Theory of warfare and military science Books

Book SynopsisAlthough the paradoxical reality of warfare may elude definition, since antiquity war has been a constitutive element of Western culture; seen from a historical perspective, it gives access to a broad array of tensions between various models of knowledge and different kinds of tradition. The essays in this volume approach the phenomenon of war from antiquity to Clausewitz from the perspective of a variety of disciplines. Particular attention is given to texts, images, and their interaction.Trade Review"I recommend this book to all classicists."Francesca Spiegel in BMCR 2011.12.45

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Book SynopsisFrom the acclaimed author of Panzer Commander Hermann BalckFalse Flagscomes an in-depth, critical evaluation of the maneuver warfare revolution that has transformed the American military. Colonel John Boyd, a maverick fighter pilot, revolutionized the American art of war through his ideas on conflict and the human mind. Boyd claimed that victory is won by the side which transitions through ''decision cycles'' faster than the enemy, mentally checkmating them with minimal violence. Maneuver warfare concepts became military doctrine during the 1980s but this revolution accidently undermined American security. When formulating his theories on conflict, Boyd relied upon fraudulent accounts of WWII written by Wehrmachtveterans who fabricated historical evidence to disassociate their reputations from Germany''s defeat and cover up their willing participation in Nazi war crimes. Boyd fell for this deception and unknowingly injected dangerous misinformation into the American military mind. Maneuver warfare has accordingly corrupted the art of war and resulted in catastrophic decisions made in Iraq and Afghanistan during 21st century conflict. The Blind Strategistseparates fact from fantasy and exposes the myths of maneuver warfare through a detailed evidence-based investigation. A must-read for anybody interested in American military history.

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Book SynopsisIn Killer High, Peter Andreas tells the story of war from antiquity to the modern age through the lens of six psychoactive drugs: alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, opium, amphetamines, and cocaine. Armed conflict has become progressively more "drugged" with the global spread of these mind-altering substances. From ancient brews and battles to meth and modern warfare, drugs and war have grown up together and become addicted to each other. By looking back not justyears and decades but centuries, Andreas reveals that the drugs-conflict nexus is actually an old story, and that powerful states have been its biggest beneficiaries.Trade ReviewKiller High, well-written and extensively researched, shows how the drugs-war relationship has served state interests and ambitions. * Katharine Neill-Harris, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books *Since time immemorial, soldiers have consumed mind-altering substances; Andreas (International Studies/Brown Univ.; Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America, 2013, etc.) delivers an impressive, often unsettling history of six. * Kirkus *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: How Drugs Made War and War Made Drugs 1: Drunk on the Front 2: Where there's Smoke there's War 3: Caffeinated Conflict 4: Opium, Empire, and Geopolitics 5: Speed Warfare 6: Cocaine Wars Conclusion: The Drugged Battlefields of the 21st Century Notes Index

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Book SynopsisDiscarding tidy abstractions about the conduct of war, Aaron Sheehan-Dean shows that the notoriously bloody US Civil War could have been much worse. Despite agonizing debates over Just War and careful differentiation among victims, Americans could not avoid living with the contradictions inherent in a conflict that was both violent and restrained.Trade ReviewAssessing the potential for the escalation of violence in the course of the war, Sheehan-Dean concludes that at many junctures both North and South ‘chose restraint’; he rejects the widespread argument that the conflict evolved from limited to total war… For Sheehan-Dean, exceptions to this pattern prove the rule and illustrate his contention that the conflict ‘could have been much worse.’ -- Drew Gilpin Faust * Wall Street Journal *Sheehan-Dean has written a remarkable book, with a fresh take on how the Civil War was fought, why it was fought the way it was fought, and how, theoretically, it could have become a much more violent conflict than it was, had each side not been bent on presenting themselves as taking the moral high ground in an effort to curtail any great escalation in violence. -- Michael Pierce * Midwest Rewind *Perhaps the best thing this reviewer has read about the Civil War in ages. An expertly researched and written history, it examines the dark side of the American Civil War, namely war against civilians, partisan/guerrilla war, and the nasty issues that developed about prisoners of war on both sides. * Choice *Sweeping and yet also delicately measured, this book promises to resolve longstanding debates about the nature of the Civil War. With its publication, we should be able to put aside old debates about total war or hard war and instead seek to understand the forces that produced a war that could at once seem hard and soft, unbridled and constrained. A work of deep intellectual seriousness. -- Gregory P. Downs, author of After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of WarThe Calculus of Violence is the rare work that compels us to reconsider the Civil War by embracing the history of the conflict in all its complexity. -- Wayne Hsieh, coauthor of A Savage War: A Military History of the Civil WarConfronting some of the most persistent and contentious arguments over the American Civil War, Aaron Sheehan-Dean offers a remarkable breadth of vision and depth of humanity. His unflinching account separates myth from truth, hyperbole from honesty. It is a brave, welcome, and necessary book. -- Edward L. Ayers, author of The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America

