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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > General
A young American enlists and begins his life in the Army with pink-cheeked optimism. The realities of combat and imprisonment during World War II test his will to survive. Written for his children and grandchildren with both rawness and humor, this journey to a labor camp in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia conveys both despair and hope.
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.
Japanese war orphans left behind in Manchuria at the end of World War II are forgotten victims of the war. These 5,000 children were trapped in the strained postwar Sino-Japanese relationship, grew up in China, were bullied as "little Japanese demons," and then were persecuted as "Japanese spies" during the Cultural Revolution. They experienced every imaginable human atrocity: they were shot or stabbed with bayonets, witnessed group rape, massacres, and mass suicide, became displaced persons in an enemy country, and lost their identities. They endured what the American soldiers and the Guantanamo Bay Prison inmates combined encountered--near fatal injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, interrogations, and torture. Upon delayed repatriation four decades later, they were despised as "Chinese" in their homeland. This original book demonstrates that they are another group of victims of Japanese militarism, in addition to the Chinese and Korean "comfort women" and forced laborers. The orphan issue is an integral part of the Japanese government's war responsibility.
This book addresses surveillance in action-related applications, and presents novel research on military, civil and cyber surveillance from an international team of experts. The first part of the book, Surveillance of Human Features, reviews surveillance systems that use biometric technologies. It discusses various novel approaches to areas including gait recognition, face-based physiology-assisted recognition, face recognition in the visible and infrared bands, and cross-spectral iris recognition. The second part of the book, Surveillance for Security and Defense, discusses the ethical issues raised by the use of surveillance systems in the name of combatting terrorism and ensuring security. It presents different generations of satellite surveillance systems and discusses the requirements for real-time satellite surveillance in military contexts. In addition, it explores the new standards of surveillance using unmanned air vehicles and drones, proposes surveillance techniques for detecting stealth aircrafts and drones, and highlights key techniques for maritime border surveillance, bio-warfare and bio-terrorism detection. The last part of the book, Cyber Surveillance, provides a review of data hiding techniques that are used to hinder electronic surveillance. It subsequently presents methods for collecting and analyzing information from social media sites and discusses techniques for detecting internal and external threats posed by various individuals (such as spammers, cyber-criminals, suspicious users or extremists in general). The book concludes by examining how high-performance computing environments can be exploited by malicious users, and what surveillance methods need to be put in place to protect these valuable infrastructures. The book is primarily intended for military and law enforcement personnel who use surveillance-related technologies, as well as researchers, Master's and Ph.D. students who are interested in learning about the latest advances in military, civilian and cyber surveillance.
Civilian control of the military is one of the cornerstones on which America is built, extending back even before the founding of the nation. In this volume, Byler examines the development of civil-military relations from the end of the Civil War until the start of the First World War, looking at what happened and why. During this period, an initially small, poorly funded, and often unpopular military continued its traditional subordination to civilian authority despite the dissatisfaction of many of its leaders. This volume explores why this was the case. It then demonstrates that even after the military achieved victory over Spain and began to rule overseas colonial possessions, giving it new prestige and influence, the experience of the previous decades ensured that the traditional principle of civilian control remained strong. Significant tensions developed between civilian and military leaders as the small and poorly-funded military was sent on missions in the Reconstruction South and the Indian West, into overseas wars against the Spanish and the Filipino nationalists, and on interventions in the Caribbean and Central America. Nonetheless, officers continued to obey civilian authorities because of a developing professional ethos that emphasized the tradition of subordination to civilian leaders and the disengagement of the military from politics. Even as the military gained the size, strength, and prestige to challenge civilian control, it did not do so directly. Instead, it became adept at working within civilian institutions, forming alliances with leaders inside and outside government to shape the policies it wanted.
