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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research > General
The optimism that arrived at the end of the cold war and marked the turn of the Millennium was shattered by September 11. In the aftermath of that event it is not unwarranted pessimism that lines the pages of "Grave New World," it is unavoidable reality. Terrorism is but one aspect of many other wider concerns for national and international security, and the contributors to this volume not only warn us, but reward us as well with the clarity of their views into -- and possible solutions for -- a difficult, complicated future. They speak convincingly of the numerous military and non-military challenges that create security problems -- whether those are interstate, intrastate, or transnational -- many of which are being dangerously overlooked in public policy debates. The challenges and complexities might seem insurmountable but the first step in solving problems is recognizing that they exist. "Grave New World" provides an eye-opening assessment of the prospects for peace and security in the 21st century. Michael E. Brown frames these issues in his Introduction, "Security Challenges in the 21st Century;" and in his summation, "Security Problems and Security Policy in a Grave New World."
What special vulnerabilities does the world of the 21st century have to terrorist attacks? What kind of role does the United States see itself playing as the world's only superpower in the coming decades? How should we now characterize the conduct of the US foreign policy? Answers to such questions are perhaps not much clearer now than they were immediately after the attacks, but one of the more positive effects of these attacks has been to stimulate much serious discussion about them, and thus about the place of violence about changing forms of warfare, about different forms of terror, and about challenges to prevailing accounts of the legitimacy of violence in contemporary political life in the context of emerging and in many respects dangerously unstable structures of power and authority on a global scale. These essays do not constitute a unified perspective on what happened on 11 September 2001, and the US response to it. They are perhaps most usefully read as an experiment in writing contemporary history as it evolves. Some essays contradict others, some are quite specific, and others generalize very broadly. They all affirm, however, that there is no simple answer to difficul
For three decades the analysis of strategic coercion has been dominated by two landmark books: Tom Schelling's Arms and Influence and Alex George's Strategic Diplomacy, both of which addressed the requirements of American foreign policy during the cold war. This book argues for a reappraisal of the role of strategic coercion - defined as the deliberate and purposive use of overt threats to influence another's strategic choices. It emphasizes the importance of drawing on the experiences of countries other than the United States, and of considering the new circumstances of the post cold war world. An international team of scholars, led by Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College, London, provides critical commentaries on the work of Schelling and George and a series of fascinating case studies. These cover most regions of the world, a variety of different actors - including terrorist groups - and different forms of coercion - including the use of economic sanctions.
Britain's Anti-Submarine Capability, 1919-1939 is the first unified study of the development of Britain's anti-submarine capability between the armistice in 1919 and the onset of the second world German submarine attack on Britain's maritime trade in 1939. Well researched and yet accessibly written, this book challenges the widespread belief that the Royal Navy failed to anticipate the threat of the U-boat in the Second World War.
Technology and its proper use constitute key components in the strength of any armed forces. However, battlefield technologies constantly evolve in the quest for competitive advantage, with the rate at which new concepts and devices appear steadily increasing. In the world of technological intelligence, militaries worldwide not only seek to advance their technologies but to gather information about the latest technological and scientific developments of present and future adversaries, evaluate their possible impacts, and prevent as much as possible, the advantages gained by technological surprise-that sudden appearance of novel weapon systems that can tilt the success of an operation, battle, or even war. While ample documentation circulates on operational intelligence-defined as information about an enemy's order of battle and intentions-and "operational surprise," technological intelligence (and consequently technological surprise) receives far less attention than today's military reality merits. In Ready for Battle: Technological Intelligence on the Battlefield, Azriel Lorber rectifies this slant towards operational intelligence, engaging through historical example and policy prescription technology's role in modern warfare, and the dangers presented by technological inferiority on the one hand, and technological surprise on the other. Throughout, he offers examples of well-kept technological secrets that turned the tides of battle-as well as less well-hidden efforts that failed in their effect. Ready for Battle analyzes the challenges presented and possible methods for addressing questions of technological surprise, drawing on historical examples of failure and success and offering insights into the intricacies of technological deception. This work will interest military historians and officers, security analysts, and defense industry professionals.
Despite the substantial output of revisionist scholarship over the last decade reappraising the performance of the British Army on the Western Front during the First World War, there still remains a stubborn perception that its commanders were incompetent, inflexible and unimaginative. Whilst much ink has been spilled vilifying or defending individual commanders, or looking for overarching trends and 'learning curves', this is the first work to examine systematically the vertical nature of command - that is the transmission of plans from the high-command down through the rank structure to the front line. Through such an investigation, a much more rounded measure of the effectiveness of British commanders can be gained; one moves the argument beyond the overly simplistic 'casualties to ground gained' equation that is usually offered. The Battle of Fromelles (19-20 July 1916) was selected as the case study as it was relatively small in scale, in the right period, and retains sufficient primary sources available to sustain the analysis. It also witnessed the first time Australian forces were used in offensive operations on the Western Front, and thus looms large in wider Commonwealth perceptions of 'Bumbling British Generals'. The book follows the progress of the battle plan from its inception in the strategic designs of the supreme commander down through the various intermediate level commands at operational and tactical headquarters until it became the orders that sent the infantry forward into the attack. In so doing it provides a unique insight into the strengths and weaknesses of British command structure, allowing a much more scholarly judgement of its overall effectiveness.
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.
Naval warfare in a typical narrow sea such as the Baltic Sea or the Arabian Gulf includes peculiarities not found in war on the open ocean. Because of the proximity of the landmass, the employment of naval forces and aircraft is far more complex than in war on the open ocean. The outcome of war in a typical narrow sea depends - to a larger degree than on the open ocean - on the course of events on land and in the air. The threat of land-based aircraft, submarines, coastal anti-ship missiles and mines makes the operations of blue-water navies such as the US Navy both more complicated and riskier than on the open ocean.