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Book SynopsisThis book provides an accessible, scholarly, and up-to-date examination of international humanitarian law, with relevant cases, examples, and discussion questions. It offers students and teachers a comprehensive and logical discussion and analysis of the law, and the developing trends in theory and practice of the law.Trade Review'This is one of the best primers around on the burgeoning field of international humanitarian law, useful for practitioners and students alike. It accurately and accessibly describes the law, deftly discusses uncertainties and controversies, is concise yet comprehensive, and traverses contemporary and historical challenges. Every law library worth its salt should hold a copy.' Ben Saul, Challis Chair of International Law, University of Sydney and Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Massachusetts'Crawford and Pert have produced a well-organised, thorough, and highly readable overview of a complex body of law. It includes ample citations, penetrating discussion questions and helpful lists of further readings. This work can serve effectively either as a text for a basic international humanitarian law course or as a reference guide in support of a broader course in international law.' Brad R. Roth, Wayne State University'Crawford and Pert have accomplished the seemingly impossible: produced a text on IHL that matches its concise explanations with real scholarly sophistication. It also deftly combines the history of the legal regulation of warfare with the most cutting-edge controversies of the field, including drones, targeted killings, and cyberwar. It will be as useful to students as it is to scholars, and has earned a permanent place on my desk. The second edition is even better than the first and incorporates many real-world events and the latest scholarly developments.' Jens David Ohlin, Cornell University, New YorkTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Historical development of international humanitarian law; 2. The contemporary legal basis of international humanitarian law and its fundamental principles; 3. Types of armed conflict; 4. Individual status in armed conflict – combatants, non-combatants, direct participation in hostilities and prisoners of war, and detention in non-international armed conflicts; 5. Protection of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked; 6. The law of occupation and the protection of civilians; 7. Targeting; 8. Means and methods of warfare; 9. Implementation, enforcement and accountability; 10. Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis twofold study investigates the character of intelligence knowledge and the social context in which it is produced, using the Swedish Military and Security Directorate (MUST) as a case study.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a detailed study of the role that external military crises played in the development and growth of Japanese security policies in the period following the end of the Cold War.

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Book SynopsisOn April 21, 1971, hundreds of Vietnam veterans fell asleep on the National Mall, wondering whether they would be arrested by daybreak. Veterans had fought the courts for the right to sleep in public while demonstrating against the war. When the Supreme Court denied their petition, they decided to break the law and turned sleep into a form of direct action. During and after the Second World War, military psychiatrists used sleep therapies to treat an epidemic of "combat fatigue." Inducing deep and twilight sleep in clinical settings, they studied the effects of war violence on the mind and developed the techniques of brainwashing that would weaponize both memory and sleep. In the Vietnam War era, radical veterans reclaimed the authority to interpret their own traumatic symptoms-nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia-and pioneered new methods of protest. In Fighting Sleep, Franny Nudelman recounts the struggle over sleep in the postwar world, revealing that sleep was instrumental to the development of military science, professional psychiatry, and antiwar activism. Traversing the fields of military and mainstream psychiatry, popular and institutional film, documentary sound technology, brain warfare, and postwar social movements, she demonstrates that sleep-far from being passive, empty, or null-is a site of contention and a source of political agency.Trade ReviewPraise for John Brown's Body: Slavery, Violence, and the Culture of War:"John Brown's Body explains the enormous role of Brown's martyrdom in the visual and literary rhetoric of the Civil War" -- Adam Gopnik * The New Yorker *Praise for John Brown's Body: Slavery, Violence, and the Culture of War:John Brown's Body critiques the long-held idea, from Richard Slotkin forward, that violence must be the price of profound social change -- Jane E. Schultz * The Journal of American History *Praise for John Brown's Body: Slavery, Violence, and the Culture of War:John Brown's Body is a cultural history of great originality and depth. By interweaving histories and literatures that have often been kept separate, it sheds new light on the meaning of the devastation of the Civil War and, more generally, on violence as a form of cultural expression. -- Karen Flood * The North Carolina Historical Review *Sleep seems to mark a realm wholly separate from public affairs, but Sleeping Soldiers reveals its methodical colonization by the US national security state and its surprising centrality to Cold War American politics and culture. Moving deftly between film and public protest, military psychiatry and veteran experience, documentation and reality, Franny Nudelman charts a fascinating pathway from the CIA mind-control experiments and the "brainwashing" scare of the Korean War era to the troubled sleep of the traumatized veteran, the endless wakefulness of the POW, and the emergence of a veteran's movement focused on the right to sleep in public. -- Timothy Melley, author of The Covert Sphere: Secrecy, Fiction, and the National Security State (Cornell 2012), Professor of English and Director of the Miami University Humanities Center.In this lucid and moving cultural history of the US from the end of WW2 through the Vietnam War, Franny Nudelman explores the problematic status of sleep for soldiers damaged by the trauma of warfare. Writing against the instrumental logic of sleep as the recuperation necessary for a return to service and combat, she poses the passivity and vulnerability of sleep as an interval of refusal, of healing, or of oblivion in relation to the imperatives of a militaristic society. A revelatory book. -- Jonathan Crary, Author of 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of SleepIf you've never thought of sleep as direct action, Franny Nudelman's marvelous tale of the struggles over soldiers' sleep will awaken you to the mundane tactics of peaceable assembly in the face of the nightmares of militarism. A riveting re-imagination of antiwar activism for our post-traumatic times. -- Michael Denning, author of Noise Uprising and The Cultural Front[Insurgent Empire] sets out to celebrate the political agency of colonised peoples, its importance in bringing an end to empire and the impact it had on metropolitan liberal and radical thinking. -- Matthew Reisz * Times Higher Education *Haunting and lovingly researched. -- Benjamin Reiss * Los Angeles Review of Books *Fighting Sleep shows that interpreting trauma by ourselves is vital to resisting the violence committed in our names. In a world of war, inequality, repression, and environmental degradation, we must explore our discomfort and question our role in this violence. -- Joey Mitchell * Mobilization *

