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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Other warfare & defence issues
President Obama and the UK Labour and Coalition governments have
all backed the renewed momentum for serious progress towards a
world free of nuclear weapons, whilst the UK finds itself embarked
on a controversial and expensive programme to renew its Trident
nuclear weapons system. What does the UK process tell about the
prospects for disarmament?
The Small Arms Survey 2008 presents two thematic sections. The
first examines the problem of diversion in all its aspects:
stockpiles, surplus disposal, international transfers, and end-user
documentation. It includes a case study on South Africa and a comic
strip illustrating the potential ease by which someone with access
to forged documentation can make arrangements to ship munitions
virtually anywhere. The second thematic section analyses the public
health approach to armed violence, scrutinizing risk and resilience
factors and considering related interventions. It includes an
overview of the burden of armed violence, and two case studies of
armed violence in El Salvador and the United States. A chapter on
light weapons production rounds out the volume.
In the years following the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, Serbian
social, cultural and political responses to the wars of the 1990s
have fallen under intense scrutiny. In Ethnic Conflict and War
Crimes in the Balkans, Jelena Obradovic-Wochnik explores some of
those responses - taking into consideration notions such as
silence, denial and conspiracy theory, the book sheds some light on
the complicated narratives about the 1990s. The book considers the
experience of knowing, witnessing and speaking about atrocities,
and thus contributes to the debates on confronting the past in
Serbia. Specifically, it considers how individuals of the
"ordinary" public in Serbia reflect upon, understand and keep
secrets about the 1991-1999 conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Kosovo, and the atrocities, human rights abuses and
war crimes which were committed there. Close attention is paid to
the stories of individuals whose voices and experiences are
generally excluded from the broader debate about the past. Jelena
Obradovic-Wochnik explores how these narratives diverge from,
resist and are invisible to the formal and civil society
initiatives aimed at confronting the past in Serbia.In doing so,
the book also explores silence about and denial of the violent
past, and considers how and where these dynamics manifest and what
they might mean. In addition, it covers themes such as narratives
of self-victimhood, conspiracy theory and the perception of
war-time leaders and combatants. This is a detailed and considered
investigation into how groups cope with knowledge and the
witnessing of violent pasts. It is based on ethnographic research
and interviews with a group of 'ordinary' individuals, in
post-Milosevic Serbia. As such, it provides a unique perspective on
the lived experience of the conflicts, and the ways in which
stories of the 1990s emerge in everyday contexts.
From Discrimination to Death studies the process of genocide
through the human rights violations that occur during genocide.
Using individual testimonies and in-depth field research from the
Armenian Genocide, Holocaust and Cambodian Genocide, this book
demonstrates that a pattern of specific escalating human rights
abuses takes place in genocide. Offering an analysis of all these
particular human rights as they are violated in genocide, the
author intricately brings together genocide studies and human
rights, demonstrating how the 'crime of crimes' and the human
rights law regime correlate. The book applies the pattern of rights
violations to the Rohingya Genocide, revealing that this pattern
could have been used to prevent the violence against the Rohingya,
before advocating for a greater role for human rights oversight
bodies in genocide prevention. The pattern ascertained through the
research in this book offers a resource for governments and human
rights practitioners as a mid-stream indicator for genocide
prevention. It can also be used by lawyers and judges in genocide
trials to help determine whether genocide took place. Undergraduate
and postgraduate students, particularly of genocide studies, will
also greatly benefit from this book.
Written at an accessible level for undergraduate students, this is
the first introduction to the complex relationship between religion
and genocide for use on related courses. Steven Leonard Jacobs is a
leading scholar in the field and covers a complex and controversial
topic in an engaging and accessible style, using real world case
studies throughout. Religion and Genocide is an outstanding
contribution to the fields of Judaic studies and Holocaust and
Genocide studies.
Written at an accessible level for undergraduate students, this is
the first introduction to the complex relationship between religion
and genocide for use on related courses. Steven Leonard Jacobs is a
leading scholar in the field and covers a complex and controversial
topic in an engaging and accessible style, using real world case
studies throughout. Religion and Genocide is an outstanding
contribution to the fields of Judaic studies and Holocaust and
Genocide studies.