This book comparatively examines the preferences of four key arms-producing states towards European joint armaments programmes. The European defence market is characterised by a mixture of inter-state competition and European cooperation, and this work assesses why countries sometimes decide to cooperate with their partners, while in other instances they refrain from doing so. In order to shed light on this empirical puzzle, the book focuses on state-defence industry relations in the four major European arms producers: France, Germany, Italy and the UK. The main argument is that the public or private governance of industrial suppliers and market size are the two decisive variables that explain the simultaneous presence of cooperation and competition in European defence procurement. Specifically, it argues that in public governance ecosystems, arms industries are able to "capture" the state's decision-making processes to their own advantage. In private governance ecosystems, the state is relatively autonomous from defence industry's influence and able to pursue larger macro-economic and military benefits. Moreover, the strategy pursued by governments and defence firms is decisively shaped by market size because of its importance in determining the relative costs and benefits of collaborative arrangements. This book will be of much interest to students of EU policy, defence studies, European politics and International Relations.
This volume records the transition from planning against any post-war resurgence of German and Japanese militarism to preparations against a possible threat from the Soviet Union. It charts Foreign Office resistance to consideration of even the possibility of Soviet hostility after the war. Changing Direction is likely to remain the standard work of reference on this period, both for scholars and for the wider public.
This book explores Japan's emerging national security policy in relation to China. It considers the rise of nationalism in contemporary Japan, the recent actions of the Abe government to change Japan's security policy course and the importance of domestic views, both elite and popular, about safety and credibility in shaping security policy. It highlights the lack of strong links between China and Japan and the existence in Japan of significant misconceptions about China. It discusses the politics of Japan's alliances, examines the growth of national pride in Japan and of a more confrontational attitude toward China, and concludes by putting forward some scenarios for likely future developments and some policy proposals for a stable Japan-China relationship.
In this volume, Professor Colin Gray develops and applies the
theory and scholarship on the allegedly historical practice of the
"Revolution in Military Affairs" (RMA), in order to improve our
comprehension of how and why strategy "works."
Survival, the IISS's bimonthly journal, challenges conventional wisdom and brings fresh, often controversial, perspectives on strategic issues of the moment. In this issue: Nigel Gould-Davies assesses the impact of Western sanctions on Russia, arguing that they represent a major development in economic statecraft In a special colloquium on the North Korean nuclear threat, Jina Kim, John K. Warden, Adam Mount, Mira Rapp-Hooper, Vipin Narang, Ankit Panda, Ian Campbell and Michaela Dodge offer their ideas for deterring Pyongyang Alexander Klimburg warns that CYBERCOM's strategy of 'persistent engagement' is encouraging a cyber arms race And eight more thought-provoking pieces, as well as our regular book reviews and noteworthy column
From 14-17 April 1940, a meeting was held in the Kremlin to examine and analyze the performance of the Red Army in the recent Soviet-Finnish War. T he participants were all the army commanders who had taken part in the campaign, and some members of the Politburo, notably Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov. This book is an English translation of the verbatim record held in the Russian State Socio-Political History Archives in Moscow. Marshals Kliment Voroshilov and Grigory Kulik co-chaired the sessions, but it was Stalin who guided the proceedings. Forty-six regimental, divisional, corps, army and front commanders, and senior Red Army officials delivered their reports and engaged in debate. Stalin gave a long speech at the closing of the last session in which he expounded his views on all aspects of military policy.
This volume identifies and evaluates the relationship between outer-space geography and geographic position (astrogeography), and the evolution of current and future military space strategy. In doing so, it explores five primary propositions. First, many classical geopolitical theories of military development are fully compatible with the realm of outer space. Second, how geographical position relates to new technology. Such evolution has developed through sea, rail and air power. Space power is the logical and apparent heir. Third, the special terrain of solar space dictates specific tactics and strategies for efficient exploitation of space resources. Fourth, the concept of space as a power base in classical, geopolitical thought will easily conform to the use of outer space as an ultimate national power base. Finally, a thorough understanding of the astromechanical and physical demarcations of outer space can prove useful to planners, and will prove critical to military strategists in the future. An optimum deployment of space assets will be essential on the current terrestrial and future-based battlefield.
This provocative critique of Washington's current security policies, draws on the arguments made by an array of non-interventionist and conservative-nationalist scholars. It provides a blueprint for a more restrained and unilateral US role in global affairs.
This book explores the crucial relationship between security and identity in a changing Europe. It covers a series of key policy issues, including NATO enlargement, EU integration, war in the Balkans and Russia's uncertain future. This new agenda is explored through a range of theoretical approaches, from traditional realist to social constructivist and postmodern interpretations. Security and Identity in Europe thus offers an excellent guide to contending theories of international relations and provides innovative insights for students seeking to understand a changing Europe at the beginning of the new millennium.
Armed revolution and civil war gave birth to the Soviet Union, world War II propelled it to global pre-eminence, and the Cold War contributed to the Soviet Union's demise. Given Marxism-Leninism's idological preoccupation with war and threats of war, it is understandable that the spectre of war should play a vital role in the life and fate of the Soviet state. This study of Soviet military strategy is based upon the twin pillars of Soviet political-military actions and Soviet writings on the subject of military strategy. Thanks to the policy of glasnost, it incorporates Soviet materials hitherto unavailable in the West. It aims to be not simply a retrospective account of what was, but to form part of the context for what will be in the future. |
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