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Book SynopsisAs the People's Republic's seemingly inexorable rise to economic and military power con-tinues, never has the need for a better grasp of Chinese strategic thought by the West been more acute. In Deciphering Sun Tzu, Derek Yuen seeks to reclaim for the reader the hidden contours and lost Chinese and Taoist con- texts of Sun Tzu's renowned treatise The Art of War, a literary classic and arguably one of the most influential books ever written. He also explains its historical, philosophical, strategic, and cross-cultural significance. His comprehensive analysis of Sun Tzu, based on close reading of the Chinese sources, also reconstructs the philosophy, Taoist methodology and worldview that effectively form the cornerstones of Chinese strategic thinking, which are arguably as relevant today as at any moment in history. Yuen's innovative reading and analysis of Sun Tzu within and from a Chinese context is a new way of approaching the strategic mas- ter's main concepts, which he compares with those of Clausewitz, Liddell-Hart and other Western strategists.Deciphering Sun Tzu offers illuminating analysis and contextualisation of The Art of War in a manner that has long been sought by Western readers and opens new means of getting to grips with Chinese strategic thought.Trade Review'Deciphering Sun Tzu is by far the best book on the subject in years. ... Yuen argues that the only way to read Sun Tzu is to understand the philosophical, historical, and cultural context behind The Art of War. ... Yuen's work reveals that Sun Tzu's treatise needs to be seen in the context of statecraft as a broader cultural artifact rather than in the narrower context of war or strategy'. -- Rob Johnson, Director of the Changing Character of War Programme, Oxford University, in The American Interest'Yuen puts Sun Tzu in context, identifying his debts to Chinese philosophy (particularly Taoism), providing historical background, guiding the reader through the key themes in his work, explaining common interpretations of it, and detailing its reception in the West. Yuen presents Sun Tzu's view of strategic thought as holistic and nonlinear. This is not a book for the faint-hearted or for those skeptical about Sun Tzu's approach to strategy. But anyone who wishes to understand Sun Tzu should not ignore it.' -- Lawrence Freedman, Foreign Affairs'Taking the oldest and most enigmatic of military texts Derek Yuen boldly confronts questions of philosophy and strategic culture as no other contemporary interpreter of Sun Tzu has done before. In a quite extraordinary work of erudition he demonstrates both the continuing significance of The Art of War in Chinese thinking and why our continuing misreading of the text is proving so damaging to our understanding of Chinese thinking.' -- Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, and author of The Improbable War: China, the US and the Logic of Great Power Conflict'Derek Yuen has produced a fascinating re-interpretation of Sun Tzu. He casts a wide philosophical-cultural net in his quest to capture the essence of this timeless Chinese classic of strategy.' -- Andrew Scobell, Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation and author of China's Use of Military Force: Beyond the Great Wall and the Long March'Derek Yuen's exciting new book takes Sun Tzu studies to a new level. It goes beyond the existing translations of and commentaries on this canonical text to deploy its underlying, unique logic as it evolved through Daoist philosophy to serve as a foundation for developing a more comprehensive theory of strategic thought. It is a bold and profoundly philosophical attempt to rise above the familiar rationalisations of this antique text to register its seminal contribution to the holistic nature of Chinese thinking in its broadest sense.' -- Roger T. Ames, Professor of Philosophy, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Hawaii'Reading Deciphering Sun Tzu: How to Read the Art of War by Derek Yuen is very much a light bulb moment for commentators on Western strategic thought.' -- LSE Review of Books

