contributes to a deeper understanding of transitional justice by examining the complexities of transition in postcolonial societies. It focuses particularly on Zimbabwe but draws on relevant comparative material from other postcolonial polities. Examples include but are not limited to African countries such as South Africa, Rwanda and Mozambique. European societies such as Northern Ireland, as well as other nations such as Guatemala, are also considered. While amplifying the breadth of the subject of transitional justice, the book addresses the claim that transitional justice mechanisms in postcolonial countries are necessary if the rule of law and the credibility of the country's legal institutions are to be restored. Drawing on postcolonial legal theory, and especially on analyses of the relationship between international law and imperialism, the book challenges the assumption that a domestic rule of law 'deficit' may be remedied with recourse to international law. Taking up the paradigmatic perception that international law is neutral and has fixed rules, it demonstrates how complex issues which arise during postcolonial transitions require a more critical adoption of transitional justice mechanisms.
This comprehensive volume investigates the dynamics of mobilization and demobilization of social networks before, during, and after episodes of political turbulence in the Middle East region, focusing particularly on the 2011 Arab uprisings. The authors consider important questions regarding agency, strategic action, and institutional outcomes that have significance for social mobilization, social movements, and authoritarian governance. This collection proposes an interactive perspective linking up contentious politics with routine governance through a dynamic articulation of repertoires of contention. The authors use a micro-mobilization perspective to frame the different trajectories of protest networks in times of uncertainty. They place the interactions between grassroots activists, structured organizations, and state actors at the centre of the explanation of change and stability in the recent mobilizations of the region. By starting with descriptions of interactions at the grassroots level, the authors then explain macro level dynamics between networks and other players, including the state. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Social Movement Studies.
This book provides an accessible overview of US defense politics for upper-level students. This new edition has been updated and revised, with new material on the Trump Administration and Space Force. Analyzing the ways in which the United States prepares for war, the authors demonstrate how political and organizational interests determine US defense policy and warn against over-emphasis on planning, centralization, and technocracy. Focusing on the process of defense policy-making rather than just the outcomes of that process, US Defense Politics departs from the traditional style of many textbooks. Designed to help students understand the practical side of American national security policy, the book examines the following key themes: US grand strategy; the roles of the president and the Congress in controlling the military; organizational interests and civil-military relations; who joins America's military; what happens to veterans after wars; how and why weapons are bought; the management of defense and intra- and inter-service relations; public attitudes toward the military; homeland security and the intelligence community. The fourth edition will be essential reading for students of US defense politics, national security policy, and homeland security, and highly recommended for students of US foreign policy, public policy, and public administration.
This book provides an accessible overview of US defense politics for upper-level students. This new edition has been updated and revised, with new material on the Trump Administration and Space Force. Analyzing the ways in which the United States prepares for war, the authors demonstrate how political and organizational interests determine US defense policy and warn against over-emphasis on planning, centralization, and technocracy. Focusing on the process of defense policy-making rather than just the outcomes of that process, US Defense Politics departs from the traditional style of many textbooks. Designed to help students understand the practical side of American national security policy, the book examines the following key themes: US grand strategy; the roles of the president and the Congress in controlling the military; organizational interests and civil-military relations; who joins America's military; what happens to veterans after wars; how and why weapons are bought; the management of defense and intra- and inter-service relations; public attitudes toward the military; homeland security and the intelligence community. The fourth edition will be essential reading for students of US defense politics, national security policy, and homeland security, and highly recommended for students of US foreign policy, public policy, and public administration.
'This is Irish history seen anew, from below, bristling with practical lessons for working-class struggle today' - Eamonn McCann The 32 counties of Ireland were divided through imperial terror and gerrymandering. Partition was borne from a Tory strategy to defend the British Empire and has spawned a 'carnival of reaction' in Irish politics ever since. Over the last 100 years, conservative forces have dominated both states offering religious identity as a diversion from economic failures and inequality. Through a sharp analysis of the history of partition, Kieran Allen rejects the view that the 'two cultures' of Catholic and Protestant communities lock people into permanent antagonism. Instead, the sectarian states have kept its citizens divided through political and economic measures like austerity, competition for reduced services and low wages. Overturning conventional narratives, 32 Counties evokes the tradition of James Connolly and calls for an Irish unity movement from below to unite the North and the Republic into a secular, socialist and united Ireland.
