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Book World Politics and the Evolution of War

Download or read book World Politics and the Evolution of War written by John J. Weltman and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive study, international relations scholar John Weltman explores the many roles of war in world politics. With topics ranging from the development of strategic thought to the effects on war of political and technological change, from the uses of force—and threats of force—to the uses of arms control, from the prominence of war in history to its likely fate in the post-Cold War world, Weltman's analysis offers a detailed, thoroughgoing, and rigorous overview of the subject. Throughout, Weltman questions a number of widely held assumptions. To the conventional argument that the number of players in the international system determines the incidence and character of war, he responds with evidence that suggesting that the social, material, and intellectual context within which conflicts occur is far more influential. Weltman also questions the prevailing wisdom that democracies are inherently peaceful and autocracies inherently warlike, arguing instead that the propensity to wage war—and the effects of war—are largely the products of prevailing expectations: whether or not war offers a means for the cheap, easy, and decisive accomplishment of a government's objectives. And he criticizes the dominant view that conflict—even violent conflict—is psychologically "abnormal." Drawing upon the traditional distinction between wars of "attrition" and wars of "annihilation," Weltman sees the trend toward the former—despite the anomalous Persian Gulf conflict—aslikely to continue. While this trend does not suggest the end of warfare (much less the "end of history"), it does imply the localization of conflict and the minimization of the danger of global conflagration. The "new world order," Weltman concludes, will be far from peaceful, but the conflicts that do arise will be slow-burning and difficult to spread. Outside intervention in these conflicts will be costly.

Book War and Change in World Politics

Download or read book War and Change in World Politics written by Robert Gilpin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1981 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: rofessor Gilpin uses history, sociology, and economic theory to identify the forces causing change in the world order.

Book Darwin and International Relations

Download or read book Darwin and International Relations written by Bradley A. Thayer and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-03-17 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Shows a mastery of research and theory in both biology and international relations and weaves the two fields together in a compelling fashion.” —Dr. Steven A. Peterson, Director, School of Public Affairs, Penn State Pathbreaking and controversial, Darwin and International Relations offers the first comprehensive analysis of international affairs of state through the lens of evolutionary theory. Using ethnological and statistical studies of warfare among tribal societies, Bradley A. Thayer argues that humans wage war for reasons predicted by evolutionary theory?to gain and protect vital resources but also for the physically and emotionally stimulating effects of combat. Thayer demonstrates that an evolutionary understanding of disease will become a more important part of the study of international relations as new strains of diseases emerge and advances in genetics make biological warfare a more effective weapon for states and terrorists. He also explains the deep causes of ethnic conflict by illuminating how xenophobia and ethnocentrism evolved in humans. He notes that these behaviors once contributed to our ancestors’ success in radically different environments, but they remain a part of us. Darwin and International Relations makes a major contribution to our understanding of human history and the future of international relations. “Obligatory reading for social and life scientists alike, and deserves to become a standard work in political science.” —International History Review “A thoughtful book that can challenge some of our comfortable assumptions.” —Journal of Military History “Outstanding! This book will become a standard work in political science.” —Roger D. Masters, Dartmouth College

Book War from the Ground Up

    Book Details:
  • Author : Emile Simpson
  • Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
  • Release : 2012
  • ISBN : 0199327882
  • Pages : 299 pages

Download or read book War from the Ground Up written by Emile Simpson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2012 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a philosophical treatise on war written by an Oxford grad who served in Afghanistan.

Book Secret Wars

    Book Details:
  • Author : Austin Carson
  • Publisher : Princeton University Press
  • Release : 2020-06-09
  • ISBN : 0691204128
  • Pages : 342 pages

Download or read book Secret Wars written by Austin Carson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secret Wars is the first book to systematically analyze the ways powerful states covertly participate in foreign wars, showing a recurring pattern of such behavior stretching from World War I to U.S.-occupied Iraq. Investigating what governments keep secret during wars and why, Austin Carson argues that leaders maintain the secrecy of state involvement as a response to the persistent concern of limiting war. Keeping interventions “backstage” helps control escalation dynamics, insulating leaders from domestic pressures while communicating their interest in keeping a war contained. Carson shows that covert interventions can help control escalation, but they are almost always detected by other major powers. However, the shared value of limiting war can lead adversaries to keep secret the interventions they detect, as when American leaders concealed clashes with Soviet pilots during the Korean War. Escalation concerns can also cause leaders to ignore covert interventions that have become an open secret. From Nazi Germany’s role in the Spanish Civil War to American covert operations during the Vietnam War, Carson presents new insights about some of the most influential conflicts of the twentieth century. Parting the curtain on the secret side of modern war, Secret Wars provides important lessons about how rival state powers collude and compete, and the ways in which they avoid outright military confrontations.

