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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Theory of warfare & military science
This book examines and explains the dialectic of war and peace between the outbreak of WWI and the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. The theoretical inspiration is built upon Galtung's concept of negative and positive peace, Arons distinction between strategy and diplomacy, and Carrs theory of periodization. Here, the author compares globalization with the interwar period and examines how the first decades positive peace, diplomacy, and big hopes were replaced by negative peace, and explains the growing role of military strategy which culminated after the Russian annexation of Crimea and the following military incidents between NATO and Russia. This volume will be of interest to teachers, students, and researchers in the fields of modern history, international security and peace studies.
Marked changes in the balance of power between states in the international system are generally seen by IR scholars as among the most common causes of war. This book explains why such power shifts lead to war breaking out in some cases, but not in others. In contrast to existing approaches, this book argues that the military strategy of declining states is the key determinant of whether power shifts result in war or pass peacefully. More specifically, Dong Sun Lee argues that the probability of war is primarily a function of whether a declining state possesses a 'manoeuvre strategy' or an 'attrition strategy'. The argument is developed through the investigation of fourteen power shifts among great powers over the past two centuries. Shifts in the balance of power and the attendant risks of war remain an enduring feature of international politics. This book argues that policymakers need to understand the factors influencing the risk of war as a result of these changes, in particular the contemporary shifts in power resulting from the rise of China and from the growth of nuclear proliferation.
Bringing together leading contributors in the field, this new volume analyzes how victory and defeat in modern war can be understood and explained. It does so by confronting two inter-related research problems: the nature of victory and defeat in modern war and the explanations of victory and defeat. By first questioning the extent to which the concepts of victory and defeat are meaningful to describe the outcomes of modern wars, and whether the contents of these concepts are changing, it then evaluates different theories purporting to explain the outcomes of war and the impact of variables, ranging from technology to culture. The book tackles several key questions: What is the definition of victory in the 'War on Terror'? What is the meaning of victory and defeat in contemporary insurgencies, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan? Are the counterstrategies that were developed in the mid-twentieth century valid in order to deal with present and future conflicts? With case studies ranging from the Malayan Emergency to the current conflict in Iraq, Understanding Victory and Defeat in Contemporary War will be of great interest to students of war and conflict studies, security studies, military history and international relations.
Where the implications of war and peace are open to question, the possibility of change depends more on politics than economics. This book asks whether the region's great powers can overcome opposing interests and commit to political restraint. The concept of regional security is based on great power support for regional order. However, there are many pitfalls to consider: notably, the politics of contested nationalisms; the Asia-Pacific rivalry of China and the US; and India's inclinations to function - or be seen - as a benevolent hegemon for the region. Yet there are signs of renewed determination to move the region in new directions. While China's Silk Road projects are long-term regional investments that hinge on regional stability, the US is attempting to fashion new partnerships and India strives to reconcile regional differences to promote a peaceful environment.This book, as it sets out the emerging agendas of the great powers and local powers, makes a significant contribution to a better understanding of the international relations and diplomatic politics of South Asia.
Enlightened War investigates the multiple and complex interactions between warfare and Enlightenment thought. Although the Enlightenment is traditionally identified with the ideals of progress, eternal peace, reason, and self-determination, Enlightenment discourse unfolded during a period of prolonged European warfare from the Seven Years' War to the Napoleonic conquest of Europe. The essays in this volume explore the palpable influence of war on eighteenth-century thought and argue for an ideological affinity among war, Enlightenment thought, and its legacy. The essays are interdisciplinary, engaging with history, art history, philosophy, military theory, gender studies, and literature and with historical events and cultural contexts from the early Enlightenment through German Classicism and Romanticism. The volume enriches our understanding of warfare in the eighteenth century and shows how theories and practices of war impacted concepts of subjectivity, national identity, gender, and art. It also sheds light on the contemporary discussion of the legitimacy of violence by juxtaposing theories of war, concepts of revolution, and human rights discourses. Contributors: Johannes Birgfeld, David Colclasure, Sara Eigen Figal, Ute Frevert, Wolf Kittler, Elisabeth Krimmer, Waltraud Maierhofer, Arndt Niebisch, Felix Saure, Galili Shahar, Patricia Anne Simpson, Inge Stephan. Elisabeth Krimmer is Professor of German at the University of California, Davis, and Patricia Anne Simpson is Associate Professor of German Studies at Montana State University.
