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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research > General
This book offers a multifaceted, analytical account of counterterrorism argumentative speech. Traditionally, existing scholarship in this field of research has taken a selective focus on issues and actors, concentrating mainly on US state discourse after 9/11. However, this approach ignores the fact that there was counterterrorism speech before 9/11, and that there are other countries and other actors who also actively engage in the counterterrorism discursive field, both within and outside of the Western world. Addressing several thematic, chronological and methodological gaps in the current literature, Arguing Counterterrorism offers a dynamic perspective on counterterrorism argumentative speech. Over the course of the volume, the authors tackle the following key issues: first, historical and cultural continuity and change. Second, the phenomenology of counterterrorism speech: its nature, instrumentalisation, implications and interactions between the various actors involved. The third theme is the anatomy of counterterrorism speech; namely its political, cultural and linguistic constitutive elements. Employing a multi-disciplinary framework, the authors explore these issues through a geographically and historically diverse range of case studies, resulting in a book that broadens the perspective of counterterrorism argumentation analysis. This book will be of much interest to students of critical terrorism studies, counterterrorism, discourse analysis, security studies and IR.
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2016 Perhaps the most basic national security question that U.S. leaders and the body politic continuously face is where and under what circumstances to consider and in some cases resort to the use of armed force to ensure the country's safety and well-being. The question is perpetual-but the answer is not. This insightful text helps students make sense of the ever-changing environment and factors that influence disagreement over national security risks and policy in the United States. The book takes shape through a focus on three considerations: strategy, policy, and issues. Snow explains the range of plans of action that are possible and resources available for achieving national security goals, as well as the courses of action for achieving those goals in the context of a broad range of security problems that must be dealt with. However, there is little agreement among policymakers on exactly what is the nature of the threats that the country faces. Snow helps readers frame the debate by suggesting some of the prior influences on risk-assessment, some of the current influences on national security debates, and suggestions for how future strategy and policy may be shaped.
This book explores the development of the military as an organization and looks at the patterns of civil-military relations that have emerged in modern Nepal, especially after the rise of King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who founded the unified state of Nepal. It combines astute analyses with up-to-date data to present a comprehensive account of the relations between monarchy, military and civil government and their impact on the democratization process in the country. The author underlines the pressing need for establishing civilian supremacy over the military, through developing and strengthening civilian supervisory mechanisms. The book will be an important resource to researchers, scholars, students of politics, military studies, peace and conflict studies, and history, particularly those concerned with Nepal. It will also interest policy-makers, security experts and military personnel.
The Organization of European Security Governance investigates what impact the changing nature of security challenges has had on the organization of security governance in Europe. As the most pervasive security challenges today are difficult to classify as either internal or external, the traditional divide between domestic and international security has become blurred. In response, European leaders have emphasized the need to develop comprehensive and horizontal approaches to security in the European Union. But has the European Union been able to deliver a coherent response to this new security environment? In a detailed comparative study of two crucial policy fields - EU counter-terrorism and post-conflict crisis management the book outlines the scope of the ongoing transformation of Europe's security order, examines its challenges and explains its defects. This important volume will be of interest to students and scholars of Security Studies and European Politics.
Commanding Military Power offers a new explanation of why some armed forces are stronger than others. Ryan Grauer advances a 'command structure theory' which combines insights from organization theory, international relations, and security studies literatures to provide a unique perspective on military power. Specifically, armed forces organized to facilitate swift and accurate perception of and response to battlefield developments will cope better with war's inherent uncertainty, use resources effectively, and, quite often, win. Case studies of battles from the Russo-Japanese War, Chinese Civil War and Korean War, based on new archival research, underscore the argument, showing that even smaller and materially weaker militaries can fight effectively against and defeat larger and better endowed adversaries when they are organizationally prepared to manage uncertainty. That organization often matters more than numbers and specific tools of war has crucial implications for both contemporary and future thinking about and efforts to improve martial strength.
This book assesses the use of mercenaries by states, and their integration into the national armed forces as part of a new hybridisation trend of contemporary armies. Governments, especially in the West, are undertaking an unprecedented wave of demilitarisation and military budget cuts. Simultaneously, these same governments are increasingly opening their armies up to foreign nationals and outsourcing military operations to private companies. This book explores the impact of this hybridisation on the values, cohesion and effectiveness of the armed forces by comparing and contrasting the experiences of the French Foreign Legion, private military companies in Angola, and the merging of private contractors and American troops in Iraq. Examining the employment of foreign citizens and private security companies as military forces and tools of foreign policy, and their subsequent impact on the national armed forces, the book investigates whether the difficulties of coordinating soldiers of various nationalities and allegiances within public-private joint military operations undermines the legitimacy of the state. Furthermore, the author questions whether this trend for outsourcing security can realistically provide a long term and positive contribution to national security. This book will be of much interest to students of private military companies, strategic studies, international security and IR in general."