This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Rwanda genocide. This volume, the product of over 20years of engagement with Rwanda and its diaspora, offers a timely reminder of the necessity of rethinking the genocide's social history. Examining a range of marginal stories and using Rwanda as a case study, The Marginalised in Genocide Narratives' analysis of the transformation of genocide into a powerful narrative of a nation establishes an innovative means of understanding the lived spaces of violence and its enduring legacy. In a distinctive approach to the social history of genocide, this book engages with the marginalised; foregrounds genocide's untold stories; and uses the conceptual framework of the constellation of genocide narratives to create connections among multiple social actors and identify narrative themes that address the unequal power and interdependence of narratives. Adopting a multi-level narrative methodology that addresses the value of multiple narrative framings for understanding genocides, The Marginalised in Genocide Narratives will appeal to students and researchers interested in sociology, conflict and peace studies, history, African studies and narrative research. It may also appeal to policy-makers interested in genocide studies and contemporary social history.
Is violent conflict inevitable? What is it in our social nature that makes us conduct wars, genocides and persecutions? The answer lies in how we are programmed to bond and form communities that demand loyalty in order to let us belong. The analysis in this book cuts through the social sciences in order to show the fundamentals of violent conflict. The book investigates conflict at the level of sociality. It reorganises existing theories of conflict under that perspective and brings them to bear upon the link between violence and togetherness. It introduces the key concept of closure to describe the conditions under which human groups start to perceive their position as similar and their reality as polarised. This is how normality starts breaking down and fault lines appear. Violent conflict is then analysed as a reaction that seeks change more rapidly than conditions seem to allow. Global comparative data from numerous studies - including M. Mousseau's works - are used to disentangle the factors that contribute to "democratic peace", that is, the fact that democratic societies do not go to war with each other. This inquiry reveals the new dimension of sociodiversity, which allows societies where individuality is strong to constantly produce alternatives and avoid closure. The book concludes with a coda on peace and sociodiversity which explains how contemporary societies can ensure durable peace and adequate social justice at the same time. Written in a clear and direct style, this volume will appeal to students, researchers and scholars with an interest in political sociology, anthropology, international relations, war studies, as well as conflict and peace studies.
For many years religion has been the neglected component of international relations and yet in an age of globalization and terrorism, religious identity has become increasingly important in the lives of people in the West as well as the developing world. The secularization thesis has been overtaken by an increased desire to understand how religious actors contribute to both conflict and the resolution of conflict. This volume brings an exciting new perspective with fresh ideas and analyses of the events shaping conflict and conflict resolution today. The book uniquely combines chapters highlighting Christian and Islamist theological approaches to understanding and interpreting conflict, as well as case studies on the role of religion in US foreign policy and the Iraq war, with religious perspectives on building peace once conflicts are resolved. The volume provides an ideal starting point for anyone wishing to gain a deeper understanding of the religious character of conflict in the twenty-first century and how such conflict could be resolved.
This book examines the key dimensions of 21st century war, and shows that orthodox thinking about war, particularly what it is and how it is fought, needs to be updated. Accelerating societal, economic, political and technological change affects how we prepare, equip and organise for war, as well as how we conduct war - both in its low-tech and high-tech forms, and whether it is with high intensity or low intensity. The volume examines changes in warfare by investigating the key features of the conduct of war during the first decades of the 21st century. Conceptually centred around the terms 'kinetic', 'connected' and 'synthetic', the analysis delves into a wide range of topics. The contributions discuss hybrid warfare, cyber and influence activities, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the use of armed drones and air power, the implications of the counterinsurgency experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, as well as the consequences for law(fare) and decision making. This work will be of much interest to students of military and strategic studies, security studies and International Relations. Chapters 1, 2, 5, and 19 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at https://www.routledge.com/The-Conduct-of-War-in-the-21st-Century-Kinetic-Connected-and-Synthetic/Johnson-Kitzen-Sweijs/p/book/9780367515249
The Politics of Cyberconflict focuses on the implications that the phenomenon of cyberconflict (conflict in computer mediated enivironments and the internet) has on politics, society and culture. Athina Karatzogianni proposes a new framework for analyzing this new phenomenon, which distinguishes between two types of cyberconflict, ethnoreligious and sociopolitical, and uses theories of conflict, social movement and the media. A comprehensive survey of content, opinion and theory in several connected fields, relating not only to information warfare and cyberconflict, but also social movements and ethnoreligious movements is included. Hacking between ethnoreligious groups, and the use of the internet in events in China, the Israel-Palestine conflict, India-Pakistan conflict, as well as the antiglobalization and antiwar movements and the 2003 Iraq War are covered in detail. This is essential reading for all students of new technology, politics, sociology and conflict studies.
