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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research > General
During the Second World War, a secret department was formed at Britain's Air Ministry to co-ordinate a strategy to defeat German bombing by means of deception. With the help of leading technicians from the film industry, ingeniously designed decoy airfields, towns and military bases were built throughout the island. This campaign of illusion, masterminded by the charismatic Colonel John Fisher Turner, did more to protect Britain's forces and civilians from the Nazi threat than, at the time, they were allowed to know. This is the only detailed study of Britain's bombing decoys, both at war, through their design, locations and operations, and at peace, through their fragmentary survival as enigmatic features in today's landscape. It draws upon a wealth of new research into wartime documents, and includes detailed maps and data showing the patterns of decoy sites across the country. Compiled in support of English Heritage's initiatives to study and preserve Britain's wartime remains, "Fields of Deception" explores the history and the legacy of one of the least-known aspects of Britain at war.
For over a decade now, thinking on regional relations in the Gulf has focused on the competition for regional hegemony between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Today, this perspective is outdated. The smaller Gulf Arab states, led by the United Arab Emirates, are calling for their own goals and interests to be considered and a new regional order has emerged. This book asesses the UAE's increasing power and the future challenges to security it poses. It is a contemporary history and analysis of the changing role of the UAE. Dina Esfandiary argues that the UAE has become more assertive in the pursuit of its own interests in the region and beyond - even when this puts it at odds with its regional allies. This behavior includes the build-up of its military and non-military capabilities, the diversification of its partners, and its willingness to use these resources. The book examines the regional causes of the UAE's growing assertiveness - especially the 2011 Arab Uprisings - as well as the international context such as the impact of the US-announced 'Pivot to Asia', the perceptions of waning US power in the Middle East, and the 2015 nuclear deal. The UAE's changing role in the region will profoundly affect regional security. This book points towards how smaller states in the region will interact with regional hegemons in the long term, as they learn from the UAE's assertiveness and seek to imitate it.
First published in 1982, this study traces the development of Soviet military thinking on the Third World and assesses its importance for the conduct of Soviet foreign policy. Changes in Soviet military thought often reflect changes in Soviet attitudes towards and expectations from involvement in Third World conflicts. This work from Dr. Katz meditates upon the changing role of the USSR in post-war Third World conflicts, with particular emphasis upon the Brezhnev era and the way in which US setbacks in the Third World impacted upon Soviet foreign policy and changing attitudes to the Third World.
This book explores the mythology woven around the Soviet secret police and the Russian cult of state security that has emerged from it. Tracing the history of this mythology from the Soviet period through to its revival in contemporary post-Soviet Russia, the volume argues that successive Russian regimes have sponsored a 'cult' of state security, whereby security organs are held up as something to be worshipped. The book approaches the history of this cult as an ongoing struggle to legitimise and sacralise the Russian state security apparatus, and to negotiate its violent and dramatic past. It explores the ways in which, during the Soviet period, this mythology sought to make the existence of the most radically intrusive and powerful secret police in history appear 'natural'. It also documents the contemporary post-Soviet re-emergence of the cult of state security, examining the ways in which elements of the old Soviet mythology have been revised and reclaimed as the cornerstone of a new state ideology. The Russian cult of state security is of ongoing contemporary relevance, and is crucial for understanding not only the tragedies of Russia's twentieth-century history, but also the ambiguities of Russia's post-Soviet transition, and the current struggle to define Russia's national identity and future development. The book examines the ways in which contemporary Russian life continues to be shaped by the legacy of Soviet attitudes to state-society relations, as expressed in the reconstituted cult of state security. It investigates the shadow which the figure of the secret policeman continues to cast over Russia today. The book will be of great interest to students of modern Russian history and politics, intelligence studies and security studies, as well as readers with an interest in the KGB and its successors.
With the Lisbon Treaty in place and the European Union increasingly involved in international crisis management and stabilization operations in places near and far, this volume revisits the trajectory of a European strategic culture. Specifically, it studies the usefulness of its application in a variety of circumstances, including the EU's operations in Africa and the Balkans as well as joint operations with NATO and the United Nations. The contributors find that strategic culture is a useful tool to explain and understand the EU's civilian and military operations, not in the sense of a 'cause', but as a European normative framework of preferences and constraints. Accordingly, classical notions of strategic culture in the field of international security must be adapted to highlight the specific character of Europe's strategic culture, especially by taking the interaction with the United Nations and NATO into account. Though at variance over the extent to which security and defence missions have demonstrated or promoted a shared strategic culture in Europe, the authors reveal a growing sense that a cohesive strategic culture is critical in the EU's ambition of being a global actor. Should Europe fail to nurture a shared strategic culture, its actions will be based much more on flexibility than on cohesion. This book was published as a special issue of Contemporary Security Policy.