Countless attempts at analyzing Russia's actions focus on Putin to understand Russia's military imbroglio in Ukraine, hostility towards America, and disdain of 'Gayropa'. This book invites its readers to look beyond the man and delve into the online lives of millions of Russians. It asks not the question of what the threats are to Russia's security, but what they are perceived to be by digital Russia. The author examines how enemy images are manufactured, threats magnified, stereotypes revived, memories implanted and fears harnessed. It looks at the legacy of the Soviet Union in shaping discussions ranging from the Ukraine crisis to the Pussy Riots trial, and explores the complex inter-relation between enemy images at the governmental level and their articulation by the general public. By drawing on the fields of international relations, memory studies, visual studies, and big data, this book addresses the question of why securitization succeeds - and why it fails. "Security theory meets the visual turn and goes to Russia, where old tsarist and Soviet tropes are flooding the internet in support of Putin's neo-tsarism. A magical mystery tour that comes recommended. Iver B. Neumann, author of "Russia and the Idea of Europe" "The novelty of her approach is in going beyond the traditional top down perspective and capturing the receptivity and contribution of various social groups to securitized discourses." Andrei P.Tsygankov, author of "Russia's Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity in National Identity". "When do scary proclamations of security threats attract an audience? When does securitization work? 'Security Threats and Public Perception' combines in-depth analysis of the Ukraine Crisis in the Russian digital media with discourse theory to make an innovative argument about how and when people believe that they are insecure. A must read!" Laura Sjoberg, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Florida, USA
This book offers the first comprehensive examination of Russia's Arctic strategy, ranging from climate change issues and territorial disputes to energy policy and domestic challenges. As the receding polar ice increases the accessibility of the Arctic region, rival powers have been manoeuvering for geopolitical and resource security. Geographically, Russia controls half of the Arctic coastline, 40 percent of the land area beyond the Circumpolar North, and three quarters of the Arctic population. In total, the sea and land surface area of the Russian Arctic is about 6 million square kilometres. Economically, as much as 20 percent of Russia's GDP and its total exports is generated north of the Arctic Circle. In terms of resources, about 95 percent of its gas, 75 percent of its oil, 96 percent of its platinum, 90 percent of its nickel and cobalt, and 60 percent of its copper reserves are found in Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. Add to this the riches of the continental shelf, seabed, and waters, ranging from rare earth minerals to fish stocks. After a spike of aggressive rhetoric when Russia planted its flag in the Arctic seabed in 2007, Moscow has attempted to strengthen its position as a key factor in developing an international consensus concerning a region where its relative advantages are manifest, despite its diminishing military, technological, and human capacities.
The size of western armed forces, their stocks of weaponry and their readiness for combat are declining. Meanwhile, growing nationalism is hampering international cooperation and fuelling conflict everywhere. The west's will - as well as its capability - to shape the world is ebbing away. Beset by economic woes, western countries are continuing the post-Cold War process of disarmament at the very moment that many believe a new Cold War is starting. NATO members have compared Vladimir Putin's foreign policy to that of Adolf Hitler, newly empowered groups such as ISIS, not to mention some governments, are tearing up the rulebook of acceptable international behaviour, and the military prowess that the western world once regarded as its prerogative is being dwarfed by countries like India and China. Tightly argued by Newsnight's diplomatic and defence editor Mark Urban, THE EDGE is a sharp polemic that breaks new ground in examining the workings and consequences of these geo-political tectonics, and shows just how rapidly the balance of power has been upended.
Concerns over the changing nature of gangs and cartels and their relationships to states in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has resulted in the emergence of a scholarly body of work focused on their national security threat potentials. This body of work, utilizing the third generation gangs and third phase cartel typologies, represents an alternative to traditional gang and organized crime research and one that is increasingly influencing the US defense community. Rather than being viewed only as misguided youth and opportunistic criminals or, in their mature forms, as criminal organizations with no broader social or political agendas, more evolved gangs and cartels, are instead seen as developing political, mercenary, and state-challenging capacities. This evolutionary process has emerged due to the growing illicit economy and other unintended consequences of globalization. This important anthology of writings by Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan draws upon a collection of their works from the mid-1990s to the present with the addition of new essays written specifically for this publication. The work will be of great interest to academics and students in the fields of political science and criminal justice and to military, law enforcement, and governmental professionals and policy makers. This book is a collection of new and previously published works from a variety of publications, a full list of which is on the Citation Information page.