Book War  Peace and International Relations

Download or read book War Peace and International Relations written by Colin S. Gray and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-06-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chapter Introduction: Strategic history -- chapter 1 Themes and contexts of strategic history -- chapter 2 Carl von Clausewitz and the theory of war -- chapter 3 From limited war to national war: The French Revolution and the Napoleonic way of war -- chapter 4 The nineteenth century, I: A strategic view -- chapter 5 The nineteenth century, II: Technology, warfare and international order -- chapter 6 World War I, I: Controversies -- chapter 7 World War I, II: Modern warfare -- chapter 8 The twenty-year armistice, 1919-39 -- chapter 9 The mechanization of war -- chapter 10 World War II in Europe, I: The structure and course of total war -- chapter 11 World War II in Europe, II: Understanding the war -- chapter 12 World War II in Asia-Pacific, I: Japan and the politics of empire -- chapter 13 World War II in Asia-Pacific, II: Strategy and warfare -- chapter 14 The Cold War, I: Politics and ideology -- chapter 15 The Cold War, II: The nuclear revolution -- chapter 16 War and peace after the Cold War: An interwar decade -- chapter 17 9/11 and the age of terror -- chapter 18 Irregular warfare: Guerrillas, insurgents and terrorists -- chapter 19 War, peace and international order -- chapter 20 Conclusion: Must future strategic history resemble the past?.

Book The Evolution of Strategy

Download or read book The Evolution of Strategy written by Beatrice Heuser and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-14 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is there a 'Western way of war' which pursues battles of annihilation and single-minded military victory? Is warfare on a path to ever greater destructive force? This magisterial account answers these questions by tracing the history of Western thinking about strategy - the employment of military force as a political instrument - from antiquity to the present day. Assessing sources from Vegetius to contemporary America, and with a particular focus on strategy since the Napoleonic Wars, Beatrice Heuser explores the evolution of strategic thought, the social institutions, norms and patterns of behaviour within which it operates, the policies that guide it and the cultures that influence it. Ranging across technology and warfare, total warfare and small wars as well as land, sea, air and nuclear warfare, she demonstrates that warfare and strategic thinking have fluctuated wildly in their aims, intensity, limitations and excesses over the past two millennia.

Book War  Peace and International Relations

Download or read book War Peace and International Relations written by Colin S. Gray and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-10-24 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the strategic history of the past two centuries, showing how those 200 years were shaped and reshaped extensively by war. The book takes a broad view of what was relevant to the causes, courses and consequences of conflict. The volume provides students with a strong grounding in the contribution of war to the development of the modern world, from the pre-industrial era to the age of international terrorism and smart weapons. Covering all the major wars of the past two centuries, the third edition has been revised and updated and now includes: new introductory essays at the start of each section to help students recognize historical turning points and strategic themes; revised and updated material on the post-Cold War period, accommodating new developments and contemporary perspectives; new material on non-Western views on strategy, especially Sun Tzu; a new chapter on ‘The age of acceleration and great power competition’, starting with the death of Bin Laden and ending with the Ukraine crisis; a new Conclusion offering a synthesis between the message of earlier editions and the state of strategy today. This textbook will be essential reading for students of strategic studies, security studies, war studies, International Relations and international history.

Book International Relations Since 1945

Download or read book International Relations Since 1945 written by John W. Young and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: International Relations since 1945 offers undergraduate students a comprehensive and accessible introduction to global political history since World War II. Clearly structured, and with a balance of description and analysis, the text is also supported by a range of helpful learning features and an accompanying website.

Book Law and Sentiment in International Politics

Download or read book Law and Sentiment in International Politics written by David Traven and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-07 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traven argues that universal moral beliefs and emotions shaped the evolution of international laws that protect civilians in war.

Book Darwin and International Relations  On the Evolutionary Origins of War and Ethnic Conflict

Download or read book Darwin and International Relations On the Evolutionary Origins of War and Ethnic Conflict written by Bradley A. Thayer and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2009 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Evolution of War

    Book Details:
  • Author : Maurice R. Davie
  • Publisher : Courier Corporation
  • Release : 2012-02-10
  • ISBN : 0486162214
  • Pages : 420 pages

Download or read book The Evolution of War written by Maurice R. Davie and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-02-10 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thorough, highly informative and exhaustive study presents an exceptional collection of cases examining such topics as warfare as the business of one sex, religion as a cause of war, and war for the sake of glory. Cannibalism, human sacrifice, blood-revenge, and other factors in warfare among primitive peoples are also expertly examined.