Military power has long been a serious obstacle to a sustained democracy in Pakistan. The authors investigate the Pakistani military's retrogressive agrarian interventions in the Punjab, and outlines a change, as recognised by society, in the military's rightful function within the economy. Set against the social resentment instigated by the military's agricultural land grabbing, and a burgeoning resistance to the military's overbearing and socially unjust role in Pakistan's economy, this book supplements a larger body of work detailing the military's hand in industrial, commercial, financial and real estate sectors. Any gain in economic autonomy wielded by the military makes it less answerable to civilian oversight, and makes it more likely to act to protect its economic interests. The survival of civilian rule in Pakistan, which is critically important for the foreseeable future, requires a fundamental reordering of the balance of power between state institutions, and between state and society. Pakistan, long encumbered by the military yoke, has witnessed its first peaceful transition from one political administration to another; and in a move congenial to the consolidation of this democratic process, 'The Military and Denied Development in the Pakistani Punjab' exposes the nefarious nature of the military's predation, and signals a move for the military to be contained to its constitutionally mandated role - defence.
Why did the British win the Anglo-Boer War? Although there is truth in the simple statement that they were much stronger than the Boers, it does not explain everything. Therefore, the main focus of this book is to analyse the most important strategic and operational decisions made on both sides, and to measure them according to accepted modern military theory. It is shown that both the British and Boer war efforts were very haphazard at the beginning, but that both learnt as the war went on. In the end, the British got the Boers in a vice from which they could not escape.
Containing the histories (from 1945 to the present) of the nuclear
strategies of NATO, Britain and France, and of the defence
preferences of the FRG (West Germany), this book shows how
strategies were functions of a perceived Soviet threat and an
American 'nuclear guarantee'. There were three options for West
Europeans: a compromise with differing American needs in NATO,
pursued by Britain and the FRG; national nuclear forces, developed
by Britain and France; and projects for an independent European
nuclear force.
War in the 18th century war was a complex operation, including popular as well as conventional conflict, between Europeans and with non-Europeans. These conflicts influenced European intellectuals and contributed to the complexity of Enlightenment thought. While Enlightenment writers regarded war as the greatest evil confronting mankind, they had little hope that it could be eliminated; thus, peace proposals of the day were joined by more realistic discussion of the means by which war might be limited or rendered more humane. In this book, the author considers the influence of ideas and values on the actions of Enlightenment military personnel and how the rational spirit of the time influenced military thought, producing a military enlightenment that applied rational analysis to military tactics and to the composition of armies. In the late Enlightenment, military writers explored the psychological foundations of war as a means of stimulating a new military spirit among the troops. The Enlightenment was, however, not the only cultural influence upon war during this century. Religion, the traditional values of the ancien regime, and local values all contributed to the culture of force. When Europeans engaged in military encounters with peoples in other parts of the globe, cultural interchange inevitably occurred as well. Further, there is a revolutionary element that one must consider when defining the military culture. The result of all these factors was a creative tension in 18th century warfare and an extraordinarily complex military culture.
In August of 1962, civilian medical doctor Jay Hoyland became an active-duty captain and medical officer in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Vietnam War. For the next twelve months, Hoyland provided medical support as a flight surgeon to the Ninety-Third Helicopter Company-the Soc Trang Tigers. It was a year that would prove to be pivotal for Vietnam, the United States, and Hoyland himself. "Through the Eyes of a Tiger" is the story of one man's tour of duty in the Mekong Delta from November of 1962 through November of 1963. With the help of Hoyland's wartime journals and letters sent home to his family, he recreates an unvarnished account of his life during this tumultuous time. Whether it is a heartbreaking visit to a Catholic orphanage, the adrenaline of combat, the unique relationship between brothers-in-arms, or the horrors of the hospital ward, Hoyland's vivid imagery and thoughtful prose paint a realistic portrait of war. Set against the broader historical context of the Vietnam War, "Through the Eyes of a Tiger" is a worthy addition to the scholarship available on the Vietnam War. But more importantly, it reveals the dramatic impact of war, both present and future, on the soldier himself.
This book examines the linkage between deviance and norm change in international politics. It draws on an original theoretical perspective grounded in the sociology of deviance to study the violations of norms and rules in the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. As such, this project provides a unique conceptual framework and applies it to highly salient issues in the contemporary international security environment. The theoretical/conceptual chapters are accompanied by three extensive case studies: Iran, North Korea, and India.