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Book SynopsisRebooting Clausewitz offers an entirely new take on the work of history's greatest theorist of war. Written for an undergraduate readership that often struggles with Clausewitz's master work On War--a book that is often considered too philosophical and impenetrably dense--it seeks to unpack some of Clausewitz's key insights on theory and strategy. In three fictional interludes Clausewitz attends a seminar at West Point; debates the War on Terror at a Washington think tank; and visits a Robotics Institute in Santa Fe where he discusses how scientists are reshaping the future of war. Three separate essays situate Clausewitz in the context of his times, discuss his understanding of the culture of war, and the extent to which two other giants--Thucydides and Sun Tzu--complement his work. Some years ago the philosopher W.B. Gallie argued that Clausewitz needed to be 'saved from the Clausewitzians'. Clausewitz doesn't need saving and his commentators have contributed a great deal to our understanding of On War's seminal status as a text. But too often they tend to conduct a conversation between themselves. This book is an attempt to let a wider audience into the conversation.Trade Review'Christopher Coker answers the question of Clausewitz's relevance to the twenty-first Century by imagining the great master justifying his theories to modern audiences. His approach is engaging, illuminating and a bit mischievous. * Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London, author of Strategy: A History *'Is Clausewitz still relevant for the twenty first century? In this bravura and scintillatingly written study, Christopher Coker argues for a powerful yes. Mixing acute analysis and thought provoking imagined dialogues and fictional recreations of Clausewitz's discussion with his friends, Coker has produced a gem of a book, illuminating brilliantly for the twenty first century the originality and genius of both Clausewitz and On War.' * Nicholas Rengger, Professor of Political Theory and International Relations, University of St Andrews *'An evocative and entertaining excursion that reveals not only what Coker thinks about Clausewitz, but also what he thinks about several of the leading institutions that help shape strategic thinking in the US and UK today.' * Antulio J. Echevarria II, Elihu Root Chair of Military Studies, US Army War College *'Arguing about Clausewitz remains a vital exercise in thinking about conflict. Coker's study will help students grasp his main concepts, and to argue afresh over the Prussian's ideas, life and legacy, and the conflicting ways to interpret his work. Clausewitz's mind was restless and argumentative, and Coker imagines him intervening in the debates of our time. Coker, like Bassford, Herberg-Rothe, Paret and Strachan helps bring Clausewitz back from stale doctrinal arguments, as a source of wisdom in times of war.' * Patrick Porter, Professor of Strategic Studies, University of Exeter, and author of The Global Village Myth: Distance, War and the Limits of Power *

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Book SynopsisIn Conspiring with the Enemy, Yvonne Chiu offers a new understanding of why and how enemies work together to constrain violence in warfare. Chiu argues that what she calls an ethic of cooperation is found in modern warfare to such an extent that it is often taken for granted.Trade ReviewYvonne Chiu has written an original and important book. Conspiring with the Enemy's argument is strong throughout; the writing is clear and often elegant, and the historical references, illustrations, and examples make the book engaging as well as educational. Who ever heard of such a thing as cooperation between enemies in war? Henceforth no one will ask that question. -- Michael Walzer, author of Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical IllustrationsWar is the fiercest form of human competition, yet it often involves cooperation among adversaries, even as they try to slaughter one other. Drawing on an impressive survey of military history—ancient and modern, Eastern and Western—Yvonne Chiu distinguishes among numerous forms of cooperation in war and even identifies an “ethic of cooperation” of which she finds manifestations throughout the history of warfare. Many of the instances she recounts are moving and inspiring, and the book as a whole offers grounds for optimism about the future of warfare. -- Jeff McMahan, University of OxfordChiu shows that the ethic of cooperation in warfare is a major normative feature of war-fighting, today as well as in the distant past. Other writers on just war theory sometimes drop hints of this, but the great accomplishment of this book is to bring the ethic of cooperation out of the shadows and reveal it as something absolutely central to warfare ethics. Chiu’s scholarship is impressively wide-ranging, and she has a tremendous eye for the telling anecdote, historical episode, and quotation. -- David Luban, Georgetown UniversityConspiring with the Enemy is oriented around the question of cooperation in war and whether it is possible to have a degree of ethics in war. The author assembles her writing in a compelling and clear way. -- Sarah Kreps, author of Taxing Wars: The American Way of War and Finance and the Decline of DemocracyChiu’s book has much to commend it to the reader....This volume is a very helpful addition to the literature of ethics and war. * Journal of Military Ethics *A book full of insight and provocation. * Foreign Affairs *Chiu's book provides an insightful and original argument supported by robust historical illustrations. Particularly valuable is that it restructures and shines new light on topics we might have thought we had already examined and understood while providing a decidedly new framework for re-examining them. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Buttressed by impressive scholarship, this readable study is highly recommended. * Choice *This compelling and wide-ranging account....should change the way we think about the morality—and practice—of war. * International Affairs *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments1. The Horrors of War and the Nature of Cooperation2. Cooperation for a Fair Fight3. Cooperation to Minimize Damage to Particular Classes of People4. Cooperation to End War Quickly5. The Limits of Ethics of Cooperation in Warfare6. Cooperative Ethics, Just War Theory, and the Structure of Modern Warfare7. Abdication of Judgment, Noncooperative Fights, and the Meaning of WarNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisShows how unmanned systems are changing not simply how wars are fought, but the meaning of conflict itself.Trade Review'Important and engaging ... A very readable overview of the issues surrounding the growing use of armed unmanned systems' -- Peace NewsTable of ContentsAbbreviations Introduction 1. From Balloons to Big Safari: UAV Development 2. The Drone Takes Off 3. The UAV and Military Doctrine 4. The Consequences of Killing without Consequences 5. Targets: The View from Below 6. Unlegal: Justifying a Drone War 7. Killer Robots 8. From Man O’War to Nano-War: Revolutions in Military Affairs Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe decision to mount an armed foreign intervention is one of the most consequential that a US president can take. This book sets out to explain why and when presidents choose to use force. The book examines decisions to use force throughout the post-Cold War period, via flashpoints including the Balkans, the ‘War on Terror’ and the Middle East. It develops new explanations for variation in the use of force in US foreign policy by theorizing and demonstrating the effects of the displacement and repression of ideas within and across different US presidential administrations, from George H.W. Bush to Donald Trump. For students, scholars and anyone with an interest in international relations and global security, this book is an original perspective on a defining issue of recent decades.Table of ContentsPart 1: Disaggregating Ideas in American Foreign Policy 1. Ideas and the Use of Force in American Foreign Policy Part 2: US Foreign Policy and Mass Atrocities in the Balkans 2. ‘We Don’t Have a Dog in the Fight’: Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia 3. ‘What Should I Tell My Daughter?’: The Massacre at Srebrenica Part 3: US Foreign Policy and Terrorism 4. ‘Wag the Dog’: Terrorism in the 1990s 5. ‘America Is Under Attack’: From the War on Terror to Iraq Part 4: Obama and Mass Atrocities in the Middle East 6. ‘This Is Like Rwanda’: How the Road to Libya Ran Through Rwanda 7. Syria: ‘There Was No Benghazi To Be Saved’ Part 5: ‘America First’ and the Use of Force 8. From ‘America First’ to Saving ‘Beautiful Babies’ in Syria 9. The 2020 Iranian Crisis: De-escalating from the Use of Force Part 6: Conclusions 10. Ideas and Foreign Policy Variation

