In the seminal Just and Unjust Wars, Michael Walzer famously considered the ethics of modern warfare, examining the moral issues that arise before, during, and after conflict. However, Walzer and subsequent scholars have often limited their analyses of the ethics of combat to soldiers on the ground and failed to recognize the moral responsibilities of senior political and military leaders. In Just War Reconsidered: Strategy, Ethics, and Theory, James M. Dubik draws on years of research as well as his own experiences as a soldier and teacher to fill the gaps left by other theorists. He applies moral philosophy, political philosophy, and strategic studies to historical and contemporary case studies to reveal the inaccuracies and moral bankruptcy that inform some of the literature on military ethics. Conventional just war theory adopts a binary approach, wherein political leaders have moral accountability for the decision to go to war and soldiers have accountability for fighting the war ethically. Dubik argues, however, that political and military leadership should be held accountable for the planning and execution of war in addition to the decision to initiate conflict. Dubik bases his sober reassessment on the fundamental truth that war risks the lives of soldiers and innocents as well as the political and social health of communities. He offers new standards to evaluate the ethics of warfare in the hope of increasing the probability that the lives of soldiers will not be used in vain and the innocent not put at risk unnecessarily.

Since ancient times, poets, historians, and philosophers have contemplated warlords' exploits in battle and praised their ability to lead armies toward victory as the "art of the general." Today, this quality is designated military strategy. Military strategy plays a vital role in every conflict, because, as the United States' involvement in the Vietnam conflict showed, when the overarching strategy is weak it is possible to win every battle but still lose a war. Taking inspiration from the greatest military theoreticians of history, such as Sun Tzu, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Carl von Clausewitz, this Very Short Introduction highlights the dynamic relationship between the principal components of strategy: purpose, method, and means. Drawing on paradigmatic examples, from Hannibal's war against Rome to Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, from the Allies' campaign to overwhelm Hitler's fortress to the terror attacks of September 11, Antulio J. Echevarria II vividly illustrates the factors contributing to the success or failure of military strategy. Echevarria describes the major types of military strategy and their advantages and disadvantages: annihilation and dislocation; attrition and exhaustion; deterrence and coercion; terror and terrorism; targeted killing; and cyber power. He also explores the emerging nano- and bio-genetic technologies and explains how they are affecting today's military strategy. Clear and engaging, this book shows that military strategy is essential for understanding major events of the past and becomes even more critical today, in a world increasingly threatened by weapons of mass destruction, terrorist attacks, and new dimensions of conflict, such as cyberwar and space.

It is axiomatic that in a democracy, the nation's Armed Forces are subordinate to its elected Government. But a Nation's Armed Forces are 'Forces' that exude and represent national power and areno ordinary subordinate agencies. Besides, they are unique organizations with long and proud traditions. Control of the armed Forces is hence an arduously complex and delicate function requiring comprehensive and more importantly, a mature understanding of the Forces; ethos and internal mechanisms of operation. No universally accepted templates exist for how this control must be exercised and each nation evolves a model best suited to its own polity, geography and geo-strategic environment. A cardinal dimension underlying the entire control regime remains the capacity of its economy to allocate fiscal resources towards ensuring its security. The primary structures of control of India's Armed Forces evolved under the British Rule. The course of evolution of these structures from the days of the East India Company and the Raj, their adaptation to conform to the requirements of a democracy, post-independence developments and the course this process needs to take to meet future requirements are some of the fascinating aspects of an absorbing subject this book attempts to explore.

Three-quarters of a century after the Second World War, almost all the participants are gone. This book contains interviews with and about the Canadian generals who led the troops during that war. Edited and introduced by one of the foremost military historians of our time, this carefully curated collection brings to life the generals and their wartime experiences. The content is revealing and conversations frank. Peers and subordinates alike scrutinize key commanders of the war, sometimes offering praise but often passing harsh judgment. We learn of their failings and successes - and of the heavy weight of command borne by all.