'Foucault must be reckoned with by humanists, social scientists, and political activists' The New York Times Book Review Society Must Be Defended is Michel Foucault's devastating critique of the systems of power and control inherent in civilization. Taken from a series of lectures given by Foucault at the College de France in 1975-76, it reveals how war is the foundation of all power relations, and politics ultimately a continuation of battlefield violence. He offers a politically charged re-reading of history, with examples ranging from the Trojan myth to Nazi Germany, to show a continual, 'silent war' between the powerful and the powerless. 'A timely and prescient book, mainly because of what it says about the way in which war is necessary as a means of control' New Statesman Translated by David Macey
When is it permissible to move an issue out of normal politics and treat it as a security issue? How should the security measures be conducted? When and how should the securitization be reversed? Floyd offers answers to these questions by combining security studies' influential securitization theory with philosophy's long-standing just war tradition, creating a major new approach to the ethics of security: 'Just Securitization Theory'. Of interest to anyone concerned with ethics and security, Floyd's innovative approach enables scholars to normatively evaluate past and present securitizations, equips practitioners to make informed judgements on what they ought to do in relevant situations, and empowers the public to hold relevant actors accountable for how they view security.
The essays selected for this volume provide an overview of the range of issues confronting scholars interested in the complex and multiple relationships between war and criminality, and map the many connections between war, security, governmentality, punishment, gender and crime. The collection draws on the recent theoretical advances made by both criminologists and scholars from cognate disciplines such as law, politics, anthropology and gender studies, in order to open out criminological thinking about what war is, how it is related to crime and how these war/crime relationships reach into peace. The volume features contributions from key thinkers in the field and serves as a valuable resource for academics and students with an interest in the criminology of war.The essays selected for this volume provide an overview of the range of issues confronting scholars interested in the complex and multiple relationships between war and criminality, and map the many connections between war, security, governmentality, punishment, gender and crime. The collection draws on the recent theoretical advances made by both criminologists and scholars from cognate disciplines such as law, politics, anthropology and gender studies, in order to open out criminological thinking about what war is, how it is related to crime and how these war/crime relationships reach into peace. The volume features contributions from key thinkers in the field and serves as a valuable resource for academics and students with an interest in the criminology of war.
The technological relationship between the three main civilizations of the Western world - Byzantium, the Islamic world and the West - most particularly in the area of arms, armour and military technology is a field of research for which Dr Nicolle is noted. This volume deals principally with Western Europe and Byzantium, which for many centuries learnt from the Muslims in these matters; several articles also focus on military interactions in the Crusader states. The work draws upon both written and archaeological sources, but above all makes use of the depictions of war and military equipment in contemporary art to examine the interconnections across the medieval world.
These articles are devoted to the two main aspects of medieval warfare: men and technology. Men fought, led, and ultimately killed in war, while the technology that they used facilitated these tasks. The first group of essays highlights human strengths in the fighting of medieval wars, with a focus on events of the 14th and 15th centuries, specifically the Anglo-French wars and wars against the Turks. A second group addresses the technological side of warfare, in particular the advent and proliferation of early gunpowder weapons which evolved rapidly during the late Middle Ages, although never replacing the role of men. The articles study various facets of this evolution, from the increased use and effectiveness of guns in battles, sieges, and naval warfare, to changes in their science and metallurgy, surgical treatment of wounds caused by them, and governmental centralization of the technology.
This important new book deals with the changing nature of war in
the post-Cold War era and the emergence of new forms of warfare in
which warlords, mercenaries and terrorists play an increasingly
important role.
In the modern era, warfare came to play a crucial role in the
formation of states, whereas the new wars emerging at the beginning
of the 21st century have mostly gone together with the failure or
collapse of states. The author draws out the key shifts involved in
this process: from symmetrical conflicts between states to
asymmetrical global relationships of force; from national armies to
increasingly private or commercial bands of warlords, child
soldiers and mercenaries; from pitched battles to protracted
conflicts in which there is often little fighting and most of the
violence is directed against civilians. Changes in weapons
technology have combined with complex economic factors to make the
prospect of endlessly simmering wars a real danger in the years to
come.
Against this background, the author outlines the rise of a novel
form of international terrorism, conceived more as a political
method of communication than as an element in a military strategy.