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Book SynopsisThis volume considers the various groups that make up total defence forces: the military, reservists, civil defence servants, and contractors working for private military and security companies. It offers an essential analysis of civilian-military personnel integration and collaboration toward defence goals in the twenty-first century.Trade Review“This volume tackles a highly topical theme: analyzing change dynamics in the organization of defence establishments. Recent international events underscore the need to understand how warfare has changed and to unpack the implications for the operations of military forces and the organization of national defence.” Jozef Bátora, co-author of Fringe Players and the Diplomatic Order: The 'New' Heteronomy“Total Defence Forces in the Twenty-First Century provides a very rich analysis of the changed landscape of the wider defence sector and will prove a gold mine for much future research.” Andrea Ellner, co-editor of When Soldiers Say No: Selective Conscientious Objection in the Modern Military

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Book Synopsis“This brief, provocative, and accessible book offers snapshots of seven pernicious myths in military history that have been perpetrated on unsuspecting students, readers, moviegoers, game players, and politicians. It promotes awareness of how myths are created by 'the spurious misuse and ignorance of history' and howmisleading ideas about a military problem, as in asymmetric warfare, can lead to misguided solutions. “Both scholarly and engaging, this book is an ideal addition to military history and historical methodology courses. In fact, it could be fruitfully used in any course that teaches critical thinking skills, including courses outside the discipline of history. Military history has a broad appeal to students, and there’s something here for everyone. From the so-called 'Western Way of War' to its sister-myth, technological determinism, to the ‘academic party game’ of once-faddish ‘Military Revolutions,’ the book shows that while myths about history may be fun, myth busting is the most fun of all.”—Reina Pennington, Norwich UniversityTrade Review“Why does military history generate so many myths? Is it because easily digestible myths make the subject easier to teach and study? Or because such myths help to paper over the simple but depressing fact that mankind has, since its very origins, permitted the slaughter of millions, often for the most minor of reasons? While such questions are difficult if not impossible to answer, in bringing together seven of the world’s finest military historians to dispel seven of these myths, John Hosler provides a great service in laying bare the myths’ origins. Anyone interested in the subject should read this book first, before embarking on further study.”—Kelly Devries, Loyola University Maryland

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Book SynopsisThe Maori economy is often defined simply by the contributions of Maori in New Zealand in the areas of farming, fisheries and forestry. This book explores the ways that Maori in the privatised military industry contribute in monetary and non-monetary ways to the Maori economy. Workers in the privatised military industry very rarely, if ever, give interviews about their work or details about their pay. However, this book includes five interviews with Maori who have worked or are still working in the privatised military industry and explores how they articulate themselves as Maori in the industry, giving a glimpse at this secret world and how Maori operate in it.

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Book SynopsisWars and conflicts have become a near constant presence today, brought to us on a real-time basis on myriad communication devices. A cursory scan of recent conflicts reveals the blurring lines between war and peace, state versus non-state, regular and irregular, and conventional vis-à-vis unconventional. Over the past decade or so, the prevailing security environment in many regions has changed radically. Simultaneously the probability of conventional conflict between states or groups of states has steadily declined while sub-conventional conflict has gained prominence.These small, niggling wars have been termed as hybrid, non-linear, grey zone, or unrestricted, among others. It thus becomes necessary to enquire ontologically and epistemologically into these terms to understand if they allude to the same phenomenon through different frames. Furthermore, are these an aberration or, increasingly, the convention? This book tries to address this crucial research gap related to the changing character of conflicts in the strategic discourse in India.

