Download or read book Strategic Culture and Italy s Military Behavior written by Paolo Rosa and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-04-21 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Italy, although it considers itself to be a middle-sized power on par with France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, has been incapable of playing an international role comparable to theirs, instead keeping a low-profile foreign policy. This has not been due to any material constraints—Italy’s profile has remained consistently low, through economic times both good and bad—but rather to the country’s strategic culture, a mixture of realpolitik and pacifist tendencies. This book sets out to analyze the influence of Italy’s strategic culture on its foreign policy. It conducts an exploratory case-study to show if hypotheses generated by the strategic culture approach can shed some light on the puzzling Italian behavior in the international arena (puzzling because Italy shows a less assertive foreign policy vis-à-vis other middle powers in the same rank). The first chapter considers the main interpretations of Italian foreign policy and their limitations. The second and third chapters review the literature on strategic culture, stressing its utility for the Italian case. The fourth chapter describes the country’s strategic culture through the Liberal, Fascist, and Republican periods, and the fifth chapter analyzes the influence of ideational factors on Italy’s behavior abroad. Conclusions sum up the various emerging evidences. Scholars of political science, international relations, strategic studies, and comparative politics will find this work to be of interest.

Download or read book Italy and the Military written by Mattia Roveri and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book sheds new light on the role of the military in Italian society and culture during war and peacetime by bringing together a whole host of contributors across the interdisciplinary spectrum of Italian Studies. Divided into five thematic units, this volume examines the continuous and multifaceted impact of the military on modern and contemporary Italy. The Italian context offers a particularly fertile ground for studying the cultural impact of the military because the institution was used not only for defensive/offensive purposes, but also to unify the country and to spread ideas of socio-cultural and technological development across its diverse population.

Download or read book Cultural Dimensions of Strategy and Policy written by Jiyul Kim and published by Strategic Studies Institute. This book was released on 2009 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been a growing recognition in the post-Cold War era that culture has increasingly become a factor in determining the course of today's complex and interconnected world. The U.S. experience in Afghanistan and Iraq extended this trend to national security and military operations. There is also a growing recognition by the national security community that culture is an important factor at the policy and strategy levels. Cultural proficiency at the policy and strategy levels means the ability to consider history, values, ideology, politics, religion, and other cultural dimensions and assess their potential effect on policy and strategy. The Analytical Cultural Framework for Strategy and Policy (ACFSP) is one systematic and analytical approach to the vital task of viewing the world through many lenses. The ACFSP identifies basic cultural dimensions that seem to be of fundamental importance in determining such behavior and thus are of importance in policy and strategy formulation and outcomes. These dimensions are (1) Identity, or the basis for defining identity and its linkage to interests; (2) Political Culture, or the structure of power and decisionmaking; and (3) Resilience, or the capacity or ability to resist, adapt or succumb to external forces. Identity is the most important, because it ultimately determines purpose, values and interests that form the foundation for policy and strategy to attain or preserve those interests.

Download or read book The Culture of Military Organizations written by Peter R. Mansoor and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines how military culture forms and changes, as well as its impact on the effectiveness of military organizations.

Download or read book Strategic Cultures in Europe written by Heiko Biehl and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: European countries work together in crisis management, conflict prevention and many other aspects of security and defence policy. Closer cooperation in this policy arena seems to be the only viable way forward to address contemporary security challenges. Yet, despite the repeated interaction, fundamental assumptions about security and defence remain remarkably distinct across European nations. This book offers a comparative analysis of the security and defence policies of all 27 EU member states and Turkey, drawing on the concept of ‘strategic culture’, in order to examine the chances and obstacles for closer security and defence cooperation across the continent. Along the lines of a consistent analytical framework, international experts provide case studies of the current security and defence policies in Europe as well as their historical and cultural roots. ​

Download or read book Patterns of Influence written by Matthew R. Slater and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book addresses applied strategic culture and investigates the usefulness of the concept to better understand how internal state dynamics form unique institutions, behaviors, and perspectives that impact their external interactions with other states. The strategic culture literature successfully provides the necessary intellectual underpinnings; this volume is more concerned with its practical application for policy makers and analysts. This is accomplished by comparing a diverse set of case studies, including Afghanistan, Brazil, China, and Kosovo, to see if they use strategic culture consistently, which provides useful insights despite differences in state size and degree of political and social order"--

Download or read book Military Cultures in Peace and Stability Operations written by Chiara Ruffa and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2018-06-15 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chiara Ruffa argues that civil-military relations and societal beliefs about the use of force shape the military culture of an army in its home country and has an impact on soldiers' behavior overseas and their ability to keep the peace.

