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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > General
A truly international, authoritative A–Z guide to five centuries
of propaganda, in both wartime and peacetime, which covers key
moments, techniques, concepts, and some of the most influential
propagandists in history. This fascinating survey provides a
comprehensive introduction to propaganda, its changing nature, its
practitioners, and its impact on the past five centuries of world
history. Written by leading experts, it covers the masters of the
art from Joseph Goebbels to Mohandas Gandhi and examines enormously
influential works of persuasion such as Uncle Tom's Cabin,
techniques such as films and posters, and key concepts like black
propaganda and brainwashing. Case studies reveal the role of mass
persuasion during the Reformation, and wars throughout history.
Regional studies cover propaganda superpowers, such as Russia,
China, and the United States, as well as little-known propaganda
campaigns in Southeast Asia, Ireland, and Scandinavia. The book
traces the evolution of propaganda from the era of printed
handbills to computer fakery, and profiles such brilliant
practitioners of the art as Third Reich film director Leni
Riefenstahl and 19th-century cartoonist Thomas Nast, whose works
helped to bring the notorious Boss Tweed to justice.
This concise history of the major military reforms in the Soviet
Union in the twentieth century fills an essential gap in scholarly
studies on the subject and provides a model for analyzing past and
future doctrine, force structure and technology, and command and
control tactics. This study should be a benchmark for measuring and
identifying reforms in three key periods. It is intended for
historians and analysts in military affairs; political scientists;
and scholars dealing with Soviet, Russian, and the new independent
states in the region. This invaluable history analyzes three
periods of fundamental reform. The Frunze reforms of the mid-1920s
laid the institutional basis for the Red Army, enabling it to
develop into an integrated and professional army. The post-World
War II reforms and the process of demobilization and mobilization
permitted the Soviet Union to remain a nation under arms without
hobbling its economy. The revolution in military affairs in the
Krushchev era illustrated Soviet accommodation to technological
changes in warfare. And finally, the process of reform and
imperatives for reform are evident in the Gorbachev programs of
perestroika and glasnost, which were cut short. The case studies
are made against a backdrop of external and internal politics and
economics. Currently the centralized Soviet structures are
disintegrating along lines by which they were developed earlier.
Whatever the future, military reform and reorganization will relate
closely to past practice. There are many similarities between past
and present challenges and many lessons to be learned.
In an age of unprecedented world-wide prosperity, forty per cent of
Africa's 600 million people exist on less than US $1 per day, and a
third of its 53 states are affected by conflict.
The African Union (AU) is intended, in part, to mark a new
beginning where Africans are more focused on the current issues
they confront. In particular, the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD) has been hailed by African leaders as an
important new initiative in development that asks the Africans
themselves to assume responsibility for fostering democracy, good
governance, and conflict resolution.
Now is therefore an appropriate time to examine the prospects for
African development and conflict resolution. Does NEPAD represent
an approach that could at least provide some hope to ending
Africa's poor economic performance and does it and the AU represent
a new approach towards conflict resolution? Will NEPAD have a
marked impact on the quality of political, economic and corporate
governance in Africa? Or are NEPAD and the AU just two more grand
proposals destined to die rather quickly?
This book provides a brief review of African development and
security over the past three decades. It assesses the progress made
by South Africa since 1994 and describes current Western approaches
to Africa with a focus on how much opportunity these stances
provide for countries south of the Sahara to develop comprehensive
new ideas to address their problems. The book reviews NEPAD and the
AU to gauge the potential of these initiatives to take advantage of
Western policies and to address Africa's structural problems. It
suggests what must be done for African countries to reverse their
growth and security trajectories by asking if any African country
will establish the prerequisites for sustained high-level growth.
