Terrorism motivated by Islamist religious ideology has been on the rise for the last forty years and has been called the "fourth wave" of terrorism. Generally speaking, the previous Anarchist, Nationalist, and Marxist waves arose out of some combination of geo-political events and local grievances. The current wave, however, did not seem to arise out of any analogous conditions. While there were certainly events that helped catalyze Islamist movements, these events did not seem to create the specific grievances that would lead us to expect the wave of terrorism that followed. In other words, our commonly held notions - of how changes in structural conditions lead to grievances that, in turn, give rise to terrorism - fail to explain the current Islamist wave of terrorism. Absent a better explanation of this current wave of terrorism, our understanding of it is flawed, as are the policies and actions taken to mitigate and defeat it. In The Global Spread of Islamism and the Consequences for Terrorism, Michael Freeman examines the causes of terrorism, and how potential causal factors have changed over time by looking at several key events of 1979, how these events created incentives for different actors to spread the supply of Islamism, the institutions that they created in various countries, and the terrorists coming out of these institutions. 1979 marked the emergence of revolutionary Islam as a global political force, the beginning of market revolutions in China and Britain that would radically alter the international economy, and the first stirrings of the resistance movements in Eastern Europe and Afghanistan that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. By tracing the conflict in Syria, terrorism and sectarianism in Iraq, the war in Yemen, the nuclear and missile programs, the security apparatus in Iran, and fundamentalist operations around the world, Michael Freeman looks at the broader, and more accepted (and not necessarily violent) ideology from which many Islamic terrorists eventually arise.

In state and public discussion about war and conflict, figures of transgression such as deserters, pacifist and emigrants are often marginalised, but they also play a key role in rethinking cultural and national identity in the wake of military violence. Raising questions of agency, responsibility and culpability in relation to the 'other', their cultural representation can enable reflection on and renegotiation of values and collective norms after the destabilisation of war. Through an interdisciplinary lens, this collection analyses the depiction of these transgressive figures in a variety of visual media, as well as the narrative, socio-cultural, political and historical contexts in which they emerge.

Seven soldiers. Seven military specialties. Seven stories. What was it like to serve in the combat mission in Afghanistan? Journalists’ reports from 2006 to 2011 could only give brief glimpses of the reality on the ground for Canadian soldiers. This book reveals the full story of what happened to seven soldiers, ranking from corporal to captain, who were deployed during Operation ATHENA, Phase 2. The operation became known as “the combat mission” as Canadian battle groups engaged in a deadly multi-year war of counter-insurgency in Kandahar province. Each of the seven soldier’s experiences covered in Combat Mission Kandahar highlights a facet of one of Canada’s longest, most complicated, and challenging operations.

Synonymous with conflict and humanitarian aid, the mandate of the International Red Cross (ICRC) is to protect the wounded victims of war, civilians, prisoners and refugees alike. In Memoirs of a Red Cross Doctor, Frank Ryding recounts the missions he undertook with the Red Cross during a career spanning 35 years. Having worked as a doctor in many of the world s war zones and natural disasters from the 'killing field' era of Cambodia, to Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, Pakistan and Sudan his is an account of observation and also personal experience, contrasting the serious, the terrifying, the heart-rending and the heart-warming. It is also the story of the victims who suffer the consequences of war and disaster. It shows both their courage and that of the aid agencies sent to help them. As Frank recalls from some Somali graffiti: "It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness'.

A selection of key writings on the problem of war and peace. Introduces students to general issues in ethics and moral theology. Key contributors from around the world. This reader samples a wide range of modern moral and religious discussions on the subject of war and peace. In addition to providing material on pacifism, the just war debate, the nuclear option, genocide, and the concept of a holy war, it introduces students to general issues in ethics and moral theology, using the morality of war as a powerful and pertinent worked example. Contributors include Elizabeth Anscombe, George Bell, Charles Curran, Y. Harkabi, Richard Harries, Stanley Hauerwas, Paul Ramsey, W. Montgomery Watt, Rowan Williams.

In the post Cold War era does the withdrawal of armies from direct rule in most countries herald an end to their role as actors in domestic politics? Is it indeed sensible to assume that political intervention by the military has been more or less permanently superceded? Drawing on the 20th century experience of a dozen important countries this book examines a number of closely related issues: What generalizations can be made about the causes and enduring consequences of military rule for nation building and economic development? How have the passing of the Cold War, the rise of globalization and other changes in the 1990s affected the political role of the military? How can we assess the role of political armies in relation to the problems of consolidating civil politics and democratic governance? Are there lessons for policy makers to be learned from a comparative analysis of political armies in such fields as global governance and post-conflict reconstruction? This stimulating set of explorations and investigations builds on previous theories about the role of the military in politics and looks to the future - the possible proliferation of armed actors, new perversions in the domestic roles of the armed forces, and the much more prominent emergence of privatized forces of law and order.