China is building a modern and regionally powerful military with a modest but growing capability for conducting operations away from China's immediate periphery. The question of how the United States should respond to China's military modernisation effort is a central issue in U.S. defense planning and foreign policy. Congress' decisions on this issue could affect U.S. defense strategy, budgets, plans, and programs, and the U.S. defense industrial base. This book provides a brief overview of the Chinese military. It provides background information and issues for Congress on China's naval modernisation effort and its implications for U.S. Navy capabilities.

The end of cold war and the on-going globalization process along with the proliferation of non-traditional threat to security of the nations led to multilateralism in international relations. Though the great powers are not ready to accept the new developments, the post-cold war events such as threat from non-state actors to the security of nation, the global economic slowdown, and global climate change compelled even the most militarily powerful nation to seek multilateral approach to address these trans-border menaces. The global movements towards democratization and protection and promotion of human rights supported by ICT once again brought individuals rights and security into focal point. It appears that even if nations are secure people living there may not be secure. The civil wars taken place in some nation states to protect the rights of multi-ethnic groups or the demand for right to self-determinations of people are examples of such a situation. In this context security means people's security and international efforts are required to ensure people's security from any threat emanates from within or outside the nation states. Thus human security assumes great significance in the post-cold war era of profoundly interdependent global system. There is a blurred boundary between national security and international security on the one hand and the national security and human security on the other hand. The initiative taken by the new government at the federal level towards good neighbourhood and better relation with great powers along with focusing more on human security issues appears to be policy in the right direction. Again the shift from a land centric security paradigm to maritime security and coastal security are also visible in recent times. The book deals with the changing dimensions of security at the theoretical level and a wide spectrum of security issues that India is confronted with and also certain policy options. In the theoretical section the strategic doctrine of India is well reviewed and policy options are also explored. It covers areas such as biological perspective of security, human security perspective, energy security and maritime security. In addition it also examines some of the bilateral security issues and concerns with neighbouring countries.

Military veterans have had the most intensive leadership training, mentoring, and experience available anywhere. Many return to their communities seeking to apply what they learned. What they are likely to find among those in public administration is not a welcome embrace for military training and experience. Instead veterans are more likely to encounter a misimpression that it is not of much use, which is becoming more widespread in society as fewer among those in power have served in the military or are close to anyone who did. But contrary to the popular misimpression, military leadership principles and methods are not just about using authority and giving orders. They are based on interpersonal dynamics learned from experience and reflection. Unsurprisingly effective leadership in civil emergencies - as shown on 9/11 and during Hurricane Katrina - depends on the same kind of demeanor, decisiveness, and trustworthiness as in combat. But good leadership is fundamentally the same in day-to-day challenges as well. There are, in fact, military leadership principles and methods that will be effective whenever adapted to the circumstances. Being mindful of them can better equip anyone for public service.

Nearly 45 countries are at different stages of developing robotic weapons or lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS). The United States, for example, has recently test launched its robotic vessel Sea Hunter, a self-driving, 132-foot ship designed to travel thousands of miles without a single crew member on board. As reported, the vessel has the capability to detect and destroy stealth diesel-electric submarines and sea mines. However, though the militaries of the developed countries are in a race to develop LAWS to perform varied functions on the battlefield, a large section of robotic engineers, ethical analysts, and legal experts are of the firm belief that robotic weapons will never meet the standards of distinction and proportionality required by the laws of war, and therefore will be illegal. This book provides an insight into lethal autonomous weapon systems and debates whether it would be morally correct to give machines the power to decide who lives and who dies on the battlefield.