This book examines what makes accountability for previous violations more or less possible for transitional regimes to achieve. It closely examines the other vital goals of such regimes against which accountability is often balanced. The options available are not simply prosecution or pardon, as the most heated polemics of the debate over transitional justice suggest, but a range of options from complete amnesty through truth commissions and lustration or purification to prosecutions. The question, then, is not whether or not accountability can be achieved, but what degree of accountability can be achieved by a given country. The focus of the book is on the politics of transition: what makes accountability more or less feasible and what strategies are deployed by regimes to achieve greater accountability (or alternatively, greater reform). The result is a more nuanced understanding of the different conditions and possibilities that countries face, and the lesson that there is no one-size-fits-all prescription that can be handed to transitional regimes.
We are living amidst the fallout of the most controversial conflict
of our times. This book is a tough examination of how and why it
was fought and of its continuing effects.
Leaders in War present unique first-person perspectives across the spectrum of American combat operations during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. From division commanders to platoon leaders, the authors deliver an insider's view of tough leadership challenges, tragic failures, and triumphant victories. Leaders in War captures the essence of the post-Cold War US Army: how an all-volunteer army, equipped with new weapons systems and adjusting to new battle doctrine, mounted one of history's most successful military campaigns. Described here are the details of the tremendous logistical challenges, innovations in intelligence, ground combat operations from platoon to division, and a wide range of combat support operations. Leaders in War focuses not just on the successes, but on the failures as well, in operations ranging from violent tank battles against the vaunted Iraqi Republican Guard to train-and-fill operations thousands of miles away. Leaders in War illustrates how US Army leaders adapted to the psychological strains of combat, the fog of war, unforeseeable challenges, and the fury of tank warfare during the Persian Gulf War.
An incisive analysis of the use of the press for propaganda purposes during conflicts, using the first Gulf War and the intervention in Kosovo as case studies. As the contemporary analysis of propaganda during conflict has tended to focus considerably upon visual and instant media coverage, this book redresses the imbalance and contributes to the growing discourse on the role of the press in modern warfare. Through an innovative comparative analysis of press treatment of the two conflicts it reveals the existence of five consistent propaganda themes: portrayal of the leader figure, portrayal of the enemy, military threat, threat to international stability and technological warfare. As these themes construct a fluid model for the analysis and understanding of propaganda content in the press during conflicts involving British forces, they also provide the background against which the author can discuss general issues regarding propaganda. Amongst the issues which have become increasingly relevant to both recent academic debate and popular culture, the author tackles the role of the journalist in war coverage, the place of the press in a news market dominated by 'instant' visual media and the effectiveness of propaganda in specific cultural and political context. This book will appeal to advanced students and researchers in war studies, media studies/propaganda and psychology.
Egyptian efforts to acquire long-range surface-to-surface missiles in the early 1960s carry important lessons for our time, when weapons of mass destruction and charges of politicizing intelligence are key issues. This new study traces the history of the early Egyptian ballistic missile program, which began with the successful recruitment of German scientists who had experience in Hitler's V1 and V2 missile projects. Yet even as these Germans began their work on developing missiles for Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Israeli intelligence was busy collecting information on their activities. Indeed, this intelligence sparked a crisis in the Israeli leadership; Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, and other top Israeli officials anxiously debated strategies to grapple with this new threat to their national security. Ultimately, they adopted a multifaceted approach that included intimidation of the scientists and their families, appeals to the West German government to order the scientists' recall and, finally, an attempt to involve the U.S. government in the intricacies of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Drawing extensively on material from recently declassified U.S. government documents, this new major work demonstrates how Nasser's missile program played an instrumental role in cementing the U.S.-Israeli national security relationship. The book concludes with several key lessons that can help stem the global proliferation of advanced weapons. This book will be of great interest to scholars of proliferation, international relations, the Middle East, disarmament and security studies in general.