War as an Instrument of Policy examines the principles of war and how they may apply to the method of decision making in the higher realms of government when military and civilian leaders meet. It begins with an exploration of the emergence of a new kind of limited war beginning with the Vietnam conflict and discusses the principles of war along with typical military theory and strategy to clearly provide an understanding of the thought processes and actions behind the conducting of a war. Two contemporary examples, the Gulf War in 1990 and the South African invasion of Angola in 1987, provide the opportunity to examine the process of military decision-making on every level in these conflicts. Finally, methods of successfully and carefully employing a military methodology of decision making to capitalize on the success of war are suggested.

For two and a half years (1937-1939), Captain John Seymour Letcher commanded a company of the U.S. Embassy Marine Guard in Peking. During that time, he wrote a series of letters to his parents in Virginia describing the life of a Westerner in the former imperial city. During that same time, China was invaded by Japan.

Captain Letcher describes the flavor of life in pre-Communist China -- the food, servants, cold Peking winters and torrid summers, hunting, and excursions to the major tourist sites.

But his letters also tell of the Japanese slaughter of Chinese troops in the opening days of the Sino-Japanese War. He wrote about life in a city under Japanese occupation and the stirring story of the Chinese guerrillas rebounding from devastating defeat.

These letters and accompanying introduction, preface, and notes, draw attention to the Western experience in a place and time largely overlooked by military historians and modern China specialists.

The atrocities of civil wars present us with many difficult questions. How do seemingly ordinary individuals come to commit such extraordinary acts of cruelty, often against unarmed civilians? Can we ever truly understand such acts of 'evil'? Based on a wealth of original interviews with perpetrators of violence in Sierra Leone's civil war, this book provides a detailed response. Moving beyond the rigid bounds of political science, the author engages with sociology, psychology and social psychology, to provide a comprehensive picture of the complex individual motives behind seemingly senseless violence in Sierra Leone's war. Highlighting the inadequacy of current explanations that centre on the anarchic nature of brutality, or conversely, its calculated rationality, this book sheds light on the critical but hitherto neglected role played by the emotions of shame and disgust. Drawing on first-hand accounts of strategies employed by Sierra Leone's rebel commanders, it documents the manner in which rebel recruits were systematically brutalised and came to perform horrifying acts of cruelty as routine.In so doing, it offers fresh insight into the causes of extreme violence that holds relevance beyond Sierra Leone to the atrocities of contemporary civil wars.

Don't Mention the War examines Australian media coverage of the war in Afghanistan. The book demonstrates how the military's public affairs personnel have taken over many of the roles traditionally performed by reporters and shows the restrictive affect of this on media coverage. This tight media management is contrasted with the more open approach of Dutch and Canadian militaries in Afghanistan, a fact that is explained through reference to the different positions of the military within these different nations. As opposed to the Dutch and the Canadians, who had reputations to rebuild, the almost uniquely exalted position of the military in Australia has enabled and driven a media strategy tailored to defend the Australian military's high social standing. In Australian media coverage, the book goes on to argue, the war in Afghanistan has then functioned as another platform for the celebration of national military virtues. What has been offered is less a representation of action than an affirmation of identity; less a chronicle of unfolding events than a testament to immutable character. *** "Foster argues convincingly that the ADF's determination to keep an iron grip on information, based on an entrenched cultural distain for journalists, a resistance to scrutiny, and an obsession with protecting its reputation, meant that what it was actually doing in Afghanistan remained a mystery. While he attributes authorship of this mystery to the ADF hierarchy, supported at times by politicians, journalists don't escape his censure. His book is an indictment of the lack of commitment by Australian editors to covering the Afghan war." - Tom Hyland, Inside Story, January 2014

Current global estimates of children engaged in warfare range from 200,000 to 300,000. Children's roles in conflict range from armed and active participants to spies, cooks, messengers, and sex slaves. "Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States" examines the factors that contribute to the use of children in war, the effects of war upon children, and the perpetual cycle of warfare that engulfs many of the world's poorest nations.
The contributors seek to eliminate myths of historic or culture-based violence, and instead look to common traits of chronic poverty and vulnerable populations. Individual essays examine topics such as: the legal and ethical aspects of child soldiering; internal UN debates over enforcement of child protection policies; economic factors; increased access to small arms; displaced populations; resource endowments; forced government conscription; rebel-enforced quota systems; motivational techniques employed in recruiting children; and the role of girls in conflict.
The contributors also offer viable policies to reduce the recruitment of child soldiers such as the protection of refugee camps by outside forces, "naming and shaming," and criminal prosecution by international tribunals. Finally, they focus on ways to reintegrate former child soldiers into civil society in the aftermath of war.