The software industry continues to expand as new products enter into the technological marketplace in order to meet increasing demand. As a result of the popularity of often-expensive software products, companies face the growing challenge of protecting their products against copyright infringement. Judiciary-Friendly Forensics of Software Copyright Infringement discusses the forensics of software copyright infringement. This book highlights theoretical, functional, and procedural matters in the investigation of copyright infringement of software products, as well as the development of forensic technologies to detect and eliminate software piracy. As this publication will explore comprehensive topics on the forensic process of software piracy, it is an essential resource for software forensic experts, lawyers in the field of copyright infringement, judges, software professionals, software developers, and students.
This volume examines the ethical issues that arise as a result of national security intelligence collection and analysis. Powerful new technologies enable the collection, communication and analysis of national security data on an unprecedented scale. Data collection now plays a central role in intelligence practice, yet this development raises a host of ethical and national security problems, such as privacy; autonomy; threats to national security and democracy by foreign states; and accountability for liberal democracies. This volume provides a comprehensive set of in-depth ethical analyses of these problems by combining contributions from both ethics scholars and intelligence practitioners. It provides the reader with a practical understanding of relevant operations, the issues that they raise and analysis of how responses to these issues can be informed by a commitment to liberal democratic values. This combination of perspectives is crucial in providing an informed appreciation of ethical challenges that is also grounded in the realities of the practice of intelligence. This book will be of great interest to all students of intelligence studies, ethics, security studies, foreign policy and international relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Since its publication in 1911, Sir Julian's Corbett's Some Principles of Maritime Strategy has remained a key document within naval strategic thinking. Yet despite his undoubted influence, Corbett's theories have not been subjected to scientific review and systematic comparison with other naval thinkers. In this assessment, Dr Widen has provided a fresh interpretation of Corbett's legacy and his continued relevance as a classic theorist of naval war. Divided into three parts, the book begins with a brief biographical overview of Corbett's life, highlighting in particular his bibliographic history and the influences on his thinking. The latter two sections then describe and assess Corbett's views on military and naval theory, respectively. Together these two parts represent his overall theory of maritime strategy, including his conception of limited war, his intellectual debt to Clausewitz, command of the sea, his critic of decisive battle, as well as the different methods of naval operations. By means of a thorough assessment of Corbett's theory of maritime strategy, Dr Widen highlights the continued relevance of his theories. Both the strengths and shortcomings of Corbett's thinking are discussed and reflections offered on their intellectual, practical and doctrinal value. In so doing, Dr Widen has written a book that deserves to be read by anyone with an interest in the past, present or future of maritime strategy.
Pentagon spending has been the target of decades of criticism and reform efforts. Billions of dollars are spent on weapons programs that are later abandoned. State-of-the-art data centers are underutilized and overstaffed. New business systems are built at great expense but fail to meet the needs of their users. Every Secretary of Defense for the last five Administrations has made it a priority to address perceived bloat and inefficiency by making management reform a major priority. The congressional defense committees have been just as active, enacting hundreds of legislative provisions. Yet few of these initiatives produce significant results, and the Pentagon appears to go on, as wasteful as ever. In this book, Peter Levine addresses why, despite a long history of attempted reform, the Pentagon continues to struggle to reduce waste and inefficiency. The heart of Defense Management Reform is three case studies covering civilian personnel, acquisitions, and financial management. Narrated with the insight of an insider, the result is a clear understanding of what went wrong in the past and a set of concrete guidelines to plot a better future.