NATO was hugely successful in facing off the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But has it been equally successful in addressing the "new threats" of the post-Cold War era? This new study assesses the organization's political and military initiatives, and how its outreach to Russia, Ukraine, and other countries in the Euro-Atlantic and Mediterranean regions, devoted considerable attention to WMD proliferation risks. It also probes the political factors, both inside and outside NATO, as well as resource constraints, which have limited the alliance's "added value" in the international community's effort to combat proliferation. The events of 11 September 2001 and bitter intra-alliance controversy over the 2003 Iraq intervention have highlighted questions regarding NATO's future role, and even its continued viability. This is a serious reflection on how the alliance should figure in the fight against WMD and terrorist threats and an examination of today's key issues, including the use of force in international relations and the possibility of constructing new, post-Cold War collective security rules. This is the first study to evaluate, critically and in-depth, how a long-standing security organization has adapted - and must continue to adapt - to the global security challenges of our time. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of international politics, military history and all readers interested in the future of NATO and international security. This book will be of great interest to students of NATO, security studies and international relations in general.
This book offers a fresh examination of the political economy of the peacebuilding process in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the aftermath of the country's 1992-95 war. Little progress has been made in transforming the country's war-shattered economy into a functioning market economy, this new study explains the principal dynamics that have led to this, and places Bosnia's economic transition process within the context of the country's broader post-conflict peacebuilding process. The central argument this book persuasively advances is that much of Bosnia's ongoing economic crisis, and its current reform stalemate, can be explained by exploring the interactions of an inappropriate international model of economic reform with the country's particular post-conflict and post-socialist political economy. This book is essential for readers who wish to build an understanding of the region and assess its future prospects and hopes.
This new book traces the changing relationship between Russia and NATO through the prism of conventional arms control, and focuses on the negotiation, implementation and adaptation of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. It shows that arms control agreements reflect rather than affect relations between parties and how the CFE Treaty codified parity between NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) in November 1990. It also shows how the CFE Treaty reflected the status quo at the end of the cold war, but the benefits were short lived, at least for Russia. Although still widely viewed in the west as the cornerstone of security and stability in post-Cold War Europe, from the Russian perspective the treaty was soon overtaken by events. With the collapse of the WTO and the Soviet Union in 1991, it became impossible to talk of a military balance between east and west in Europe, especially as all the former WTO states opted for membership in NATO. This study details how the other state parties worked hard to adjust and adapt the treaty to meet Russian concerns about its new weakness relative to NATO, and the issues that complicated Russian acceptance of CFE limits. This book will be of great interest to all students of NATO, European politics, international relations and strategic studies in general.
With revolutionary changes in nanotechnology (NT) now on the horizon, many countries have started major research and development (R&D) programmes, which are mainly civilian. Often overlooked are military R&D programmes - in particular those of the US government. This is the first systematic and comprehensive presentation of the potential military applications of NT. In ten to twenty years, these applications may include extremely small computers, robots, missiles, satellites, launchers and sensors. They may also provide lighter and stronger materials for vehicles and weapons, implants in soldiers' bodies, metal-free firearms, autonomous fighting systems, and smaller chemical and biological weapons. These potential uses raise strong concerns. This assessment is made from a viewpoint of international security, considering the new criteria of dangers for arms control and the international law of warfare, dangers for stability through potential new arms races and proliferation, and dangers for humans and society. Some military applications, such as computers, will be so close to civilian uses that limits are impractical. Others, such as sensors for biological-warfare agents, may contribute to stronger protection against terrorist attacks and better verification of compliance with arms-control treaties. For preventive limitation of these new technologies, specific approaches are proposed that balance positive civilian uses and take into account verification of compliance, with a view to international peace and security, not national military strength. This book will be of great interest to scholars of military technology, non-lethal weapons, disarmament and security studies in general.
Five major groups fought one another in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Second World War: The German and Italian occupiers, the Serbian Chetniks, the Ustasha of the Independent State of Croatia, the Bosnian Muslims, and the Tito-led Partisans. The aims, policies, and actions of each group are examined in light of their own documents and those of rival groups. This work shows how the Partisans prevailed over other groups because of their ideological appeal, superior discipline, and success in winning the support of large numbers of uncommitted Bosnians, particularly the Bosnian Muslims.
This volume brings together some of Professor Azar Gat's most significant articles on the evolution of strategic doctrines and the transformation of war during the 20th and early 21st centuries. It sheds new light on the rise of the German Panzer arm and the doctrine of Blitzkrieg between the two world wars; explores the factors behind the formation of strategic policy and military doctrine in the world war era and during the cold war; and explains why counterinsurgency has become such a problem. The book concludes with the spread of peace in the developed world, challenged as it is by the rise of the authoritarian-capitalist great powers - China and Russia - and by the chilling prospect of unconventional terrorism. This last essay summarizes the author's latest research and has not previously been published in article form. This collection will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, military history, and international relations.