This nineteenth edition of the SIPRI Yearbook presents detailed
information on arms and arms control issues in a form that is both
concise and standardized for ease of use. The Yearbooks attract
world-wide attention and are used by governments, arms control
negotiators, United Nations delegations, members of parliament,
scholars, students, and citizens as unique and indispensable
reference works. The SIPRI Yearbook 1988 continues SIPRI's review
of the latest developments in nuclear weapons, nuclear explosions,
world military expenditure, the international arms trade, chemical
and biological weapons, conventional weapon technology, the
military use of outer space, and ongoing armed conflicts. Efforts
to control the arms race are described, and the status of
negotiations and agreements is analysed. In addition to these
regular features and statistics, this latest SIPRI Yearbook
contains special studies on the INF Treaty, the ABM Treaty review,
the Iran-Iraq war and the role of the United Nations, and the UN
Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development.
The comprehensive coverage offered by the SIPRI Yearbook 1988 makes
it an invaluable sourcebook for anyone seeking authoritative,
factual information on issues of armaments and disarmament and thus
to anyone interested in strategic studies, peace studies, and
international relations.
Korea has had a long, great civilization, with four "golden ages."
Destruction caused by foreign powers has failed to extinguish the
Korean spirit for survival. Korea, at least its southern part, is
at the threshold of another golden age, despite the handicap of
being a divided nation. To understand Korea's present situation,
one must look back at many thousands of years of Korean history.
The purpose of this study is to look squarely at that history,
including the atrocities committed against Koreans by several
countries, especially Japan in the periods of 1592-1598 and
1895-1945. Some of the questions addressed in this study are: How
did Koreans rebuild their country time after time, following
destruction by foreign invaders? How could Koreans, in recent
years, rebuild their economy in such a short time? What motivates
them? Why is North Korea so different from South Korea? What is the
potential of Korea in the twenty-first century? Why do Koreans have
such difficulty unifying their country?
What makes people act against their own national identity?How real
are the concepts of nationalism and patriotism? In what ways does
the media control our perception of history in the making?This
ground-breaking work addresses these important questions through an
examination of the Algerian war of 1954-62 and the significant
French resistance to their own leaders during the bitter conflict.
Through the use of extensive interviews, it provides powerful
insights into the clash of values that accompanied the war. In
exploring the events and experiences that led a small minority of
French people to reject colonialism in the wake of the Algerian
conflict, Memories of Resistance focuses on the importance of
political allegiances and ideologies, and the motivations for
resisting them. The complex issues of identity and shared memory
are examined to provide an indispensable analysis of loyalty and
self-identity in the wider political context of the world. The book
also debates the changing ways in which the media influences
perceptions of, and attitudes towards, world events. Third World
liberation ideas, personal experiences of French colonialism,
memory and the significance of anti-Nazi resistance and political
allegiances are all discussed in this wide-ranging and illuminating
study.Memories of Resistance represents a major contribution to the
theory and practice of oral history, which is fast becoming one of
the most popular and dynamic areas of historical research and will
be essential reading for anyone studying French colonial history.
Sir William Robertson served as the professional head of the
British army and as the constitutional military adviser to both
Asquith and Lloyd George from December 1915 to February 1918. This
account, based on many new sources, critically examines his
leadership of the general staff as the burden of fighting the main
body of the German army shifted to the British. This study sheds
light on the origins and conduct of the Somme and Passchendaele
offensives, and the efforts to coordinate the Allied war effort,
especially the controversial effort to subordinate Haig to General
Nivelle and the creation of the Supreme War Council with its
inter-allied staff. The civil-military conflict over the conduct of
the war, especially the growing divide between Robertson and Lloyd
George, receives special attention. The previously unexplored
tension between Robertson and Haig who formed the most important
military partnership in British history is also examined. This
account represents the untold story of the higher direction of the
war in Britain.