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Book SynopsisThis volume considers the various groups that make up total defence forces: the military, reservists, civil defence servants, and contractors working for private military and security companies. It offers an essential analysis of civilian-military personnel integration and collaboration toward defence goals in the twenty-first century.Trade Review“This volume tackles a highly topical theme: analyzing change dynamics in the organization of defence establishments. Recent international events underscore the need to understand how warfare has changed and to unpack the implications for the operations of military forces and the organization of national defence.” Jozef Bátora, co-author of Fringe Players and the Diplomatic Order: The 'New' Heteronomy“Total Defence Forces in the Twenty-First Century provides a very rich analysis of the changed landscape of the wider defence sector and will prove a gold mine for much future research.” Andrea Ellner, co-editor of When Soldiers Say No: Selective Conscientious Objection in the Modern Military

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Book SynopsisWars throughout history have been fought in the name of ideology, religion and the pursuit of peace. Our thinking about war - when it is justified, how it should be fought and how it is perceived - has changed dramatically over time.Table of ContentsPreface vii 1 The Risk Society at War 1 2 Complexity and War 28 3 War in an Age of Risk 62 4 Consequence Management 103 5 The Geopolitics of Risk Management 131 6 The Risk Age and its Discontents 173 Bibliography 185 Index 199

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Book SynopsisMachiavelli on War offers a comprehensive interpretation of the philosopher-historian''s treatment of war throughout his writings, from poems and memoranda drafted while he was Florence''s top official for military matters to his posthumous works, The Prince and Discourses on Livy. Christopher Lynch argues that the issue of war permeates the form and content of each of Machiavelli''s works, the substance of his thoughts, and his own activity as a writer, concluding that he was the first great modern philosopher because he was the first modern philosopher of war.Lynch details Machiavelli''s understanding of warfare in terms of both actual armed conflict and at the intellectual level of thinkers competing on the field of knowledge and belief. Throughout Machiavelli''s works, he focuses on how military commanders'' knowledge of human necessities, beginning with their own, enables and requires them to mold soldiers, o

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Book SynopsisPeace, many would agree, is a goal that democratic nations should strive to achieve. Considering the question of whether democracy is dependent on war, two celebrated political scientists trace the ways in which governments have mobilised armies since antiquity. They find that our modern form of democracy not only evolved in a brutally competitive environment but also was quickly excised when the powerful no longer needed their citizenry to defend against existential threats. Bringing to life many of the battles that shaped our world, the authors show how centralised monarchies replaced feudalism, why dictatorships can mobilise large forces but often fail at long-term military campaigns and how drone warfare has weakened democracy. In the spirit of Francis Fukuyama and Niall Ferguson, Forged Through Fire has far-reaching implications and will become the centrepiece of the democratic debate.

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Book SynopsisThe 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".

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA superb contribution to the field, this book is the first full-scale attempt to link feminist theory with the established, mainstream work on war as an empirical puzzle to be solved. -- Patrick James, Center for International Studies, University of Southern California With formidable prowess, Sjoberg engages tools from realist, liberal, constructivist, poststructuralist, and postcolonial perspectives to advance a systematic, feminist theorization of war. This stunning achievement warrants attention by all who seek to improve our understanding and alter our practices of war. -- V. Spike Peterson, University of Arizona In this definitive work, Laura Sjoberg makes an incontrovertible case that feminist security studies is neither superfluous nor an oxymoron. Through her extensive command of the vast war studies literature and decades of feminist international relations scholarship, she powerfully and effectively argues that security studies, from realist to critical, fail to explain why and how states go to war without feminist theories. Exhaustively detailing how feminist perspectives and research significantly account for the propensities for, the conduct of, and lived experiences in war, she demonstrates feminism not only can but also must 'occupy' security studies for both better and transformative understandings of war. -- Anne Sisson Runyan, Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, University of Cincinnati Gendering Global Conflict is a monumental work that deserves to be widely read... The work is exhaustively researched and footnoted, with an extensive literature review of current approaches to studying gender in conflict... Highly recommended. Choice Thoughtful and insightful... Well-written and accessible... Laura Sjoberg offers a convincing account as to why gender should be taken seriously when we consider both the causes and the impacts of war, whilst managing to speak to a mainstream, as well as feminist, security audience. Gender and Development Laura Sjoberg's book, Gendering Global Conflict, is extremely relevant. Through a systematic and well-argued critique, she shows how deeply embedded masculinity is in mainstream studies of war... best suited for students at the graduate level. Politics & GenderTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The (Genderless) Study of War in International Relations 2. Gender Lenses Look at War(s) 3. Anarchy 4. Relations International and War(s) 5. Gender 6. People 7. Gendered Strategy 8. Gendered Tactics 9. Living Gendered War(s) Conclusion: (A) Feminist Theory/ies of War(s) Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA superb contribution to the field, this book is the first full-scale attempt to link feminist theory with the established, mainstream work on war as an empirical puzzle to be solved. -- Patrick James, Center for International Studies, University of Southern California With formidable prowess, Sjoberg engages tools from realist, liberal, constructivist, poststructuralist, and postcolonial perspectives to advance a systematic, feminist theorization of war. This stunning achievement warrants attention by all who seek to improve our understanding and alter our practices of war. -- V. Spike Peterson, University of Arizona In this definitive work, Laura Sjoberg makes an incontrovertible case that feminist security studies is neither superfluous nor an oxymoron. Through her extensive command of the vast war studies literature and decades of feminist international relations scholarship, she powerfully and effectively argues that security studies, from realist to critical, fail to explain why and how states go to war without feminist theories. Exhaustively detailing how feminist perspectives and research significantly account for the propensities for, the conduct of, and lived experiences in war, she demonstrates feminism not only can but also must 'occupy' security studies for both better and transformative understandings of war. -- Anne Sisson Runyan, Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, University of Cincinnati Gendering Global Conflict is a monumental work that deserves to be widely read... The work is exhaustively researched and footnoted, with an extensive literature review of current approaches to studying gender in conflict... Highly recommended. Choice Thoughtful and insightful... Well-written and accessible... Laura Sjoberg offers a convincing account as to why gender should be taken seriously when we consider both the causes and the impacts of war, whilst managing to speak to a mainstream, as well as feminist, security audience. Gender and Development Laura Sjoberg's book, Gendering Global Conflict, is extremely relevant. Through a systematic and well-argued critique, she shows how deeply embedded masculinity is in mainstream studies of war... best suited for students at the graduate level. Politics & GenderTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The (Genderless) Study of War in International Relations 2. Gender Lenses Look at War(s) 3. Anarchy 4. Relations International and War(s) 5. Gender 6. People 7. Gendered Strategy 8. Gendered Tactics 9. Living Gendered War(s) Conclusion: (A) Feminist Theory/ies of War(s) Notes Index