The resulting challenges faced by Western governments, and the
costs and benefits associated with any response, are taken up in a
concluding section that contrasts the characteristic European and
American approaches and examines the implications for the future of
international law. This book will be of important to students of political science, international relations, war and peace studies, conflict studies and peace studies. It will also appeal to the general reader with an interest inthis topical subject.
Though scholars of political science and moral philosophy have long analyzed the justifications for and against waging war as well as the ethics of warfare itself, the problem of "ending" wars has received less attention. In the first book to apply just war theory to this phase of conflict, Eric Patterson presents a three-part view of justice in end-of-war settings involving order, justice, and reconciliation. Patterson's case studies range from successful applications of "jus post bellum, " such as the U.S. Civil War or Kosovo, to challenges such as present-day Iraq.
This book examines emerging defense technologies such as directed energy weapons, nanotech devices, and bioscience applications that have the potential to dominate international relations in the future, just as nuclear weapons and space infrastructure-assisted conventional weapons do now. Emerging Military Technologies: A Guide to the Issues examines the potential of the United States to bring new technologies to deployment in the service of America's security and defense. The work also discusses how other international actors may regard the United States' investment in these high-tech capabilities, identifying possible resultant counter actions, and presents several divergent viewpoints on what the future may bring. The book thoroughly explores three general categories of emerging technologies: autonomous computers, nanotechnology and biotechnology, and the interrelated topics of directed energy weapons and ubiquitous space access. Security studies expert Wilson W.S. Wong balances coverage of today's cutting-edge science and engineering with treatment of real-world concerns of effectiveness, military ethics, and international relations in the 21st century. An invaluable resource for members of the military and intelligence communities, this book also provides general readers with an accessible introduction to these highly technical topics.
Gartner and Segura consider the costs of war - both human and political - by examining the consequences of foreign combat, on domestic politics. The personal costs of war - the military war dead and injured - are the most salient measure of war costs generally and the primary instrument through which war affects domestic politics. The authors posit a general framework for understanding war initiation, war policy and war termination in democratic polities, and the role that citizens and their deaths through conflict play in those policy choices. Employing a variety of empirical methods, they examine multiple wars from the last 100 years, conducting analyses of tens of thousands of individuals across a wide variety of historical and hypothetical conditions, whilst also addressing policy implications. This study will be of interest to students and scholars in American foreign policy, international politics, public opinion, national security, American politics, communication studies, and military history.
Bringing together distinguished Classicists, Koreanists, and Americanists, this book examines the cultural and political/institutional dimensions of war's impact on society by comparing the effects of prolonged war on ancient Athens during the war with Sparta, and on the United States and the two Koreas, North and South, during the Korean War. Despite the very circumstances of the two conflicts and the radically different way each was viewed in its own time, the contributors point to many underlying similarities between the two wars and put each in a fascinating and unique perspective.
Gartner and Segura consider the costs of war - both human and political - by examining the consequences of foreign combat, on domestic politics. The personal costs of war - the military war dead and injured - are the most salient measure of war costs generally and the primary instrument through which war affects domestic politics. The authors posit a general framework for understanding war initiation, war policy and war termination in democratic polities, and the role that citizens and their deaths through conflict play in those policy choices. Employing a variety of empirical methods, they examine multiple wars from the last 100 years, conducting analyses of tens of thousands of individuals across a wide variety of historical and hypothetical conditions, whilst also addressing policy implications. This study will be of interest to students and scholars in American foreign policy, international politics, public opinion, national security, American politics, communication studies, and military history.
Between 1940 and 1944, although large numbers of British troops
battled around the littorals of the Mediterranean and Burma, most
of the British Army bided its time at home. Between Dunkirk and
D-Day, those troops lived in a grey area, neither fully at peace
nor properly at war. While they trained under virtually peacetime
conditions, their colleagues overseas were gaining up-to-date
battle experience. The lessons from that experience should have
made the troops who crossed the Channel in summer 1944 the most
thoroughly prepared soldiers ever to go into their first battle.
Sadly, the results in Normandy confounded any such expectations, as
in battle after battle the combat effectiveness of British troops,
particularly infantry and armour, proved weak.