'Compelling' Sunday Times 'A triumph' Daily Mirror 'Gripping' Jonathan Dimbleby 1941. The Battle of the Atlantic is a disaster. Thousands of supply ships ferrying vital food and fuel from North America to Britain are being torpedoed by German U-boats. Britain is only weeks away from starvation - and with that, crushing defeat. In the first week of 1942 a group of unlikely heroes - a retired naval captain and a clutch of brilliant young women - gather to form a secret strategy unit. On the top floor of a bomb-bruised HQ in Liverpool, the Western Approaches Tactical Unit spends days and nights designing and playing wargames in an effort to crack the U-boat tactics. As the U-boat wolfpacks continue to prey upon the supply ships, the Wrens race against time to save Britain. With novelistic flair, investigative journalist Simon Parkin shines a light on Operation Raspberry and these unsung heroines in this riveting true story of war at sea. 'History writing at its best' Booklist 'Splendid . . . Simon Parkin's book rips along at full sail and is full of personality and personalities' Sunday Express 'Vivid, engaging' New Yorker
The Operational Energy textbook provides military officers the knowledge and skills to effectively plan for the operational energy needs of their forces and missions. After completion, students should be able to carry out relevant analysis, planning and strategy across the Services and organizations of the US national security enterprise. The Pentagon defines Operational Energy (OE) as "energy required for training, moving, and sustaining military forces and weapons platforms for military operations." Planning and strategizing for these energy needs is an integral part of all combat and regular operations. Energy is one of the biggest constraints and at the same time most important enablers of ability to fulfill military missions. Moreover, proper operational energy strategies and tactics can reduce casualties and save lives. The most recent example is that fuel and water delivery missions accounted for more than one-tenth of the US military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The book also examines issues that have not been discussed in previously published academic or policy literature, such as the impact of civilian demands for the military to use increased amounts of renewable energy as well as threats from the use of civilian supply chains for energy supplies. The US military is the largest consumer of energy in the US federal government. In light of this, many US public officials as part of their drive to promote greater use of renewable energy and reduction of climate altering emissions, may require that the military fuel mix include significant amounts of renewable energy and that the military reduce its carbon emissions. Accordingly, the book will examine how the US armed forces can adjust to these rising public demands, while still fulfilling its military mission. The book will also look at the security challenges of use of civilian supply chains. The US military procures most of its energy from civilian suppliers. In 2019, the US military purchased 49 percent of its fuel supplies from outside the United States, including in Asia and the Middle East. As the Covid-19 challenge revealed, critical US supply lines depend on production in China and other US adversaries. Washington recently initiated policies to reduce US vulnerability to supply disruptions of critical materials and products through reducing exposure to needs of products and materials produced in China and other countries. The implementation of these initiatives will require new strategies and policies for the US military to meet its energy needs securely.
This book sheds light on the process in which the sub-state actor of Greenland has expanded its autonomy and strengthened its de jure participation in the national security of Denmark. By focusing on the case of the US Thule Air Base in Greenland, the largest military base in the Arctic, the authors endeavor to show that in the relationship between great powers, small countries and local actors within them, it is possible for local actors (sub-national entities) to have an influence on higher-level actors in the field of diplomacy on the national security level. For that purpose, the book examines political trends involving Greenland, Denmark, the US and Russia by using the multilateral multi-archive approach. The authors also take up the cases of Okinawa (Japan) and Olongapo (the Philippines) as reference points that provide additional insight into the interaction between the US policy regarding overseas military bases and the host countries' polities. The competition involving political and economic interests of a number of countries in the Arctic region has been intensifying in recent years, causing significant concern in the international community. Due to the accelerated melting of sea ice and the increase in the accessibility of natural resources and water lanes, the security situation in the Arctic has been changing rapidly, and this book helps meet the need for understanding the political and military factors behind those changes.
Is there a Western way of war' which pursues battles of annihilation and single-minded military victory? Is warfare on a path to ever greater destructive force? This magisterial new account answers these questions by tracing the history of Western thinking about strategy the employment of military force as a political instrument from antiquity to the present day. Assessing sources from Vegetius to contemporary America, and with a particular focus on strategy since the Napoleonic Wars, Beatrice Heuser explores the evolution of strategic thought, the social institutions, norms and patterns of behaviour within which it operates, the policies that guide it and the cultures that influence it. Ranging across technology and warfare, total warfare and small wars as well as land, sea, air and nuclear warfare, she demonstrates that warfare and strategic thinking have fluctuated wildly in their aims, intensity, limitations and excesses over the past two millennia."
A sweeping yet concise account of history's empires that managed to maintain dominance for long stretches. What should the United States do with its power? What goals should it have, and how should it pursue them? Ultimately, what do Americans want their country to be? These are questions of grand strategy. The United States is the most powerful actor in the international system, but it is facing a set of challenges that might lead to its decline as this century unfolds. In The Pursuit of Dominance, Christopher J. Fettweis examines the grand strategy of previous superpowers to see how they maintained, or failed to maintain, their status. Over the course of six cases, from Ancient Rome to the British Empire, he seeks guidance from the past for present US policymakers. Like the United States, the examples Fettweis uses were the world' strongest powers at particularly moments in time, and they were hoping to stay that way. Rather than focusing on those powers' rise or how they ruled, however, Fettweis looks at how they sought to maintain their power. From these cases, one paramount lesson becomes clear: Dominant powers usually survive even the most incompetent leaders. Fettweis is most interested in how these superpowers defined their interests, the grand strategies these regimes followed to maintain superiority over their rivals, and how the practice of that strategy worked. A sweeping history of grand strategy, The Pursuit of Dominance looks at the past 2,000 years to highlight what-if anything-current US strategists can learn from the experience of earlier superpowers. |
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