This essential companion provides a comprehensive study of the literature on the causes, course, and consequences of the Korean War, 1950-1953. Aimed primarily at readers with a special interest in military history and contemporary conflict studies, the authors summarize and analyze the key research issues in what for years was known as the 'Forgotten War.' The book comprises three main thematic parts, each with chapters ranging across a variety of crucial topics covering the background, conduct, clashes, and outcome of the Korean War. The first part sets the historical stage, with chapters focusing on the main participants. The second part provides details on the tactics, equipment, and logistics of the belligerents. Part III covers the course of the war, with each chapter addressing a key stage of the fighting in chronological order. The enormous increase in writings on the Korean War during the last thirty years, following the release of key primary source documents, has revived and energized the interest of scholars. This essential reference work not only provides an overview of recent research, but also assesses what impact this has had on understanding the war.
This anthology examines and deconstructs what Israeli security looks like and how its various security identities have evolved both before the establishment of the state and in the years and decades since 1948. It casts light on how aspects of Israel's foreign relations have been shaped as much by internal politics as by external challenge. Further, not only does it answer the questions surrounding Israel's past, but examines carefully what type of country it has now become. Compared to much of the turbulence in the region, Israel's diplomacies have been remarkably resilient and inventive. With the background of 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration this book is a multidisciplinary study using several different methodological approaches; from discursive analyses, to theories of memories and identity, to interviews with Israeli soldiers in the field, to a legal approach to the topic, as well as International Relations studies and traditional archival studies. South Africa was one of Israel's main partners in terms of security cooperation and weapons research and development until the fall of the apartheid regime. This has been compensated with Israel opening up diplomatic relations with China (1991) and India (1992) and extending its ties with Japan. While the EU often criticize Israel's policies against the Palestinians, this is mostly rhetoric as for practical purposes Israel is like a member of the EU. This comprehensive volume studying contemporary Israel is an invaluable resource for students and scholars interested in Foreign and Security Policy, Israel and the Middle East.
This book examines and compares the diverging security approaches of the UK, China and India in peacebuilding settings, with a specific focus on the case of Nepal. Rising powers such as China and India dissent from traditional templates of peacebuilding and apply their own methods to respond to security issues. This book fills a gap in the literature by examining how emerging actors (China and India) engage with security and development and how their approaches differ from those of a traditional actor (the UK). In the light of democratic peace and regional security complex theories, the book interprets interview data to compare and contrast the engagement of these three actors with post-war Nepal, and the implications for security sector governance and peacebuilding. It contends that the UK helped to peacefully manage transition but that the institutional changes were merely ceremonial. China and India, by contrast, were more effective in advancing mutual security agendas through elite-level interactions. However, the 'hardware' of security, for example material and infrastructure support, gained more consideration than the 'software' of security, such as meritocratic governance and institution building. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, development studies, Asian politics, security studies and International Relations in general.
This book provides a comprehensive assessment of the global diffusion of the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and its impact on military innovation trajectories in small states. Although the 'Revolution in Military Affairs' (RMA) concept has enjoyed significant academic attention, the varying paths and patterns of military innovation in divergent strategic settings have been overlooked. This book seeks to rectify this gap by addressing the broad puzzle of how the global diffusion of RMA-oriented military innovation - the process of international transmission, communication, and interaction of RMA-related military concepts, organizations, and technologies - has shaped the paths, patterns, and scope of military innovation of selected small states. In a reverse mode, how have selected small states influenced the conceptualization and transmission of the RMA theory, processes, and debate? Using Israel, Singapore and South Korea as case studies, this book argues that RMA-oriented military innovation paths in small states indicate predominantly evolutionary trajectory, albeit with a varying patterns resulting from the confluence of three sets of variables: (1) the level of strategic, organizational, and operational adaptability in responding to shifts in the geostrategic and regional security environment; (2) the ability to identify, anticipate, exploit, and sustain niche military innovation - select conceptual, organizational, and technological innovation intended to enhance the military's ability to prepare for, fight, and win wars, and (3) strategic culture. While the book represents relevant empirical cases for testing the validity of the RMA diffusion hypotheses, from a policy-oriented perspective, this book argues that these case studies offer lessons learned in coping with the security and defence management challenges posed by military innovation in general. This book will be of much interest for students of military innovation, strategic studies, defence studies, Asian politics, Middle Eastern politics and security studies in general. |
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