The central task of all statebuilding is to create a state that is regarded as legitimate by the people over whom it exercises authority. This is a necessary condition for stable, effective governance. States sufficiently motivated to bear the costs of building a state in some distant land are likely to have interests in the future policies of that country, and will therefore seek to promote loyal leaders who are sympathetic to their interests and willing to implement their preferred policies. In The Statebuilder's Dilemma, David A. Lake addresses the key tradeoff between legitimacy and loyalty common to all international statebuilding attempts. Except in rare cases where the policy preferences of the statebuilder and the population of the country whose state is to be built coincide, as in the famous success cases of West Germany and Japan after 1945, promoting a leader who will remain loyal to the statebuilder undermines that leader's legitimacy at home.In Iraq, thrust into a statebuilding role it neither anticipated nor wanted, the United States eventually backed Nouri al-Malaki as the most favorable of a bad lot of alternative leaders. Malaki then used the support of the Bush administration to govern as a Shiite partisan, undermining the statebuilding effort and ultimately leading to the second failure of the Iraqi state in 2014. Ethiopia faced the same tradeoff in Somalia after the rise of a promising but irredentist government in 2006, invading to put its own puppet in power in Mogadishu. But the resulting government has not been able to build significant local support and legitimacy. Lake uses these cases to demonstrate that the greater the interests of the statebuilder in the target country, the more difficult it is to build a legitimate state that can survive on its own.

The central task of all statebuilding is to create a state that is regarded as legitimate by the people over whom it exercises authority. This is a necessary condition for stable, effective governance. States sufficiently motivated to bear the costs of building a state in some distant land are likely to have interests in the future policies of that country, and will therefore seek to promote loyal leaders who are sympathetic to their interests and willing to implement their preferred policies. In The Statebuilder’s Dilemma, David A. Lake addresses the key tradeoff between legitimacy and loyalty common to all international statebuilding attempts. Except in rare cases where the policy preferences of the statebuilder and the population of the country whose state is to be built coincide, as in the famous success cases of West Germany and Japan after 1945, promoting a leader who will remain loyal to the statebuilder undermines that leader’s legitimacy at home. In Iraq, thrust into a statebuilding role it neither anticipated nor wanted, the United States eventually backed Nouri al-Malaki as the most favorable of a bad lot of alternative leaders. Malaki then used the support of the Bush administration to govern as a Shiite partisan, undermining the statebuilding effort and ultimately leading to the second failure of the Iraqi state in 2014. Ethiopia faced the same tradeoff in Somalia after the rise of a promising but irredentist government in 2006, invading to put its own puppet in power in Mogadishu. But the resulting government has not been able to build significant local support and legitimacy. Lake uses these cases to demonstrate that the greater the interests of the statebuilder in the target country, the more difficult it is to build a legitimate state that can survive on its own.

China is modernizing her military very rapidly and as her economy strengthens, the pace of military modernization is going to touch higher trajectories. This modernization would impact and alter the existing strategic environment in the world. In the region the impact will be more profound and will force her neighbors to rework their own military modernization programs, war fighting doctrines and their present position on relations with China and other regional powers and the US. Today, in addition to issues relating to human resource development, the biggest impediment is the availability of technology to develop new modern weapon systems and equipment. Will the drivers and trends of Chinese military modernization continue to be same or will there be changes? How will the modernization impact the PLA behavior, especially in its neighborhood? How will the neighbors react to this stupendous pace of militarization in the East Asia? What will be the role of Japan, Vietnam, India, Russia and US? How will china's restive periphery and PLA respond to the spread of Islamic fundamentalism? To correctly appreciate these changes, an in-depth understanding of Chinese military modernization is essential. This book is an effort in this direction and attempts to find some answers to the questions posed. The trends of modernization of the four services of the PLA have been analyzed and a capability suggested that the PLA is likely to have by 2025.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) continues to pursue a long-term, comprehensive military modernisation program designed to improve its armed forces' capacity to fight short-duration, high-intensity regional conflicts. China's military modernisation has the potential to reduce core U.S. military technological advantages. China is investing in capabilities designed to defeat adversary power projection and counter third-party -- including U.S. -- intervention during a crisis or conflict. This book examines the military and security developments involving the PRC. Moreover, it provides and discusses the highlights from China's new defense white paper, "China's Military Strategy".

Reflections on War is a comprehensive and objective investigation into the problems of war. The book explores the crucial link between theory, strategy and objectives in war, taking all the evidence and theory into account, and should be of interest to military practitioners, specialists in defence studies, and others interested in military history. Also notable about the work is its ability to draw insights together from international legal theory, management sciences, history, sociology and the political economy of war – showing due respect for the moral complexities involved in waging war.