This book, first published in 1992, examines defence issues as the
twentieth century drew to a close. With the end of the Cold War,
many of the threats to European security, such as the threat of
nuclear war, disappeared. New ones, however, were emerging. The
rise of nationalism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction to
politically unstable countries, the increase in world population,
the debt crisis - all these contributed to security problems that
needed to be resolved. The book assesses the possibilities for
future European defence and the role that the United States would
play in it: will it be prepared to stay in Europe under European
leadership, or must it dominate? It also considers the capabilities
offered by new military technology and the need for control of
weapons of mass destruction.
The SIPRI Yearbook 1991 continues SIPRI's review of the latest
developments in nuclear weapons, nuclear explosions, world military
expenditure, the international arms trade and arms production,
chemical and biological weapons, the military use of outer space,
the proliferation of ballistic missile technology, armed conflicts
in 1990, US-Soviet nuclear arms control, and conventional arms
control in Europe. In addition, it presents the situation in the
changing Europe of 1990 and considers the new security structures
for Europe which will be defined in the early years of the decade.
The 1991 Yearbook also analyses the results of the fourth NPT
Review Conference and the strengthened role of the United Nations
in conflict situations as exhibited in the current conflict in the
Gulf region.
When Slobodan Milosevic died in the United Nations Detention Unit
in The Hague over four years after his trial had begun, many feared
- and some hoped - that international criminal justice was
experiencing some sort of death itself. Yet the Milosevic case, the
first trial of a former head of state by a truly international
criminal tribunal and one of the most complex and lengthy war
crimes trials in history, stands for much in the development and
the future of international criminal justice, both politically and
legally. This book, written by the senior legal advisor working for
the Trial Chamber, analyses the trial to determine what lessons can
be learnt that will improve the fair and expeditious conduct of
complex international criminal proceedings brought against former
heads of state and senior political and military officials, and
develops reforms for the future achievement of best practice in
international criminal law.
There is a high risk that someone will use, by accident or design,
one or more of the 17,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. Many
thought such threats ended with the Cold War or that current
policies can prevent or contain nuclear disaster. They are dead
wrong-these weapons, possessed by states large and small, stable
and unstable, remain an ongoing nightmare. Joseph Cirincione
surveys the best thinking and worst fears of experts specializing
in nuclear warfare and assesses the efforts to reduce or eliminate
these nuclear dangers. His book offers hope: in the 1960s,
twenty-three states had nuclear weapons and research programs;
today, only nine states have weapons. More countries have abandoned
nuclear weapon programs than have developed them, and global
arsenals are just one-quarter of what they were during the Cold
War. Yet can these trends continue, or are we on the brink of a new
arms race-or worse, nuclear war? A former member of Senator Obama's
nuclear policy team, Cirincione helped shape the policies unveiled
in Prague in 2009, and, as president of an organization intent on
reducing nuclear threats, he operates at the center of debates on
nuclear terrorism, new nuclear nations, and the risks of existing
arsenals.
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book raises new
questions and provides different perspectives on the roles,
responsibilities, ethics and protection of interpreters in war
while investigating the substance and agents of Japanese war crimes
and legal aspects of interpreters' taking part in war crimes.
Informed by studies on interpreter ethics in conflict, historical
studies of Japanese war crimes and legal discussion on individual
liability in war crimes, Takeda provides a detailed description and
analysis of the 39 interpreter defendants and interpreters as
witnesses of war crimes at British military trials against the
Japanese in the aftermath of the Pacific War, and tackles ethical
and legal issues of various risks faced by interpreters in violent
conflict. The book first discusses the backgrounds, recruitment and
wartime activities of the accused interpreters at British military
trials in addition to the charges they faced, the defence arguments
and the verdicts they received at the trials, with attention to why
so many of the accused were Taiwanese and foreign-born Japanese.