Broadly defined as the grey area between strategy and tactics, operational art spans the theory and practice of planning and conducting campaigns and major operations aimed at accomplishing strategic and operational objectives in a given theatre of operations. An intermediate link between strategy and tactics has always existed, but a distinct concept that encompasses a systematic and deliberate plan of campaign for major operations is a mere two hundred years old. Based on country specific case-studies, this book describes how the concepts that underpin operational art originated, how they received practical expression in various campaigns, and how they developed over time. The point of departure is the campaigns of 'the God of War', Napoleon Bonaparte. The book then proceeds with chapters on the evolution of operational art in Prussia / Germany, the Soviet Union / Russia, the United Kingdom, United States, Israel, and China. The final chapter deals with the future of operational art in irregular warfare. Theory is critical to refining and improving existing methods of applying operational warfare, and its importance cannot be overstated; however, to be useful, theory and its accompanying vocabulary must be combined with a proper examination of historical trends and practical experience. The present volume attempts to achieve that combination. This book is a project of the Oxford Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War.
This book offers a systematic examination, analysis and evaluation of Israeli national security statecraft in terms of challenges and responses. Providing an in-depth analysis of Israeli statecraft challenges and responses, this interdisciplinary book integrates social science and security studies with public policy approaches within a long-term historical perspective on the Arab-Israeli conflict. These scholarly approaches are synthesized with extensive personal knowledge of the author based on involvement in Israeli political-security policy making. This book makes use of conceptualizations of statecraft such as 'fuzzy gambling' and interventions with critical mass in ultra-dynamic historical processes to help clarify Israel's main statecraft successes and failures, alongside the wider theoretical apparatuses these concepts represent. While focused on Israel, these theoretical frameworks have important implications for the academic study of statecraft and statecraft praxis worldwide. This book will be of much interest to both statecraft practitioners and to students of Israeli politics and security, the Middle Eastern conflict, strategic studies and IR/security studies in general.
This volume examines the evolution of the British Labour Party's defense and security policies since the party's formation in 1900. It concentrates on the last decade, which has witnessed a gradual transformation from unilateral nuclear disarmament and the removal of U.S. nuclear bases from UK soil to retention of the British nuclear deterrent and support for NATO's new nuclear and conventional strategies. The authors examine in detail how defense policy, in particular nuclear disarmament, was Labour's Achilles' heel in the 1983 and 1987 general elections and how the party fundamentally changed its defense and security policies after its third successive election defeat. Furthermore, changes in the international environment have spurred Labour to reexamine its policies in this area and to realize that these policies would condemn the party to internal opposition. As a result, Labour now has a pragmatic set of defense and security policies relevant to the 1990s, as evidenced by the party's robust position on the Gulf War, its support for Britain's nuclear deterrent, and its welcome of the London Declaration following the NATO summit in July 1990. In explaining Labour's internal debates in recent years, Bruce George has few peers. He gives a detailed insider's account of the infighting and ideological battles within the Labour Party that will be valuable for anyone interested in knowing how the United Kingdom's foreign policy might change (or remain virtually the same) under non-Conservative leadership.
On War (1832) is a treatise on the philosophical aspects of warfare by Prussian general, scholar, and strategist Carl von Clausewitz. Published posthumously by the author's wife-who edited his manuscript and wrote the book's introduction-On War is one of history's most important works on warfare and military strategy, and continues to be studied to this day. With a background in art, culture, and history, and with extensive experience as a combat veteran, Clausewitz sought to understand the military success of such figures as Napoleon and Frederick the Great. What interested Clausewitz the most was how these leaders effectively mobilized entire nations to launch military campaigns larger and more violent than any in European history. Although he initially began with the theory that war was one aspect of a population's struggle for survival, he eventually came to believe that war was a method of imposing the will of one state on another. By privileging politics and philosophy in his study of warfare, Clausewitz changed the way military figures, politicians, and scholars thought of and perpetrated the process of war. Most crucially, Clausewitz suggests that war serves no purpose in and of itself, but rather acts as an instrument of a political party or group. In addition, Clausewitz believed that strong moral and political motivations-especially in the case of defense-greatly increased the chance of victory. On War was read and interpreted by Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Dwight Eisenhower, and has, for over a century and a half, continued to shape the concept and conduct of war. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Carl von Clausewitz's On War is a classic of history, philosophy, and military theory reimagined for modern readers.
