Global Insurgency and the Future of Armed Conflict

2010-04-05
 |  History
Global Insurgency and the Future of Armed Conflict

Author: Aaron Karp

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781134124152

Category: History

Page: 320

View: 187

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This volume covers a timely debate in contemporary security studies: can armed forces adjust to the rising challenge of insurgency and terrorism, the greatest transformation in warfare since the birth of the international system? Containing essays by leading international security scholars and military professionals, it explores the Fourth-Generation Warfare thesis and its implications for security planning in the twenty-first century. No longer confined to the fringes of armed conflict, guerrilla warfare and terrorism increasingly dominate world-wide military planning. For the first time since the Vietnam War ended, the problems of insurgency have leapt to the top of the international security agenda and virtually all countries are struggling to protect themselves against terrorist threats. Coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq are bogged down by an insurgency, and are being forced to rely on old warfare tactics rather than modern technologies to destroy their adversaries. These theorists argue that irregular warfare—insurgencies and terrorism—has evolved over time and become progressively more sophisticated and difficult to defeat as it is not centred on high technology and state of the art weaponry. Global Insurgency and the Future of Armed Conflict will be of interest to students of international security, strategic studies and terrorism studies.

Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict

2017-03-22
 |  Law
Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict

Author: David Cortright

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

ISBN: 9780226478364

Category: Law

Page: 308

View: 823

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During the past decade, armed drones have entered the American military arsenal as a core tactic for countering terrorism. When coupled with access to reliable information, they make it possible to deploy lethal force accurately across borders while keeping one’s own soldiers out of harm’s way. The potential to direct force with great precision also offers the possibility of reducing harm to civilians. At the same time, because drones eliminate some of the traditional constraints on the use of force—like the need to gain political support for full mobilization—they lower the threshold for launching military strikes. The development of drone use capacity across dozens of countries increases the need for global standards on the use of these weapons to assure that their deployment is strategically wise and ethically and legally sound. Presenting a robust conversation among leading scholars in the areas of international legal standards, counterterrorism strategy, humanitarian law, and the ethics of force, Drones and the Future of Armed Conflict takes account of current American drone campaigns and the developing legal, ethical, and strategic implications of this new way of warfare. Among the contributions to this volume are a thorough examination of the American government’s legal justifications for the targeting of enemies using drones, an analysis of American drone campaigns’ notable successes and failures, and a discussion of the linked issues of human rights, freedom of information, and government accountability.

The role of terrorism in twenty-first-century warfare

2016-12-21
 |  Political Science
The role of terrorism in twenty-first-century warfare

Author: Susanne Martin

Publisher: Manchester University Press

ISBN: 9781784998080

Category: Political Science

Page: 296

View: 725

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This book presents a critical reflection on the major armed conflicts that occurred during the 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria all involved the use of terrorism by one or more groups. Looking to the future, the book asks what this means for violent conflicts yet to come? Using a variety of case studies, the authors provide a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the role played by terrorism as a stand-alone tactic as well as one used to ignite broad-scale conflict. They also pose the question on what occasions does terrorism tend to occur as an armed conflict begins to subside, and when, in other words, is it a trailing indicator?

International Military Operations in the 21st Century

2015-05-08
 |  History
International Military Operations in the 21st Century

Author: Per M. Norheim-Martinsen

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781317593126

Category: History

Page: 258

View: 331

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This book examines the challenges that military forces will face in multinational operations in the 21st century. Expanding on Rupert Smith’s The Utility of Force, the volume assesses the changing parameters within which force as a political instrument is ultimately carried out. By analysing nine carefully selected mission types, the volume presents a comprehensive analysis of key trends and trajectories. Building upon this analysis, the contributors break the trends and parameters down into real and potential tasks and mission types in order to identify concrete implications for military forces in future multinational operations. The context of military intervention in conflicts and crises around the world is rapidly evolving. Western powers’ shrinking ability and desire to intervene makes it pertinent to analyse how the cost of operations can be reduced and, how they can be executed more intelligently in the future. New challenges to international military operations are arising and this book addresses these challenges by focusing on three key areas of change: 1) An increasingly urbanised world; 2) The changing nature of missions; 3) The commercial availability of new technologies. In answering these questions and embracing some of the insights of a growing field of future studies, the volume presents an innovative perspective on future international military operations. This book will be of much interest to students of international intervention, military and strategic studies, war and conflict studies, security studies and IR in general.

Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency

2014-03-05
 |  History
Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency

Author: Robert J. Bunker

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781136873430

Category: History

Page: 248

View: 681

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This new book brings together leading terrorism scholars and defence professionals to discuss the impact of networks on conflict and war. Post-modern terrorism and topics of global insurgency are also comprehensively covered. The text is divided into four sections to cover the key areas: introductory/overview, theory, terrorism and global insurgency, Al Qaeda focus, and networks. Eminent contributors include John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, Brian Jenkins, Stephen Sloan, Graham Turbiville, and Max Manwaring. This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading journal Low Intensity Conflict and Law Enforcement.

Counterinsurgency Law

2013-01-22
 |  Law
Counterinsurgency Law

Author: William Banks

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780199311415

Category: Law

Page: 310

View: 880

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In Counterinsurgency Law, William Banks and several distinguished contributors explore from an interdisciplinary legal and policy perspective the multiple challenges that counterinsurgency operations pose today to the rule of law - international, humanitarian, human rights, criminal, and domestic. Addressing the considerable challenges for the future of armed conflict, each contributor in the book explores the premise that in COIN operations, international humanitarian law, human rights law, international law more generally, and domestic national security laws do not provide adequate legal and policy coverage and guidance for multiple reasons, many of which are explored in this book. A second shared premise is that these problems are not only challenges for the law in post-9/11 security environments-but matters of policy with implications for the international community and for global security more generally.

Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Modern War

2015-08-22
 |  History
Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Modern War

Author: Scott Nicholas Romaniuk

Publisher: CRC Press

ISBN: 9781482247664

Category: History

Page: 312

View: 197

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A collection of original works covering all aspects of insurgency and counterinsurgency through a multinational lens, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Modern War addresses the need to look beyond the United States and other prominent counterinsurgency actors in the contemporary world. It also reassesses some of the latent and burgeoning insurgent organizations and networks around the globe and suggests alternative approaches to understanding insurgency, counterinsurgency, and conventional and asymmetric warfare as they relate to insurgency and counterinsurgency. This book makes significant contributions to international and interdisciplinary discussions regarding the seminal features of insurgency and counterinsurgency in modern warfare. It also relates topics with terrorism in the post-9/11 era, including the historical roots of insurgency, radicalism in Europe, and regional radical groups like al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba. It emphasizes how issues around insurgency, counterinsurgency, and terrorism permeate or evolve into particular forms of warfare, military operations, and related governmental activities. Using a diversified lens of analysis, the chapters illustrate key elements that spawn insurgency such as insurgents’ beliefs, motivations, aims, leadership characteristics, recruitment methods, operations planning, and responses to state and non-state efforts to contain insurgency. The book also examines how certain terrorist and insurgent operations can remain in the shadows and become secret wars beneath the growing surface threats they pose to the societies in which they breed activity. Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Modern War takes a unique look at a subject that has become widely studied and written about in reaction to modern terrorism and insurgency. It analyzes conditions under which insurgency and counterinsurgency occur from nuanced perspectives that have not previously received full consideration.

The Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics

2012-01-13
 |  Political Science
The Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics

Author: Roderic Ai Camp

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780199703623

Category: Political Science

Page:

View: 267

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Since achieving independence from Spain and establishing its first constitution in 1824, Mexico has experienced numerous political upheavals. The country's long and turbulent journey toward democratic, representative government has been marked by a tension between centralized, autocratic governments (historically depicted as a legacy of colonial institutions) and federalist structures. The years since Mexico's independence have seen a major violent social revolution, years of authoritarian rule, and, finally, in the past two decades, the introduction of a fair and democratic electoral process. Over the course of the thirty-one essays in The Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics some of the world's leading scholars of Mexico will provide a comprehensive view of the remarkable transformation of the nation's political system to a democratic model. In turn they will assess the most influential institutions, actors, policies and issues in its current evolution toward democratic consolidation. Following an introduction by Roderic Ai Camp, sections will explore the current state of Mexico's political development; transformative political institutions; the changing roles of the military, big business, organized labor, and the national political elite; new political actors including the news media, indigenous movements, women, and drug traffickers; electoral politics; demographics and political attitudes; and policy issues.

