From the earliest human records, warfare has been both an
organizing focus and a prime source of political motivation.
Countless battles have been fought in the course of colonizing the
planet, and the experience has created a legacy of military
confrontation that many people consider immutable. Since
preparations for war and the occasional conduct of it have been
central preoccupations for virtually all the major states
throughout time, it is widely assumed that the pattern is rooted in
human nature and will endure indefinitely. But contemporary
civilization is undergoing a monumental transformation affecting
its most basic features. The combined effects of information
technology, population dynamics, and the globalization of economic
activity are altering some of the critical operating conditions of
human societies and appear to be inducing a new pattern of
interaction. Correspondingly, fundamental changes in the practice
of war-or what is now more politely called international
security-can be expected to follow. Principles of Global Security
anticipates the major implications of this massive transformation
for security policy. John D. Steinbruner, one of the nation's
leading specialists on defense issues, identifies formative
problems and organizing principles relating to the predictable
issues of security. He examines in sequence how the configuration
of nuclear and conventional forces might be affected, how the
problems of communal violence and dangers of technical
proliferation might be managed, and how security relationships
among the major states might be altered. One of the fundamental
implications of globalization in a post-cold war environment is a
shift in security policy from deterrence to reassurance, from
active confrontation to cooperative engagement. Without an opponent
to justify preparation for large-scale traditional missions,
nations must establish safer and less volatile patterns of
deployment. Maintaining global security in the twenty-first century
calls for a reconfiguration of basic relationships among historical
opponents, as well as revisions in military practices. This
visionary work will stimulate productive thinking among
policymakers seeking to reshape the legacies of the cold war with a
new conceptualization of international security.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!