While faith in the Enlightenment was waning elsewhere by 1850, at the United States Military Academy at West Point and in the minds of academy graduates serving throughout the country Enlightenment thinking persisted, asserting that war was governable by a grand theory accessible through the study of military science. Officers of the regular army and instructors at the military academy and their political superiors all believed strongly in the possibility of acquiring a perfect knowledge of war through the proper curriculum. A Scientific Way of War analyzes how the doctrine of military science evolved from teaching specific Napoleonic applications to embracing subjects that were useful for war in North America. Drawing from a wide array of materials, Ian C. Hope refutes earlier charges of a lack of professionalization in the antebellum American army and an overreliance on the teachings of Swiss military theorist Antoine de Jomini. Instead, Hope shows that inculcation in West Point's American military curriculum eventually came to provide the army with an officer corps that shared a common doctrine and common skill in military problem solving. The proliferation of military science ensured that on the eve of the Civil War there existed a distinctly American, and scientific, way of war.

This book analyzes the establishment of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea in November 2013 by the People's Republic of China (PRC, or China), international responses to that action, its consequences, and related matters of national interest and strategy. The book examines the legal, military, and diplomatic aspects of China's ADIZ, with a focus on U.S. interests and issues of concern to Congress. It also discusses questions that have risen concerning the U.S. relationship with the Senkaku islets in the East China Sea; and the territorial claims in East Asia that underlie the growing tensions, U.S. interests that are at stake, factors that may be driving the growing tensions, and possible options for Congress to consider.

In The Dictator's Army, Caitlin Talmadge presents a compelling new argument to help us understand why authoritarian militaries sometimes fight very well-and sometimes very poorly. Talmadge's framework for understanding battlefield effectiveness focuses on four key sets of military organizational practices: promotion patterns, training regimens, command arrangements, and information management. Different regimes face different domestic and international threat environments, leading their militaries to adopt different policies in these key areas of organizational behavior.Authoritarian regimes facing significant coup threats are likely to adopt practices that squander the state's military power, while regimes lacking such threats and possessing ambitious foreign policy goals are likely to adopt the effective practices often associated with democracies. Talmadge shows the importance of threat conditions and military organizational practices for battlefield performance in two paired comparisons of states at war: North and South Vietnam (1963-1975) and Iran and Iraq (1980-1988). Drawing on extensive documentary sources, her analysis demonstrates that threats and practices can vary not only between authoritarian regimes but also within them, either over time or across different military units. The result is a persuasive explanation of otherwise puzzling behavior by authoritarian militaries. The Dictator's Army offers a vital practical tool for those seeking to assess the likely course, costs, and outcomes of future conflicts involving nondemocratic adversaries, allies, or coalition partners.

The books title has an apparent misnomer-boots were not used in early armies, at least as apparent from temple sculptures which depict bare-bodied and barefooted soldiers. But is it likely to have been true? Or social reasons led to suppression of footgear on temple walls? The book explores these and myriad other questions on the military experience of South Asia, hoping to construct a picture of how men, animals, and equipment were used on South Asian battlefields from the end of the Paleolithic till the dawn of our era. Further, as all that happens on battlefields is no more than the tip of the proverbial iceberg whose submarine mass conceals many cause-effect relationships in a wide variety of fields, the author, adopting a wide fronted approach, examines the evidence of anthropology, literature, mythology, folklore, technology, archaeology, and architecture, to reconstructs the military atmosphere of South Asia beyond the battlefield, which is the aim of this book.

With enactment of the FY2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act on January 1, 2014, Congress has approved appropriations for the past 13 years of war that total $1.6 trillion for military operations, base support, weapons maintenance, training of Afghan and Iraq security forces, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans health care for the war operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks. This book discusses the cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other global war of terror operations since 9/11 in detail, and provides information on the FY2015 funding to counter Ebola and the Islamic State (IS).