"Stephen Biddle's "Military Power" is one of the most important contributions to strategic studies in recent decades. Presenting a very powerful case for a very surprising argument on a very important question, it will be controversial in some quarters, but critics will be hard-pressed to refute the case."--Richard K. Betts, Columbia University, author of "Military Readiness" "Fascinating, precisely written, indeed, brilliant, "Military Power" is among the most important books ever published on modern warfare. Stephen Biddle fundamentally rethinks the causes of victory and defeat in modern war and challenges almost the entire corpus of scholarship on assessing force capability and the role of offense and defense in determining war outcomes. Presenting his argument with power, balance, and subtlety, he synthesizes many partial historical explanations and provides a basis for understanding why so many 'rules of thumb' and other explanations are misleading. A landmark work."--Lynn Eden, Stanford University, author of "Whole World on Fire" "Steve Biddle may be the best American defense analyst of his generation, and this book is quite possibly his career masterpiece to date. Few are as well qualified as Biddle to weave together vivid descriptions of the modern battlefield, clear explanations of historical lessons, a detailed understanding of defense technology, and a sophisticated use of military models and war games. Biddle does all these things, helping the reader understand modern warfare more than does any other book on the market. His argument about trends in warfare transcends the popular theory that a revolution in military affairs is now underway. He replaces this theory witha more convincing, more historical, and less technology-obsessed view of the modern battlefield."--Michael O'Hanlon, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
For as long as there have been wars there have been fears about the next war. Where are the new dangers? What is the best defence? How might peace come about? This is the history of how over the last 150 years we have tried - rightly and wrongly - to predict war's future. 'Britain's leading academic strategist ... read this book' Economist 'Insightful and opinionated ... expertly covers centuries of evolving mayhem' Gary J. Bass, The New York Times 'A bonfire of predictions ... Freedman's purpose in this wise book is to discern patterns in the way we have thought about war's future' Shashank Joshi, Financial Times 'It reflects the author's immense knowledge and wisdom. It should feed our humility, because it reminds us of mankind's unlimited capacity for folly' Max Hastings, The Times
A century ago Frederick Lanchester formulated a mathematical model of combat which suggested that the combat power of a military force was proportional to the product of the individual effectiveness of the units in the force and the square of the number of units deployed. This model reinforced a long-established faith in the importance of superior numbers. However, successive historical studies failed to identify any clear relationship between the numbers and losses in opposing forces. This Element analyses American Civil War battles, and shows that the ratio of losses incurred was inversely proportional to the ratio of numbers effectively engaged. This result demonstrates that the numbers of fighting units in a military force are less important than the ability of those units to get into action and inflict losses on the enemy. This result demonstrates the limitations of the Square Law, and should prevent it from being applied indiscriminately.
Antulio J. Echevarria II reveals how successive generations of American strategic theorists have thought about war. Analyzing the work of Alfred Thayer Mahan, Billy Mitchell, Bernard Brodie, Robert Osgood, Thomas Schelling, Herman Kahn, Henry Eccles, Joseph Wiley, Harry Summers, John Boyd, William Lind, and John Warden, he uncovers the logic that underpinned each theorist's critical concepts, core principles, and basic assumptions about the nature and character of war. In so doing, he identifies four paradigms of war's nature - traditional, modern, political, and materialist - that have shaped American strategic thought. If war's logic is political, as Carl von Clausewitz said, then so too is thinking about war.
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.
Still in the early stages of development, conflict theory presents a growing interest in understanding the economic costs and benefits of conflicts. In this book, Mehrdad Vahabi analyses one type of conflict in particular: manhunting, or predation, in which a dominant power hunts down its prey and the goal of the prey is to escape and thus survive. This contrasts with traditional warfare, in which two (or more) powers enter into a conflict and the goal is to fight to win domination. The economics of escape casts light on costs and benefits of predatory activities, and explores the impact of violence as an impediment to developing countries with respect to assets structure. This book is unprecedented in its research and thought, and develops a new theory of predation in economics that makes a significant contribution to the field.
On today's complex, fragmented, fast-moving battlefield, where
combatants adapt constantly to exploit one-another's weaknesses,
there is a demonstrable requirement for military commanders to
devolve a high level of autonomy of decision-making and action to
leaders on the ground. An effective model for doing this has
existed for some time in the form of "mission command" and has been
utilized by the U.S., Israeli, and British Armies--but with mixed
success. |
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