Takeda provides a contextualized discussion, focusing on the
Japanese military's specific linguistic needs in its occupied areas
in Southeast Asia and the attributes of interpreters who could meet
such needs. In the theoretical examination of the issues that
emerge, the focus is placed on interpreters' proximity to danger,
visibility and perceived authorship of speech, legal responsibility
in war crimes and ethical issues in testifying as eyewitnesses of
criminal acts in violent hostilities. Takeda critically examines
prior literature on the roles of interpreters in conflict and
ethical concerns such as interpreter neutrality and
confidentiality, drawing on legal discussion of the ineffectiveness
of the superior orders defence and modes of individual liability in
war crimes. The book seeks to promote intersectoral discussion on
how interpreters can be protected from exposure to manifestly
unlawful acts such as torture.
As the world becomes ever more unequal, people become ever more
'disposable'. Today, governments systematically exclude sections of
their populations from society through heavy-handed policing. But
it doesn't always go to plan. William I. Robinson exposes the
nature and dynamics of this out-of-control system, arguing for the
urgency of creating a movement capable of overthrowing it. The
global police state uses a variety of ingenious methods of control,
including mass incarceration, police violence, US-led wars, the
persecution of immigrants and refugees, and the repression of
environmental activists. Movements have emerged to combat the
increasing militarization, surveillance and social cleansing;
however many of them appeal to a moral sense of social justice
rather than addressing its root - global capitalism. Using shocking
data which reveals how far capitalism has become a system of
repression, Robinson argues that the emerging megacities of the
world are becoming the battlegrounds where the excluded and the
oppressed face off against the global police state.
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Town of Bar
(Hardcover)
M B Kupershteyn; Cover design or artwork by Rachel Kolokoff Hopper; Index compiled by Jonathan Wind
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Originally published in 1985, this book explores the nuclear
confrontation between East and West in Europe: where we stand, how
we got there and what the future may hold. Its concluding chapter
outlines the prospects for nuclear arms control in Europe, and it
frames the debate over NATO strategy and the role of nuclear
weapons in the years ahead. Can NATO reduce its reliance on nuclear
weapons? Can it cope with the issues at all? The chapters on NATO
theatre nuclear forces and doctrine provide a rich background to
current policy issues. The public debate over NATO's 1979 decision
to deploy new American cruise and Pershing nuclear missiles in
Europe was hardly unprecedented in NATO's history: similar
controversy surrounded NATO deliberations in the late 1950s and
early 1960s. That debate, however, subsided in the mid-1960s; the
nuclear question in Europe was relegated to the 'wilderness',
though efforts - largely unavailing - continued within official
circles to define more clearly the role of nuclear weapons in
NATO's defense. Against this backdrop, the nuclear debate emerged
again in the 1970s. This title unravels the military and political
considerations at play in that debate and maps the European
politics surrounding it. Today it can be read in its historical
context.
The nuclear non-proliferation treaty had recently undergone its
third formal review by its signatories, who had assessed its
effectiveness and considered how it might better be implemented.
This book, originally published in 1987, written by experts many of
whom were leading participants in the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty regime at the time, examines the whole range of issues
connected with nuclear non-proliferation and the treaty. It looks
at non-proliferation from the point of view of nuclear nations,
non-nuclear nations and the nuclear industry. It assesses the work
of the international monitoring bodies and reconsiders the place of
non-proliferation in the changing balance of global nuclear power.
It concludes by discussing the way forward.
'I pray that words spoken at this conference may carry beyond walls
and reach thousands of ears hitherto deaf to warnings of the final
catastrophe.' So said Patrick White in June 1983 at an important
symposium organised by the Australian National University to
examine the whole issue of nuclear war and its implications for
Australia. Many prominent Australians - including H. C. Coombs,
Senator Susan Ryan, leading academics and medics - attended the
conference along with distinguished experts from overseas, and
mingled and talked with many representatives of Australian peace
movements. In two intense and emotional days they discussed many
different aspects of the crisis that threatens the world, from the
latest scientific thinking on possible effects on the atmosphere to
the increasingly important role of the women's peace movement and
the efforts of ordinary people around the world to stop the nuclear
arms race. Originally published in 1983, this book presents the
upshot of these deliberations, including unforgettable
illustrations of some of the consequences of nuclear war. The book
does not pretend to provide the answers, nor does it take any
political viewpoint. It does present the authoritative opinions of
some of the world's leading minds on the extent of the threat that
faces Australia alongside powerful statements from committed men
and women from around the world - opinions that will inform and
disturb all thinking Australians.