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Book SynopsisIn this landmark work of international relations theory, first published in 1959, the eminent realist scholar Kenneth N. Waltz offers a foundational analysis of the nature of conflict between states.Table of ContentsForeword to the 2018 Anniversary Edition, by Stephen M. WaltPreface to the 2001 EditionPreface to the 1959 Edition1. Introduction2. The First Image: International Conflict and Human Behavior3. Some Implications of the First Image: The Behavioral Sciences and the Reduction of Interstate Violence4. The Second Image: International Conflict and the Internal Structure of States5. Some Implications of the Second Image: International Socialism and the Coming of the First World War6. The Third Image: International Conflict and International Anarchy7. Some Implications of the Third Image: Examples from Economics, Politics, and History8. ConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis volume in the Praeger Security International (PSI) series Classics of the Counterinsurgency Era by two officers-one from the Philippines and the other from America-who fought as guerrillas against the Japanese occupation and went on to defeat the Huk rebellion after World War II.Table of ContentsForeword Prologue What and Why Is a Guerrilla Characteristics of Guerrilla Movements and Operations Approaches to Counterguerrilla Warfare The Situation and the Terrain Know Thine Enemy: Estimate of the Enemy Situation Know Thyself: Analysis of Friendly Forces The Mission Target-The Guerrilla Fool 'Em Find 'Em Fight 'Em Target-The Civilian Target-The Nation Appendix I. Patrol SOP for Counterguerrilla Operations Appendix II. Suggested Special Warfare Battalion Appendix III. Recommended Reading

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Book SynopsisExplores whether advances in technology, from the railroad and the airplane to the nuclear weapon and the computer, have altered both the critical relationship between logistics and warfare and, ultimately, geopolitical dynamics.Trade ReviewJobie Turner's findings - developed through five concise case studies that span two centuries - will be valuable to historians and military professionals alike. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, Feeding Victory: Innovative Military Logistics from Lake George to Khe Sanh deserves a place next to Martin Van Creveld's Supplying War." - Kevin C. Holzimmer, author of General Walter Krueger: Unsung Hero of the Pacific War"An innovative approach to the subject. While each case study in itself can be regarded separately, taken all together Turner shows the eternal challenges that logistics poses for the conduct of war in any age." - Richard L. DiNardo, author of Mechanized Juggernaut or Military Anachronism? Horses and the German Army of World War II"There are practicing military logisticians, and there are scholars who study military logistics. Only rarely does one find a military professional (in this case a US Air Force mobility commander) who is also a first-rate historian of the art and science of supplying combat forces in war and the ramifications for past, present, and future strategy. This is a unique work that deserves the widest audience." - Richard R. Muller, professor of history, US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies"Feeding Victory is a welcome and thoughtful addition to the understanding and importance of military logistics. No other available book accomplishes what Colonel Turner achieves through his careful and insightful attention to the importance of military logistics from the French and Indian Wars to Vietnam, to what has changed, and to what remains the same." - Vice Admiral (ret.) Mark Harnitchek, former director of the Defense Logistics Agency and former vice commander of US Transportation Command"Feeding Victory: Innovative Logistics from Lake George to Khe Sanh, Jobie Turner cogently argues what most other historians merely assert: that those military forces better supplied and fed win. Blending different sources and perspectives across centuries, Feeding Victory explores the means and manners by which armies have achieved this paramount advantage and gives renewed meaning to the oft-ignored truism that amateurs study strategy but professionals study logistics. The chapter on Guadalcanal alone is worth the book's price." - Thomas Alexander Hughes, author of Admiral Bill Halsey: A Naval Life and Over Lord: General Pete Quesada and the Triumph of Tactical Air Power in World War II