In a very short time, individuals and companies have harnessed cyberspace to create new industries, a vibrant social space, and a new economic sphere that are intertwined with our everyday lives. At the same time, individuals, subnational groups, and governments are using cyberspace to advance interests through malicious activity. Terrorists recruit, train, and target through the Internet, hackers steal data, and intelligence services conduct espionage. Still, the vast majority of cyberspace is civilian space used by individuals, businesses, and governments for legitimate purposes. "Cyberspace and National Security" brings together scholars, policy analysts, and information technology executives to examine current and future threats to cyberspace. They discuss various approaches to advance and defend national interests, contrast the US approach with European, Russian, and Chinese approaches, and offer new ways and means to defend interests in cyberspace and develop offensive capabilities to compete there. Policymakers and strategists will find this book to be an invaluable resource in their efforts to ensure national security and answer concerns about future cyberwarfare.
This new Handbook brings together key experts on European security from the academic and policy worlds to examine the European Union (EU) as an international security actor. In the two decades since the end of the Cold War, the EU has gradually emerged as an autonomous actor in the field of security, aiming to safeguard European security by improving global security. However, the EU's development as a security actor has certainly not remained uncontested, either by academics or by policy-makers, some of whom see the rise of the EU as a threat to their national and/or transatlantic policy outlook. While the focus of this volume is on the politico-military dimension, security will also be put into the context of the holistic approach advocated by the EU. The book is organised into four key sections: Part I - The EU as an International Security Actor Part II - Institutions, Instruments and Means Part III - Policies Part IV - Partners This Handbook will be essential reading for all students of European Security, the EU, European Politics, security studies and IR in general.
This book offers a reconceptualisation of conventional deterrence theory, and applies it to enduring rivalries in the Middle East. The work argues that many of the problems encountered in the development of deterrence theory lay in the fact that it was developed during the Cold War, when the immediate problem it had to address was how to prevent catastrophic nuclear wars. The logic of nuclear deterrence compelled a preoccupation with the problem of stability over credibility; however, because the logic of conventional deterrence is different, the solution of the tension between credibility and stability is achieved by deference to credibility, due to the requirements of reputation and costly signaling. This book aims to narrow the gap between theory and evidence. It explores how a reconceptualization of the theory as a process that culminates in the internalization of deterrence within enduring rivalries is better suited to account for its final success: a finding that has eluded deterrence theorists for long. This interdisciplinary book will be of much interest to students of deterrence theory, strategic studies, international security, Middle Eastern studies and IR in general.
This book is a comparative study of the evolution of the German navy in the second half of the nineteenth century. It examines the development of strategy, especially commerce-raiding, in comparison to what other navies were doing in this era of rapid technological change. It is not an insular history, merely listing ship rosters or specific events; it is a history of the German navy in relation to its potential foes. It is also a look at a new military institution involved in an inter-service rivalry for funds, technology and manpower with the prestigious and well-established army.
As potential targets, such as military facilities, symbols of democracy, government buildings, and infrastructure are "hardened" against possible terrorist attack, terrorists will shift to softer targets: churches, schools, malls, mass entertainment centers, high-rise apartments, transportation centers, and energy facilities. Their goal will be to disrupt or destroy our economy, impose fear and uncertainty, break our national will, and deflect our attention and support from the Middle East. We could wait for it to happen, or we can prepare now. This new book empowers Americans by providing them with the knowledge and skills needed to understand terrorist strategies, which, in turn, allow each of us to contribute to disrupting the terrorists' intended goals through observing and reporting suspicious activity, reducing target vulnerabilities, and minimizing casualties through education and preparation. The authors define terrorism and its origins and describe present-day organizations: where they operate, what their philosophies entail, and what their motivation and objectives are. They review different terrorist tactics and their desired effects, providing readers with guidelines and checklists for surviving them. Knowing how to prepare for, and how to survive, an attack is a step toward marginalizing intended casualty rates, psychological impacts, and propaganda values. At the same time, the lifesaving skills presented in this book may also be used in naturally occurring catastrophic events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes.
First published in 1990, this is an authoritative account of defence spending and policy in both developing and developed countries. The book provides case-studies and comparitive materiel for policy-makers, civil servants, and military staffs throughout hte world. It will also be of great use to students of economics, politics, international relations, and policy studies.
