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The contributors reflect critically on security studies since the 1980s. They conclude that analysts and policy-makers have not been able to respond well to the changes that have occurred and that they must revise their approach if they are to meet the challenges of the future.
Inauspicious Beginnings shows that at the end of the Cold War many experts in the international community expected a new world order to emerge in which international security institutions - such as the United Nations Security Council and NATO - would play a major role in preventing and ending conflicts. But while the 1990s proved to be a decade of international insecurity and major humanitarian disasters, thus demonstrating the need for a wider and more efficient system of security institutions, the principal powers failed to create them. Instead, the emerging order was marked by the overwhelming power of the United States, which, under the Bush Sr and Clinton administrations, did not see su...
Examining the major academic and policy debates over China’s rise and related policy issues, this book looks into the motivations and intentions of a rising China. Most of the scholarly works on China’s rise approach the question at a structural level by looking at the international system and the systemic impact on China’s foreign policy. Traditional Realist theorists define China as a revisionist power eager to address wrongs done to them in history, whilst some cultural and historical analyses attest that China’s strategic culture has been offensive despite its weak material capability. Huiyun Feng’s path-breaking contribution to the debate tests these rival hypotheses by examining systematically the beliefs of contemporary Chinese leaders and their strategic interactions with other states since 1949 when the communist regime came to power. The focus is on tracing the historical roots of Chinese strategic culture and its links to the decision-making of six key Chinese leaders via their belief systems. Chinese Strategic Culture will be of interest to students of Chinese politics, foreign policy, strategic theory and international relations in general.
For many years, political leaders and analysts have debated the impacts of China’s rise on the stability of the existing international system. International observers have also debated whether China would be a status quo power or a revisionist power, and whether China would observe the rules and regulations of international institutions and regimes. China Joins Global Governance: Cooperation and Contentions, edited by Mingjiang Li, provides an insightful contribution to our understanding of these issues through a specific angle: China’s role in global governance. The contributors to this volume address such questions as, how has China dealt with major global institutions and regimes? How...
An overarching ambiguity characterizes East Asia today. The region has at least a century-long history of internal divisiveness, war, and conflict, and it remains the site of several nettlesome territorial disputes. However, a mixture of complex and often competing agents and processes has been knitting together various segments of East Asia. In Remapping East Asia, T. J. Pempel suggests that the region is ripe for cooperation rather than rivalry and that recent "region-building" developments in East Asia have had a substantial cumulative effect on the broader canvas of international politics. This collection is about the people, processes, and institutions behind that region-building. In it...
The hardline view of Sino-Indian relations found in the published reports of Indian and Chinese security analysts is often at considerable odds with the more tempered opinions those same analysts express in private interviews and conversations. What is the reality of the increasingly important security relationship between the two countries? The authors of this new study address that question in depth. Sidhu and Yuan explore a range of key issues, including mutual distrust and misperception (perhaps the most important factor), the undemarcated border, the status of Tibet and Sikkim, trade, the tussle over various nonproliferation treaties, terrorism, the regional roles of the U.S. and Pakistan, and the impact of domestic public opinion and special interests. They do see a trend toward a more pragmatic approach in Beijing and New Delhi to managing differences and broadening the agenda of common interests. Nevertheless, they conclude, significant obstacles remain to the amicable relationship necessary for regional peace and stability, posing a daunting challenge to policymakers in these two rising powers.
This book describes strategic culture and its value as a methodological approach to the study of International Relations. In particular, the book uses strategic culture to illuminate a number of case studies on countries that have made decisions regarding the acquisition, proliferation or use of weapons of mass destruction.
In this volume, Professor Colin Gray develops and applies the theory and scholarship on the allegedly historical practice of the 'Revolution in Military Affairs' (RMA), in order to improve our comprehension of how and why strategy 'works'. The author explores the RMA hypothesis both theoretically and historically. The book argues that the conduct of an RMA has to be examined as a form of strategic behaviour, which means that, of necessity, it must "work" as strategy works. The great RMA debate of the 1990s is reviewed empathetically, though sceptically, by the author, with every major school of thought allowed its day in court. The author presents three historical RMAs as case studies for his argument: those arguably revealed in the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon; in World War I; and in the nuclear age. The focus of his analysis is how these grand RMAs functioned strategically. The conclusions that he draws from these empirical exercises are then applied to help us understand what, indeed, is - and what is not - happening with the much vaunted information-technology-led RMA of today.
With the post-cold war emphasis on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the neglected dimension has been the spread of advanced conventional arms. Yet these are the arms most likely to be used in conflict. They present the greatest diversion from economic and social development, and are the centerpiece of regional security balances. This book examines the policies and practices of the major arms-supplying nations, looks at the impact of weapons purchases on the principal recipient regions and the possibilities for regional arms control, and dissects the economics of arms exports for the producer nations in both the developing and industrialized worlds. The book thoroughly discus...
This book contains some 600 entries on a range of topics from ancient Chinese warfare to late 20th-century intervention operations. Designed for a wide variety of users, it encompasses general reviews of aspects of military organization and science, as well as specific wars and conflicts. The book examines naval and air warfare, as well as significant individuals, including commanders, theorists, and war leaders. Each entry includes a listing of additional publications on the topic, accompanied by an article discussing these publications with reference to their particular emphases, strengths, and limitations.