This book offers an original and distinct analysis of NATO's
post-Cold War evolution. Unlike so much of the available
literature, it is not focused on what in the author's opinion NATO
should be doing now that the Cold War is over. Rather, the author
offers a comprehensive analysis and overview of the extent to which
NATO can undertake new roles, tasks and missions in light of the
extent to which it has retained significance and vitality as an
international institution. The book's originality also lies in the
way in which the author discusses NATO's adaptation within a
framework provided by international relations theory, and in
particular concepts which stress the role and importance of
transnational political processes and international regimes. So far
these have been little used in the analysis of military security
relations and institutions. The book will be of interest to those
researching and teaching international relations, European politics
and security studies, as well as all those seeking a better
understanding of the post-Cold War survival and development of a
key international security institution.
This book asks the reader to reassess the Cold War not just as
superpower conflict and high diplomacy, but as social and cultural
history. It makes cross-cultural comparisons of the socio cultural
aspects of the Cold War across the East/West block divide, dealing
with issues including broadcasting, public opinion, and the
production and consumption of popular culture.
As the activities of individuals, organizations, and nations
increasingly occur in cyberspace, the security of those activities
is becoming a growing concern. Political, economic and military
leaders must manage and reduce the level of risk associated with
threats from hostile states, malevolent nonstate actors such as
organized terrorist groups or individual hackers, and high-tech
accidents. The impact of the information technology revolution on
warfare, global stability, governance, and even the meaning of
existing security constructs like deterrence is significant. These
essays examine the ways in which the information technology
revolution has affected the logic of deterrence and crisis
management, definitions of peace and war, democratic constraints on
conflict, the conduct of and military organization for war, and the
growing role of the private sector in providing security. This book
was previously published as a special issue of the journal
Contemporary Security Policy. John Arquilla, Naval Postgraduate
School Walter S. Baer, RAND Graduate School, California Matt
Bishop, University of California, Davis Damon Coletta, United Sta
Author Jeffrey Ahern had longed to serve in the Army since he
was thirteen years old. He attained that goal, and in Sons of Hope
he narrates the story of his service as an infantry platoon leader
during Operation Iraqi Freedom III and IV.
Sons of Hope is based on the daily diary entries kept while he
was assigned to Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 172 Infantry
(Mountain) from January 2005 to May 2006. Ahern's story begins with
the mobilization training the platoon and company endured at Fort
Stewart, Georgia, and then Fort Irwin, California, leaving the
United States in May 2005. He provides details on the platoon's
counterinsurgency operations, daily patrols, nightly raids, the
constant fear of IEDs and suicide bombers, and the never ending
search for an unseen enemy.
A vivid and detailed account, Sons of Hope provides insight into
what life was like for a frontline soldier in Iraq conducting
offensive operations. It communicates the importance of the
sacrifices soldiers and their families have made in the last decade
of war.
From the battles of the great warrior Tecumseh to the escapades of
flying ace Billy Bishop to the tragedy of troops killed by friendly
fire in Afghanistan, this book traces the Canadian experience of
war through the centuries.
The first book that presents the so called Hitler-Library. It sheds new light on the readings of Hitler and on his techniques how to read a book. He played the role of the ideal reader of Schopenhauer, nevertheless his remarks destroy the image of the contemporary Hitler-cult, mainly if we see how he re-read his Mein Kampf. Hitler is presented in this book as a reader and it verifies the explication of his personality (Hitler as a follower of Wagner, Hitler as a philosopher, Hitler as crazy, Hitler as a clever politician, Hitler as a hero): it gives the picture of a half-educated gangster.
The breakup of the USSR created a Central Asian security complex or
sphere of influence consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Since the disintegration
of the Soviet Union, this security complex has tended to distance
itself from a Russian-centered approach to foreign relations, has
rejected involvement with a Turkey-oriented sphere of influence,
and has shifted toward an Iran-oriented security complex. A major
reason for these developments has been the activities of the three
rival powers-Iran, Turkey, and Russia. As Peimani explains, these
states have strong long-term interests in the region; earlier
rivalries, which were dormant under Soviet rule, have reawakened
since the breakup of the USSR. While Russia attempts to
reincorporate Central Asia into its security complex, Iran and
Turkey seek to include it in their spheres of influence. The
rivalry among these states will largely determine the future
development of the region and the individual states.
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