Defining and conceptualizing Northeast Asia's security complex poses unique quandaries. The security architecture in Northeast Asia to date has been predominately U.S.-dominated bilateral alliances, weak institutional structures and the current Six Party Talks dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. There has been a distinct lack of desire among regional countries as well as the U.S. to follow in the footsteps of Europe with its robust set of multilateral institutions. However, since the late 1990s, there has been burgeoning interest among regional states towards forming new multilateral institutions as well as reforming and revitalizing existing mechanisms. Much of this effort has been in the economic and political arenas, with the creation of bodies such as the East Asian Summit, but there have also been important initiatives in the security sphere. This book offers detailed examinations about how this potentially tense region of the world is redefining certain longstanding national interests, and shows how this shift is the result of changing power relations, the desire to protect hard-won economic gains, as well as growing trust in new processes designed to foster regional cooperation over regional conflict. Presenting new and timely research on topics that are vital to the security future of one of the world's most important geographical regions, this book will be of great value to students and scholars of Asian politics, regionalism, international politics and security studies.
This edited volume aims to deepen our understanding of state power through a series of case studies of political violence arising from state counter-terrorism' strategies. The book examines how state counter-terrorism strategies are invariably underpinned by terror, in the form of state political violence. It seeks to answer several key questions: To what extent can counter-terror strategies be read as a form of state terror? What are the features of counter-terrorism that render it so easily reducible to state terror? If state terror is a necessary product of state counter-terrorism, what does this mean for how we resist the war on terror'? How fundamental is state terror to the maintenance of a neo-liberal social order? The chapters analyse this process in a range of contexts including: Spain; the UK and Northern Ireland; the US and Colombia; the US and Puerto Rico; Israel and Gaza; the US and European powers in the Sahara; Indonesia and Timor-Leste and West Papua; Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam; the UK and immigrants (especially from suspect communities'), political dissidents and asylum seekers. Contributors use the case studies to understand what it means to say that the war on terror' is terror, and explore this in a psychological warfare sense (the creation of widespread fears of state violence in order to achieve political, social or military aims), or in a hegemonic sense (to develop a state of fear of sub-state terrorists' in order to escalate state political violence). This book will be of great interest to students of critical terrorism studies, political violence, war and conflict studies, sociology, international security and IR.
By exploring the role of military officers and chronicling the sequences of events, Soldiers and Politics in Southeast Asia offers insight into the conditions that fostered military governments specifically in Thailand, Burma, South Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia. Critically comparing these case studies and statistics, this volume provides readers with a deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of military involvement in the region's politics during the post-colonial period covered. Two ideologically opposed positions evolved around the phenomenon of military insurgency. Technological conservatism generally favors military insurgency in previously civilian-led governments. There was a presumption that it encourages stability, efficiency, and anti-communism. The revisionist position, on the other hand, was highly critical of technological conservatism, especially with regard to its political fervor. J. Stephen Hoadley asserts that the relevant question is not one of ideological choices; rather, it is whether a military or civilian-led government is better suited for the political and economic development of a particular underdeveloped nation. Hoadley argues that there is little difference between military and civilian-led governments in their abilities to establish stability and maintain law. The book concludes that neither conservative nor radical views are fully correct as to the effects of military-led governments on development. Soldiers and Politics in Southeast Asia focuses exclusively on civil-military politics in Southeast Asia in a critical period for the region, and it should be read by all individuals interested in Southeast Asian politics and development long after Cold War issues have come to a close.
This book traces changes in the concept of security in Asia from realist to cooperative, comprehensive, and human security approaches, and assesses a number of policy alternatives to management of both old and new security threats. It surveys not only orthodox security threats such as tensions between regional powers or armed ethnic antagonists but also new sources of anxiety such as resource scarcity, economic instability, irregular migration, community fragmentation, and international terrorism. Security policies of major powers such as China, Japan, and the United States, and the moderating roles of regional organizations such as ASEAN, ARF, SCO, and KEDO are evaluated in historical and contemporary perspectives. Contributors proffer policy-relevant insights where appropriate. The book concludes that traditional security approaches remain valid but need to be adapted to the new challenges, and offers suggestions for incorporating fresh Asian security perceptions into the agendas of policy-makers, analysts, and scholars.