Europe has everything to lose from nuclear war, and nothing to gain
from it. Yet it is nuclear deterrence that we are relying on to
shield us from war. More and more people are coming to believe that
security under a nuclear shield is an illusion, and that nuclear
deterrence embodies a dangerous paradox. It is too close to
provocation, it cannot prevent nuclear blackmail, and its
short-term success can only lead to proliferation and ultimate
instability. In this book, originally published in 1983,
philosophers go behind the rhetoric of the nuclear debate and
analyse the dangers of deterrence. The contributors all share a
concern about the radical confusions that have arisen concerning
nuclear deterrence. Showing how unilateral arguments can be
developed from hard-headed political and military considerations,
they stress their belief that carefully managed unilateralism is
the best method for securing the political independence of Western
Europe. The doctrine is not founded on sheer moral idealism. This
book will be essential reading for anyone engaged in the public
discussion of defence policy.
Originally published in 1956, atomic policy overshadowed political
considerations in the same way that 'the balance of power' had
mesmerized European politicians for so long. Admiral Biorklund here
makes a general survey of the whole problem. He traces the
development of the atom and hydrogen bombs and the history of
international atomic policy as revealed by post-war conferences, by
official statements, and in official and unofficial publications.
His thirty years study of Russia and complete command of the
language have enabled him to give a more thorough and authoritative
account of the Soviet attitude than has so far appeared in English.
He also presents fully the American point of view that the
preservation of force is vital to the democracies of the world.
Admiral Biorklund makes an expert contribution to a full
appreciation of the primary question of the day. He feels that it
is unrealistic to attempt a total prohibition of atomic weapons.
But it is not therefore necessary to sit with folded arms. By
starting with what is politically possible now, he outlines a
solution which recognizes that the smaller tactical weapons would
have to be tolerated while the heaviest bombs are strictly
controlled. Clearly written, his book is extremely readable and of
absorbing interest. It presents, soberly and objectively a great
deal of information in a readily assimilable form. A large map
(available online) plots the position of the world's fissile
material (uranium, thorium, lithium, etc.). Assessing every known
scrap of information, it has been the most complete map yet
published.
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Countdown to Space War
(Paperback)
Bhupendra Jasani, Christopher Lee, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
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Only two years after Sputnik, weapons were created for attacking
spacecraft. These were based on land. But now there is talk of
weapons in space-instant-kill beams like lasers. President Reagan
has offered a vision of new inventions that could stop nuclear
missile attacks. But will they work? Can lasers make nuclear
weapons obsolete? Or would they merely be used to wage Stars Wars?
Originally published in 1984, this is mainly the story of the
military use of space. It shows how the new technology could
trigger nuclear world war. And it looks for a way out...
Originally published in 1987, The Logic of Nuclear Terror presented
a much-needed critical review of the premises, concepts, and policy
prescriptions of deterrence theories and doctrines at the time. In
particular, authors address: the historical validity, theoretical
vitality, and policy-relevance of nuclear deterrence theories and
doctrines; the ways in which technological and political change
have affected the original concepts of nuclear war and deterrence
strategies, and the ways in which such changes have affected policy
and doctrine; and realistic alternative ways of thinking about
strategy in the changing context of new military technologies and
international politics. The outstanding group of international
contributors to this volume include both proponents and critics of
current doctrine. The result is an unusually well-balanced and
unique contribution to our understanding of nuclear deterrence
theory and practice. As such, it will be of interest to students,
policymakers, and teachers of international relations, defense and
foreign policy, US-Soviet relations, and arms control and
disarmament.