This is the book on war that Napoleon never had the time or the will to complete. In exile on the island of Saint-Helena, the deposed Emperor of the French mused about a great treatise on the art of war, but in the end changed his mind and ordered the destruction of the materials he had collected for the volume. Thus was lost what would have been one of the most interesting and important books on the art of war ever written, by one of the most famous and successful military leaders of all time. In the two centuries since, several attempts have been made to gather together some of Napoleon's 'military maxims', with varying degrees of success. But not until now has there been a systematic attempt to put Napoleon's thinking on war and strategy into a single authoritative volume, reflecting both the full spectrum of his thinking on these matters as well as the almost unparalleled range of his military experience, from heavy cavalry charges in the plains of Russia or Saxony to counter-insurgency operations in Egypt or Spain. To gather the material for this book, military historian Bruno Colson spent years researching Napoleon's correspondence and other writings, including a painstaking examination of perhaps the single most interesting source for his thinking about war: the copy-book of General Bertrand, the Emperor's most trusted companion on Saint-Helena, in which he unearthed a Napoleonic definition of strategy which is published here for the first time. The huge amount of material brought together for this ground-breaking volume has been carefully organized to follow the framework of Carl von Clausewitz's classic On War, allowing a fascinating comparison between Napoleon's ideas and those of his great Prussian interpreter and adversary, and highlighting the intriguing similarities between these two founders of modern strategic thinking.

About the Allies' victory in the Pacific in WWII, it goes almost without question that Japan's defeat was inevitable in the face of overwhelming American military might and economic power. But the outcome, Michael W. Myers contends, was actually anything but inevitable. This book is Myers's thorough and deeply informed explanation of how contingent the "foregone conclusion" of the war in the Pacific really was. However disproportionate their respective resources, both Japan and the Allied forces confronted significant obstacles to ultimate victory. One the two sides shared, Myers shows, was the lack of a single individual with the knowledge, vision, and authority to formulate and implement effective strategy. Both exercised leadership by committee, and Myers cogently explains how this contributed to the contingent nature of the conflict. A remarkable exercise in logical methods of strategic thinking, his book analyzes decisive campaigns in the Pacific War, examining the economic and strategic challenges that both sides faced and had to overcome to achieve victory. Japan, for instance, had two goals going into the war: to expand the boundaries of what they termed the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" and to end their long and frustrating war in China. These goals, as Myers shows us, had unforeseen and devastating logistical and strategic consequences. But the United States faced similar problems-as well as other hurdles specific to a nation not yet on full war footing. Overturning conventional historiography, The Pacific War and Contingent Victory clarifies the proper relationship between freedom and determinism in historical thinking. A compelling retelling of the Pacific war that might easily have been, the book offers historical lessons in thinking about contemporary American foreign policy and American exceptionalism-most saliently about the dangers of the presumption of American ascendancy.

This book focuses on the relevance of space as a new domain towards enhancing war fighting capabilities. The Cold War saw rapid development of space technologies, which in turn spurred the growth of satellites. Slowly the traditional military capabilities for C4ISR were transferred to the space, the 'Ultimate High Ground.' The use of navigation and communication satellites in direct support to the US war efforts was visible during Gulf War I, which is aptly referred as "First Space War." The book delves at length about the Chinese Space Programme and their military exploits. Apart from militarization, the Chinese went ahead with weaponization of space, in order to gain asymmetric advantages over the much stronger and technologically advance US capabilities. The existing and futuristic military exploits of space assets by India has also been discussed in this book. A case for an "Indian Space Security Architecture" has been proposed, which shall secure the Indian space assets and provide comprehensive National Security. This book also highlights the necessity and urgency of Indian ASAT, as a strategic deterrence, to counter the threat to our space assets from the Chinese ASATs.