Download or read book Italy in Uncertain Times written by Carla Monteleone and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes how variations in the traditional pillars of Italian foreign policy (the US, the EU and multilateralism) can be related to changes in the US-led international hegemonic order and to the role that Italy plays within that order. To explore these variations, the book proposes an analysis of the Italian voting and sponsoring behavior at the UN in the period 2000-2017, in both the General Assembly and the Security Council, and emphasizes the importance of the latter forum to detect how Italian behavior reflects changes at the international system level. By focusing on the Italian coalition behavior, the book explores how Italy as a status seeking middle power has traditionally played the role of coalition facilitator, adapting its foreign policy to be part of a coalition of European states and building on this coalition to increase its contribution to the maintenance of the international system in support of the US-led order. Ultimately this behavior also contributed to its status. However, at a moment when traditional coalitions are reshuffling, and elements of uncertainty are present, elements of volatility are present in Italian foreign policy, especially in the choice of intra-European coalition partners. Italy still builds on a coalition of European states and still does so in support of the US and its authority in the international hegemonic order. But changes in the bargaining environment are making the facilitation of a coalition of European states more difficult and less rewarding. The book also highlights ongoing challenges at both the domestic and international level that might lead to more marked discontinuities in the traditional Italian foreign policy behavior

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of War written by Julian Lindley-French and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-01-19 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of War is the definitive analysis of war in the twenty-first century. With over forty senior authors from academia, government and the armed forces world-wide the Handbook explores the history, theory, ethics and practice of war. The Handbook first considers the fundamental causes of war, before reflecting on the moral and legal aspects of war. Theories on the practice of war lead into an analysis of the strategic conduct of war and non Western ways of war. The heart of the Handbook is a compelling analysis of the military conduct of war which is juxtaposed with consideration of technology, economy, industry, and war. In conclusion the volume looks to the future of this apparently perennial feature of human interaction.

Download or read book Cultures of Counterterrorism written by Silvia D'Amato and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates counterterrorism responses from a strategic-culturalist perspective, focusing on France and Italy in the post-9/11 era. Terrorism occupies a predominant space within contemporary political debate across all European countries. Recent attacks in Europe have raised many questions about the status of counterterrorism structures within European countries, revealing a wide range of practical as well as discursive security implications. This work provides an original contribution to the understanding of counterterrorism by asking how values, norms, and a shared sense of identity matter in policy dynamics. It explores and assesses which cultural elements are relevant for the fight against terrorism and investigates the impact which these elements can have on practical approaches to terrorism. Despite the current attention to terrorist attacks in Europe, the cases of France and Italy in counterterrorism affairs are particularly overlooked by the existing literature; this book analyses, questions, and examines the strategy of these two countries through the instruments offered by the culturalist approaches to strategy. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, discourse analysis, European politics, security studies, and international relations in general.

Download or read book Duce The Contradictions of Power written by Peter J. Williamson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-06-15 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eighty years after the fall of Benito Mussolini, controversy remains about what his dictatorship represented. This reflects the different sides to the Duce's leadership: while adept at nurturing and enforcing his personal political power, Mussolini's lack of insight into the requirements of governance prevented him from converting this power into influence to achieve his goals. His efforts to maintain the support of Italy's conservative elites--economic, social and political--also created tensions with his radical Fascist ambitions, diminishing the momentum behind his regime. Mussolini is frequently portrayed as a charismatic leader, but his rule was secured principally by coercion, violence and a 'spoils system'. Nonetheless, his personality cult had significant popular appeal, even if based upon a political myth. This enabled him to consolidate his position and to dominate his Fascist colleagues--but at a price of over-centralized, dysfunctional decision-making. In this book, the first comprehensive English-language study of Mussolini in nearly two decades, Peter J. Williamson brings to life the contradictions within the Duce's leadership. Using a wide range of sources, Williamson reveals how these conflicts impeded the dictator's ambitions, leaving him increasingly frustrated, all while most Italians endured the severe privations of both failure and Fascism.