The nuclear arms race had dominated international politics for the
two decades prior to publication. Originally published in 1975,
this symposium examines the dynamics of change within the arms race
and the attempts at controlling and limiting it. At the time the
nuclear arms race was strongly technologically determined, as
Herbert York demonstrates in discussing the impact of MIRV. Such
progress as has been made in nuclear disarmament has been far
outdistanced by the technological developments so that, as Jack
Ruina argues, SALT is only important when seen as part of a process
of negotiating arms limitations. The most significant result of
this technological advance has been the emergence of a
qualitatively new system of international politics which Hans
Morgenthau analyses. This system is essentially bipolar in nuclear
terms and the history of the disarmament negotiations, as reviewed
by William Epstein, is an exercise in freezing this structure. The
negotiations themselves, particularly SALT, and the prospects for
further progress are discussed extensively by Thomas Schelling,
Kosta Tsipis, George Rathjens and others. The book also surveys
developments in chemical and biological warfare and includes an
important paper on chemical warfare agents by the Soviet chemist,
O.A. Ruetov. The final section looks at recent developments in the
theory of conflict and its applications in the Middle East, South
Africa and a number of developing countries.
In the 1980s the world spent an enormous amount on preparations for
war. Year by year, more and more resources went into the military
sector. More and more complex weapon systems were devised. At the
time, of all research scientists and engineers in the world, more
than one in four was working for the military. Throughout the 40
years since the end of World War II, the technological arms race
continued. Then began moving faster. The United States lead the
way, followed by the Soviet Union. Between them, they possessed
some 50 000 nuclear warheads-more than enough to destroy the world.
They planned to increase the number, to make the weapons more
accurate, and to base them on new weapon platforms closer to the
borders of the other side. Some people preferred not to think about
these things. Many, however, were becoming increasingly
concerned-wondering about the future for themselves and for their
children. Originally published in 1985, this book was for those who
wanted to know what was happening. What new missiles were being
built? What was happening in outer space? What are the facts about
chemical weapons? What progress was being made (if any) in Geneva,
Vienna and Stockholm, where the powers were negotiating on these
matters?
In the late 1980s it was felt that World War III could start in the
Pacific. Long regarded by the USA as an American lake, the Pacific
was now a focus of competition between the superpowers. The USSR,
whose nuclear-arms navy was limited to their north Pacific ports,
now had a major new naval base at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. In
response to this new threat, the Americans were planning more
urgently for nuclear war in the Pacific, adding to their own mighty
arsenal in the region and taunting the Soviets with aggressive
surveillance and military exercises. The Soviets did the same. For
40 years, Pacific Islanders have had cause to resent the use of
their ocean as a nuclear playground: of the five nuclear powers,
three - the USA, USSR and China - launched missiles into the
Pacific for text purposes; two - the USA and Britain - exploded
nuclear devices there but had stopped; and one, France, continued
to test nuclear bombs in one of its colonies. Pacific Islanders now
have cause to fear that the ocean is becoming a nuclear
battleground. Originally published in 1987, this book tells the
story of the nuclear men in the Pacific and of those people they
'displaced' and irradiated. It is also about what these people and
their governments had begun to do in response. The nuclear issue
had transformed the political landscape of Micronesia and the South
Pacific in the 1980s, loosening the US grip and making the French
increasingly unpopular. The people of these remote communities,
largely forgotten or considered dispensable, had a nuclear past
made for them. Now they want to make their own future.
Moral and political questions are vitally relevant to the issue of
survival in the nuclear age. Ethics has much to teach us about the
meaning of national defence and civic responsibility in the nuclear
state. For instance, those in NATO who argue for increased spending
on such weapons do so with the intention of defending the values of
the West. They must therefore be absolutely sure that they are not
- as the contributors to this volume, originally published in 1984,
powerfully suggest - undermining or destroying those values by the
very means they adopt to preserve them. With the continued success
of nuclear deterrence itself in question, responsible citizens feel
an urgent need to assess the clash between personal doubts,
cherished principles and their governments' loudly voiced moral
certainties. In Objections to Nuclear Defence, professional
philosophers of widely varying persuasions provide new analyses of
these problems. They spell out clearly and vividly the moral and
political objections - objections to the concrete nuclear policies
of the Western governments today. Often impassioned but always
rational, the book will be of special interest to students of
international affairs, peace studies and applied philosophy as well
as to the general reader who is trying to choose between political
parties in Europe or North America.
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