During the 1960s - in the midst of its retreat from empire - the British government had to grapple with complex political and military problems in order to find a strategic defence policy that was both credible and affordable. Addressing what was perhaps the most contentious issue within those debates, this book charts the arguments that raged between supporters of a land based air power strategy, and those who favoured aircraft carriers. Drawing upon a wealth of previously classified documents, the book reveals how the Admiralty and Air Ministry became interlocked in a bitter political struggle over which of their military strategies could best meet Britain's future foreign policy challenges. Whilst the broad story of this inter-service rivalry is well known - the Air Force's proposal for a series of island based airfields, and the Navy championing of a small number of expensive but mobile aircraft carriers - the complexity and previous lack of archival sources means that it has, until now, only ever been partially researched and understood. Former studies have largely focused on the cancellation of the CVA-01 carrier programme, and offered little depth as regards the Royal Air Force perspectives. Given that this was a two-Service rivalry, which greatly influenced many aspects of British foreign and defence policy decisions of the period, this book presents an important and balanced overview of the complex issues involved. Through this historical study of the British debate about maritime air power and strategic alternatives in the 1960s, the detailed arguments used for and against both alternatives demonstrate clear relevance to both historical and contemporary conceptual debates on carrier forces and land-based air power. Both from military strategy and inter-service relationship perspectives, contemporary Britain and many other nations with maritime forces may learn much from this historical case.
Aggression, Crime and International Security examines the concept of aggression in international relations and how it has been dealt with by international law and collective security organisations. This book analyses the evolution of the concept of aggression in international relations from World War I to the post-Rome Statute era. It charts the emergence of two competing visions of this notion: on the one hand, as a triggering mechanism for collective security enforcement among states, and, on the other, as an international crime giving rise to individual responsibility. The author argues that despite certain contemporary international trends suggesting a shift away from traditional, state-centric power structures towards a more cosmopolitan, globalized polity, the history of the concept of aggression demonstrates just how far away this is in reality. By examining aggression in theory and practice at the League of Nations, the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials, the United Nations, the conference establishing the Rome Statute, and beyond, the book reveals the recurring moral, political and legal challenges this concept poses - challenges which continue to be at the forefront of thinking about international relations today. This book will be of great interest to students of International Law, War Crimes, International Relations and Security Studies.
As the North Pole is transformed from a sea-ice cap to an ice-free sea, the Arctic Ocean is becoming an environmentally insecure area. This volume proposes environmental security as providing a holistic framework to assess security risks and then identify the appropriate adaptation and mitigation responses.
In addition to port security, ship inspection and safety, law enforcement, and search and rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard assumes an important role in national defense at home and abroad. To that end, the Coast Guard has carried out separate and coordinated missions with other armed forces from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, and polar region. This chronicle of the Coast Guard's contributions to national defense examines participation in World War I, World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, and the War on Terror. Among the topics explored are defense threats, drug trafficking, and border security, as well as Coast Guard personnel, training, leadership, and assets. This thorough consideration reveals the Coast Guard's commitment to its heritage and its motto: Semper Paratus (Always Ready).
This new handbook provides a wide-ranging overview of the current state of academic analysis and debate on insurgency and counterinsurgency, as well as an-up-to date survey of contemporary insurgent movements and counter-insurgencies. In recent years, and more specifically since the insurgency in Iraq from 2003, academic interest in insurgency and counterinsurgency has substantially increased. These topics have become dominant themes on the security agenda, replacing peacekeeping, humanitarian operations and terrorism as key concepts. The aim of this volume is to showcase the rich thinking that is available in the area of insurgency and counterinsurgency studies and act as a further guide for study and research. In order to contain this wide-ranging topic within an accessible and informative framework, the Editors have divided the text into three key parts: Part I: Theoretical and Analytical Issues Part II: Insurgent Movements Part III: Counterinsurgency Cases The Routledge Handbook of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency will be of great interest to all students of insurgency and small wars, terrorism/counter-terrorism, strategic studies, security studies and IR in general, as well as professional military colleges and policymakers.
The South Asian security complex refers to security interdependencies between the states in the region, and also includes the effect that powerful external actors, such as China, the US and Russia, and geopolitical interests have on regional dynamics. This book focuses on the national securities of a number of South Asian countries in order to discuss a range of issues related to South Asian security. The book makes a distinction between traditional and non-traditional security. While state-centric approaches such as bilateral relations between India and Pakistan are considered to be traditional realist approaches to security, the promotion of economic, environmental and human security reflect global concerns, liberal theories and cosmopolitan values. The book goes beyond traditional security issues to reflect the changing security agenda in South Asia in the twenty-first century, and is a useful contribution to studies on South Asian Politics and Security Studies. |
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