Book Inspectors for Peace

    Book Details:
  • Author : Elisabeth Roehrlich
  • Publisher : JHU Press
  • Release : 2022-04-05
  • ISBN : 1421443333
  • Pages : 342 pages

Download or read book Inspectors for Peace written by Elisabeth Roehrlich and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Based on unique access to the IAEA Archives in Vienna and numerous interviews with leading diplomats and scientists, this book provides the first comprehensive, empirically grounded, and independent study on the history of the International Atomic Energy Agency"--

Book Revolution and World Politics

Download or read book Revolution and World Politics written by Fred Halliday and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reassesses the role of revolution as a force that has shaped the development of world politics.

Book War  How Conflict Shaped Us

Download or read book War How Conflict Shaped Us written by Margaret MacMillan and published by Random House. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is peace an aberration? The New York Times bestselling author of Paris 1919 offers a provocative view of war as an essential component of humanity. NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW “Margaret MacMillan has produced another seminal work. . . . She is right that we must, more than ever, think about war. And she has shown us how in this brilliant, elegantly written book.”—H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World The instinct to fight may be innate in human nature, but war—organized violence—comes with organized society. War has shaped humanity’s history, its social and political institutions, its values and ideas. Our very language, our public spaces, our private memories, and some of our greatest cultural treasures reflect the glory and the misery of war. War is an uncomfortable and challenging subject not least because it brings out both the vilest and the noblest aspects of humanity. Margaret MacMillan looks at the ways in which war has influenced human society and how, in turn, changes in political organization, technology, or ideologies have affected how and why we fight. War: How Conflict Shaped Us explores such much-debated and controversial questions as: When did war first start? Does human nature doom us to fight one another? Why has war been described as the most organized of all human activities? Why are warriors almost always men? Is war ever within our control? Drawing on lessons from wars throughout the past, from classical history to the present day, MacMillan reveals the many faces of war—the way it has determined our past, our future, our views of the world, and our very conception of ourselves.

Book Brazil in the Global Nuclear Order  1945   2018

Download or read book Brazil in the Global Nuclear Order 1945 2018 written by Carlo Patti and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive and definitive history of Brazil's decision to give up the nuclear weapon option. Why do countries capable of "going nuclear" choose not to? Brazil, which gained notoriety for developing a nuclear program and then backtracking into adherence to the nonproliferation regime, offers a fascinating window into the complex politics surrounding nuclear energy and American interference. Since the beginning of the nuclear age, author Carlo Patti writes, Brazil has tried to cooperate with other countries in order to master nuclear fuel cycle technology, but international limitations have constrained the country's approach. Brazil had the start of a nuclear program in the 1950s, which led to the United States interfering in agreements between Brazil and other countries with advanced nuclear industries, such as France and West Germany. These international constraints, especially those imposed by the United States, partly explain the country's decision to create a secret nuclear program in 1978 and to cooperate with other countries outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] regime, such as Argentina and China. Yet, in 1998, Brazil chose to adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it so actively opposed only three decades prior, although the country still critiques the unfair nature of the treaty. Patti draws on recent declassified primary sources collected during years of research in public and private archives in eight different countries, as well as interviews with former presidents, diplomats, and scientists, to show how US nonproliferation policies deeply affected Brazil's decisions. Assessing the domestic and international factors that informed the evolution of Brazil's nuclear diplomacy, Brazil in the Global Nuclear Order, 1945-2018 also discusses what it means with respect to Brazil's future political goals.

Book Democracy and War

    Book Details:
  • Author : David L. Rousseau
  • Publisher : Stanford University Press
  • Release : 2005-03-24
  • ISBN : 0804767513
  • Pages : 408 pages

Download or read book Democracy and War written by David L. Rousseau and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2005-03-24 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional wisdom in international relations maintains that democracies are only peaceful when encountering other democracies. Using a variety of social scientific methods of investigation ranging from statistical studies and laboratory experiments to case studies and computer simulations, Rousseau challenges this conventional wisdom by demonstrating that democracies are less likely to initiate violence at early stages of a dispute. Using multiple methods allows Rousseau to demonstrate that institutional constraints, rather than peaceful norms of conflict resolution, are responsible for inhibiting the quick resort to violence in democratic polities. Rousseau finds that conflicts evolve through successive stages and that the constraining power of participatory institutions can vary across these stages. Finally, he demonstrates how constraint within states encourages the rise of clusters of democratic states that resemble "zones of peace" within the anarchic international structure.