War describes a situation of armed conflict between two or more parties. There are several ways in which we can classify wars. The major division in the academic literature is between interstate wars and civil wars. The former is fought out between two or more states; the latter between groups belonging to the same state. There exists a vast literature, a large part of it quantitative, on both types of conflict. The majority of wars are civil wars. This book introduces the reader to the concept of war, and also to the different schools of thought as well as to the research methods pertaining to this area of research. It is an edited book containing articles written by several causes of war researchers. War is an important subject of study. The nature of war has changed over time, leaving the civilian population increasingly vulnerable. It has negative impacts beyond the direct casualties and the damaged infrastructure and economy in the countries in question. This book is intended to reach a wide audience, ranging from Bachelor and Master students in the social sciences, as well as to researchers and others with an interest for the subject. The aim of this work is both to give an outline of the literature, as well as providing examples of different schools of thought within the causes of war' literature. It gives the reader a comprehensive account of the research on causes of war', ranging from the old classics, like e.g., Clausewitz and Sun Tzu, to up-to-date research. The contributors in this book are chosen to represent a variety of perspectives on the causes of conflict.

China is modernizing her military very rapidly and as her economy strengthens, the pace of military modernization is going to touch higher trajectories. This modernization would impact and alter the existing strategic environment in the world. In the region the impact will be more profound and will force her neighbors to rework their own military modernization programs, war fighting doctrines and their present position on relations with China and other regional powers and the US. Today, in addition to issues relating to human resource development, the biggest impediment is the availability of technology to develop new modern weapon systems and equipment. Will the drivers and trends of Chinese military modernization continue to be same or will there be changes? How will the modernization impact the PLA behavior, especially in its neighborhood? How will the neighbors react to this stupendous pace of militarization in the East Asia? What will be the role of Japan, Vietnam, India, Russia and US? How will china's restive periphery and PLA respond to the spread of Islamic fundamentalism? To correctly appreciate these changes, an in-depth understanding of Chinese military modernization is essential. This book is an effort in this direction and attempts to find some answers to the questions posed. The trends of modernization of the four services of the PLA have been analyzed and a capability suggested that the PLA is likely to have by 2025.

The text for The New Soldier deals with the causes, symptoms and solutions to global terrorism, particularly Jihadist Islamic-based terrorism. The book is an expanded version of the essay "A Fearful Symmetry: A New Global Balance of Power?" for which the author was awarded the 2007 Grand Prize by the St Cyr Foundation, which supports the St. Cyr military academy established by Napoleon Bonapartein effect, France's West Point. The work was unanimously awarded the First (Grand) Prize by a jury of four distinguished panelists, and later translated and published in French under the title, "Une Symetrie de la Peur : Vers un Nouvel Equilibre Mondial Des Puissances?" (Paul Wormser, trans.)(CLD Editions, November 2008). The New Soldier is, in essence, a traditional soldier but one who is endowed with compassion, empathy and cultural understanding. This soldier is better able to navigate through the unknown terrain of ideological, emotional and psychological conflicts within the realm of global terrorism. The New Soldier is a strategic tool in combating global terrorism, and may be immediately deployed in multilateral forces. The practical uses of the New Soldier in the context of fragile states, particularly in terms of stabilizing and reconstructing war-torn or collapsed states by multilateral forces is analyzed in great depth in the book.

The text for the NEW SOLDIER deals with the causes, symptoms and solutions to global terrorism, particularly Jihadist Islamic-based terrorism. The book is an expanded version of the essay "A Fearful Symmetry: A New Global Balance of Power?" for which the author was awarded the 2007 Grand Prize by the St Cyr Foundation, which supports the St. Cyr military academy established by Napoleon Bonaparte - in effect, France's West Point. The work was unanimously awarded the First (Grand) Prize by a jury of four distinguished panelists, and later translated and published in French under the title, "Une Symetrie de la Peur : Vers un Nouvel Equilibre Mondial Des Puissances ? " (Paul Wormser, trans.)(CLD Editions, November 2008). The New Soldier is, in essence, a traditional soldier but one who is endowed with compassion, empathy and cultural understanding. This soldier is better able to navigate through the unknown terrain of ideological, emotional and psychological conflicts within the realm of global terrorism. The New Soldier is a strategic tool in combating global terrorism, and may be immediately deployed in multilateral forces. The practical uses of the New Soldier in the context of fragile states, particularly in terms of stabilizing and reconstructing war-torn or collapsed states by multilateral forces is analyzed in great depth in the book.