Shadows of Things Past and Images of the Future

2004
 |  Counterinsurgency
Shadows of Things Past and Images of the Future

Author: Max G. Manwaring

Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute U. S. Army War College

ISBN: NWU:35556036313245

Category: Counterinsurgency

Page: 51

View: 504

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This monograph begins with a short discussion of contemporary insurgency. It makes the argument that, in studying terror war, guerrilla war, or any other common term for insurgency war, we find these expressions mischaracterize the activities of armed groups that are attempting to gain political control of a nation-state. The fact is that these organizations are engaged in a highly complex political-psychological war. Three key harbinger cases from which the first contemporary lessons of modern insurgency should have been learned provide the basis for the argument--Peru (1962 to date), Italy (1968-82), and Argentina (1969-79). Given that these kinds of conflict--or mutations--are likely to continue to challenge U.S. and other global leadership over the next several years, it is important to understand them. In this connection, it is also important to understand that the final results of insurgency or counterinsurgency are never determined by arms alone. Rather, a successful counterinsurgency depends on a holistic process that relies on civilian and military agencies and contingents working together in an integrated fashion to achieve a mutually agreed political-strategic end game.

Rethinking Insurgency

2007
 |  Counterinsurgency
Rethinking Insurgency

Author: Steven Metz

Publisher:

ISBN: IND:30000139801371

Category: Counterinsurgency

Page: 69

View: 725

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The U.S. military and national security community lost interest in insurgency after the end of the Cold War when other defense issues such as multinational peacekeeping and transformation seemed more pressing. With the onset of the Global War on Terror in 2001 and the ensuing involvement of the U.S. military in counterinsurgency support in Iraq and Afghanistan, insurgency experienced renewed concern in both the defense and intelligence communities. The author argues that while exceptionally important, this relearning process focused on Cold War era nationalistic insurgencies rather than the complex conflicts which characterized the post-Cold War security environment. To be successful at counterinsurgency, he contends, the U.S. military and defense community must rethink insurgency, which has profound implications for American strategy and military doctrine.

Armed Groups and Contemporary Conflicts

2013-09-13
 |  History
Armed Groups and Contemporary Conflicts

Author: Keith Krause

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781317987086

Category: History

Page: 216

View: 853

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Armed groups operating beyond the state have become the most important actors in most contemporary wars and violent conflicts, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Colombia and Somalia. They come in a dizzying array of forms: some informally linked to the state and state power, others in opposition to the state; some pursuing classic political goals, others primarily predatory and large-scale criminal enterprises. All groups, however, challenge the state’s Weberian monopoly of the legitimate use of force, yet their origins, evolution, violent dynamics, and relations with state power are poorly understood. This interdisciplinary collection includes both conceptual and empirical studies of contemporary armed groups, examining cases in Latin America, Asia and Africa. It brings sociological, political economy, and ethnographic approaches to bear on larger questions including armed groups and the changing nature of warfare, the economic dimensions of their activities, and means of engagement with armed actors. It both broadens and sharpens our understanding of how force and violence are used in today’s contemporary armed conflicts. This book was published as a special issue of Contemporary Security Policy.

Managing Military Organisations

2010-02-02
 |  Business & Economics
Managing Military Organisations

Author: Joseph Soeters

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781135154820

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 299

View: 860

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This book deals with the processes and theories involved in managing military organisations in both peacetime and crisis conditions. Examining the challenges faced by policymakers and military commanders in conducting military operations, this book considers the benefits of conventional management and organisation theory for the military. At the same time, these essays recognise that the military should be considered as a highly individual organisation, operating in exceptional circumstances. This awareness of the differences between the military and other organisations generates important lessons not only for the military but also for general organisations as it teaches them how to cope in exceptional, ‘hyper’ conditions. These theoretical lessons are illustrated by case studies and experiences from recent military operations, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. This book will be of great interest to students of military studies, security studies and organizational studies. Joseph Soeters chairs the department of management and organization studies and defence economy at the Netherlands Defense Academy and he is a professor in organizational sociology at Tilburg University. Paul. C. van Fenema is an associate professor of organization studies at the Netherlands Defence Academy and Tilburg University. Robert Beeres is an associate professor in the field of defence accounting and control (business administration) at the Netherlands Defence Academy and at Nyenrode Business School.