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Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to be secure? In the global news, we hear stories daily about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, about domestic-level conflicts around the world, about the challenges of cybersecurity and social security.Trade ReviewWinner of the Choice award for Outstanding Academic Title "Through a vast review of the security literature, Detraz makes an excellent case for the greater understanding and incorporation of gender in security studies."—LSE Review of Books "An essential read for every IR and feminist scholar and student seeking deeper understandings of current events in the field."—Central European Journal of International and Security Studies "Should be a key text for students of security studies. It is also a powerful introduction for gender scholars to understand how security discourses not only use, but also create, particular constructions of gender."—Feminist & Women's Studies Association Blog "International Security and Gender is a complex and critical overview of the field of gender and security, which familiarizes readers with the field in a fair and even-handed manner and provides forward-looking challenges to the field's research agendas."—Laura Sjoberg, University of Florida "Nicole Detraz's book presents a comprehensive and well-written introduction to what it means to approach international security through gendered lenses. A highly valuable contribution to the current security debate, it shows persuasively the central place of gender. Convincingly, it argues that security studies miss something crucial when gender remains invisible in debates on militarization, peacebuilding, terrorism, as well as human, environmental, and climate security. It urges students to enlarge the scope of security and question key concepts, while also suggesting ways toward change and emancipation."—Annica Kronsell, Lund University "In an essential contribution to the growing field of feminist security studies, Detraz shows impeccably how asking feminist questions about a range of security issues leads us to understand the gendered aspects of vulnerabilities and threats, ultimately helping to formulate reflexive, rather than simplistic, policies to bring about human emancipation."—Catia Cecilia Confortini, Wellesley CollegeTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vi 1 Understanding Gender in Security Debates 1 2 Gendered Militarization and Militarism 24 3 Gender in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding 64 4 A Gendered Understanding of Terrorism 94 5 Human Security and Gender 131 6 Gender, Security, and Environment 165 Conclusion: Th e Contributions of Gender Lenses to Security 198 References 212 Index 241

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Book SynopsisExplores the moral dimensions of the current global role of the U.S. military.For the first time in history, the capabilities of the U.S. military far outstrip those of any potential rival, either singly or collectively, and this reality raises fundamental questions about its role, nature, and conduct. The Moral Warrior explores a wide range of ethical issues regarding the nature and purpose of voluntary military service, the moral meaning of the unique military power of the United States in the contemporary world, and the moral challenges posed by the war on terrorism.

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Book SynopsisThis sobering book demonstrates how the interplay between conventional military operations and nuclear forces could inadvertently produce pressures for nuclear escalation.Trade ReviewInadvertent Escalation makes a truly unique, original contribution to security issues and should make defense planners grapple with conventional and nuclear linkages in future conflicts. Posen's answer gives wisdom to innocent defense planners as they venture forth into a post-Cold War world. * Military Review *As long as nuclear weapons exist, they may be used, and Barry Posen's book is a valuable contribution to thinking about ways in which nuclear use might come about. * International Affairs *Posen... does a masterful job of effectively utilizing detailed information to demonstrate the complex interplay of force postures, strategic doctrines, and decision-making dynamics. In these respects, the author's contribution transcends the time frame dominated by two superpowers armed with gargantuan nuclear arsenals. * Choice *Posen has written a provocative and important book... which explores an issue that could increase in relevance as nuclear weapons proliferate throughout the Third World. * Intelligence and National Security *Table of Contents1. Introduction: A Model of Inadvertent Escalation 2. Air War and Inadvertent Nuclear Escalation 3. The Balance of Ground Forces on the Central Front 4. Escalation and NATO's Northern Flank 5. "Offensive" and "Defensive" Sea Control: A Comparative Assessment 6. ConclusionAppendix 1. The Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) Model Appendix 2. Central Region Close Air Support Aircraft and Atack Helicopters (1988) Appendix 3. The Attrition-FEBA Expansion Model: Symphony Version Appendix 4. A Barrier Defense ModelSelected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOn Flexibility presents a force planning concept that will enable armies to cope with the growing diversity of battlefield requirements, and especially with technological and doctrinal surprises, through applied adaptability and flexibility, minimizing the over dependence on intelligence and prediction involved in this process today.Trade Review"This book combines solid history and an innovative analytical structure. It begins to fill in a serious hole in our understanding of flexibility or what could better be called 'adaptation under fire.' It is strongly recommended for senior military leaders and students of military innovation and force planning. In the future, surprise will continue to characterize the character of modern warfare, and the need to be flexible will be at a premium. On Flexibility provides great insights on flexibility and will prove to be an enduring contribution to our understanding of military history and to enhancing our ability to adapt when we hopefully do not get things too terribly wrong." -- Frank Hoffman"A highly original work, dealing with an important and little-explored subject." -- Martin van Creveld"This is an outstanding work. Inculcating adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness to surprise is the chief preoccupation of the major armies of the world. Doctrine writers, practitioners, scholars, and policy-makers concerned with the effectiveness of military force should read this book." -- David Betz, Department of War Studies * King's College London *"Originally published in Israel in 2007, this thoughtful work by Col. Finkel (IDF) looks at how modern military forces have coped with surprise in terms of innovative technologies, techniques, or tactics." -- A. A. Nofi * StrategyPage.com *"[A] thoroughly researched and objective work of events impacting America's military affairs and security policies." -- Parameters

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