Download or read book Through the Lens of Cultural Awareness written by Combat Studies Institute Press and published by . This book was released on 2019-07-08 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conducting the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) and projecting United States (US) influence worldwide has meant an increasing number of US diplomats and military forces are assigned to locations around the world, some of which have not previously had a significant US presence. In the current security environment, understanding foreign cultures and societies has become a national priority. Cultural understanding is necessary both to defeat adversaries and to work successfully with allies.

Download or read book The Concept of Resistance in Italy written by Maria Laura Mosco and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-05-24 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reassesses the Italian Resistance movement, historically conceived, and explores the concept of Resistance within the contemporary cultural context from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Download or read book Making Strategy written by Dennis M. Drew and published by . This book was released on 2002-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National secuirty strategy is a vast subject involving a daunting array of interrelated subelements woven in intricate, sometimes vague, and ever-changing patterns. Its processes are often irregular and confusing and are always based on difficult decisions laden with serious risks. In short, it is a subject understood by few and confusing to most. It is, at the same time, a subject of overwhelming importance to the fate of the United States and civilization itself. Col. Dennis M. Drew and Dr. Donald M. Snow have done a considerable service by drawing together many of the diverse threads of national security strategy into a coherent whole. They consider political and military strategy elements as part of a larger decisionmaking process influenced by economic, technological, cultural, and historical factors. I know of no other recent volume that addresses the entire national security milieu in such a logical manner and yet also manages to address current concerns so thoroughly. It is equally remarkable that they have addressed so many contentious problems in such an evenhanded manner. Although the title suggests that this is an introductory volume - and it is - I am convinced that experienced practitioners in the field of national security strategy would benefit greatly from a close examination of this excellent book. Sidney J. Wise Colonel, United States Air Force Commander, Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education

Download or read book Command Of The Air written by General Giulio Douhet and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.

Download or read book Strategy written by Sir Lawrence Freedman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2013 In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman's narrative is extraordinary, moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in primate groups, to the opposing strategies of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad, the strategic advice of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, the great military innovations of Baron Henri de Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz, the grounding of revolutionary strategy in class struggles by Marx, the insights into corporate strategy found in Peter Drucker and Alfred Sloan, and the contributions of the leading social scientists working on strategy today. The core issue at the heart of strategy, the author notes, is whether it is possible to manipulate and shape our environment rather than simply become the victim of forces beyond one's control. Time and again, Freedman demonstrates that the inherent unpredictability of this environment-subject to chance events, the efforts of opponents, the missteps of friends-provides strategy with its challenge and its drama. Armies or corporations or nations rarely move from one predictable state of affairs to another, but instead feel their way through a series of states, each one not quite what was anticipated, requiring a reappraisal of the original strategy, including its ultimate objective. Thus the picture of strategy that emerges in this book is one that is fluid and flexible, governed by the starting point, not the end point. A brilliant overview of the most prominent strategic theories in history, from David's use of deception against Goliath, to the modern use of game theory in economics, this masterful volume sums up a lifetime of reflection on strategy.

Download or read book Strategic Culture and Violent Non state Actors written by James M. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper combines three separate threads of analysis on culture and violent nonstate actors as a launching pad to spur further research into this critical arena of culture and security. Jim Smith lays out a series of templates for guiding analysis of culture and violent nonstate actors. Mark Long applies cultural analysis of radical Islam and alQaida in discussing the influences involved in the core al Qaida group's WMD decisions. Tom Johnson, in examining a tribal insurgent psychological campaign in Afghanistan, demonstrates that behavioral influences can be manipulated for significant effect in countering our efforts to gain stability and legitimacy for the Afghan government. James M. Smith, PhD, is the Director, USAF Institute for National Security Studies and Professor, Military Strategic Studies at the US Air Force Academy.Jerry Mark Long, PhD, is Associate Professor and Director, Middle East Studies, Honors College, Baylor University. Thomas H. Johnson is Research Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School.