"This hard-hitting critique of US policy toward Latin America includes a historical sketch of US relations with individual countries. Black argues persuasively that the US has been the major oppponent of needed reforms in Latin American countries and the major proponent of predatory military establishments. The unwavering US goal, she believes, has been preservation of the established US empire in Latin America, but she cites differing strategies to attain this goal used by conservatives (President Reagan) and liberals (President Carter). She sees a weakening of US hegemony, however, as pressures for reform become irresistable. . . . This book should be read by all who view US policy toward Latin America as benevolent." Choice
Towards the end of 1943 and during all of 1944 the war on all Fronts was relentlessly and violently building to a dangerous and complex climax Although the Allies had massively invaded Europe in the early summer of 1944, we didn't see German capitulation for almost a year and even then only after the Russians, renewed from their awful Battle of Stalingrad, were rolling west into the very heartland of Germany, taking Berlin block by block, building by building. With equal ferocity the Allies had rolled east. Eisenhower was poised fifty miles west at the Elbe River. April 30th, Hitler killed himself. Two days later Berlin capitulated. American losses in "Europe" totaled 170,000. The German end came fast. Although the World celebrated Victory in Europe on May 5th Germans had been surrendering in big numbers through late April and early May. By May 15th Allies had imprisoned five million German military personnel. Some of the best news I heard was the surrender of 153 German submarines. The foe in the Pacific would prove as implacable. In contrast to the land war in Europe, for us the war in the Pacific had always been a sea war with island invasions and battles taking place over great distances. A few months after Pearl Harbor the author went to war in the Engineering Department of a shipyard in Los Angeles Harbor and enjoyed a brief but rigorous engineering apprenticeship.earning an "Industrial Deferment," which required draft board renewal every six months. In late summer of 1943 the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy accepted him but with a "string attached." Unlike the other three Federal academies, this Academy required a six-month "tour of duty" at sea, preceded by ninety days of "Basic Training," wartime or peacetime.
The summer of 2014--when the Islamic State seized Mosul, Iraq's second city; captured vast swathes of eastern Syria; and declared itself a latter-day Caliphate--marked a turning point in the history of photography, one that pushed its already contested relationship with reality to its very limits. Uniquely obsessed with narrative, image management and branding, the Islamic State used cameras as weapons in its formative years as a Caliphate. The tens of thousands of propaganda photographs captured during this time were used to denote policy, to navigate through defeat and, perhaps most importantly, to construct an impossible reality: a totalising image-world of Salafi-Jihadist symbols and myths. Based on a deep examination of the 20,000 photographs Charlie Winter collected from the Islamic State's covert networks online in 2017, this book explores the process by which the Caliphate shook the foundations of modern war photography. Focusing on the period in which it was at its strongest, Winter identifies the implicit value systems that underpinned the Caliphate's ideological appeal, and evaluates its uniquely malign contribution to the history of the photographic image. The Terrorist Image travels to the heart of what made the Islamic State tick during its prime, providing unique insights into its global appeal and mobilisation successes.
This book provides a detailed analysis on the history and development of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) and the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and the coordination and cooperation between these two fora. Furthermore, it discusses the future challenges that these fora will have to deal with and conclude in which way the current system can change to cope with the evolution of space matters. This is necessary for the proper discussion of space matters because these matters cannot simply be divided between military and non-military, but are interrelated.
China and the People's Liberation Army defines "great powers" and "developing states" and suggests that the purposes of their militaries are fundamentally different. Solomon Karmel works to debunk frequently unquestioned myths about China’s status as a great power. He employs extensive research of Chinese and foreign sources, secret and public, to understand shortcomings in the strategic, military, and industrial overhaul of China’s military-industrial complex. His thematic framework and case-study analysis have important implications for the study of developing-world militaries and East Asian security.
Following the passage of the fifteenth and twentieth anniversaries of the entry of many former communist states into both NATO and the EU in 2019, this book takes a comprehensive look at the changed security conditions of these new member states. How has NATO and EU membership improved their overall defense protection, and what elements are still missing for them on an individual state basis? Lubecki and Peterson provide an invaluable assessment of defence policies, from the stable East Central European states to the most jeopardised Baltic states. With chapters on the Cold War defence conditions during the last two decades of Soviet domination, the post 1989-91 transformations in the direction of democracy, and the impact of the 2014 Ukraine-Russia-Crimea crisis, this book is essential reading for those seeking to understand the changed landscape of European politics in the twenty-first century. -- .
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