Search results

The international spread of ethnic conflict: fear, diffusion, and escalation. / David A. Lake ... (eds). - Princeton : Princeton Uni Press, 1998 + Wars in the midst of peace: the international politics of ethnic conflict. / David Carment ... (eds). - Pittsburgh : Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1997 + Peace in the midst of wars: preventing and managing international ethnic conflicts. / David Carment ... (eds). - Columbia, SC : Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1998

This book investigates the use and utility of military force in modern war. After the Cold War, Western armed forces have increasingly been called upon to intervene in internal conflicts in the former Third World. These forces have been called upon to carry out missions that they traditionally have not been trained and equipped for, in environments that they often have not been prepared for. A number of these "new" types of operations in allegedly "new" wars stand out, such as peace enforcement, state-building, counter-insurgency, humanitarian aid, and not the least counter-terrorism. The success rate of these missions has, however, been mixed, providing fuel for an increasingly loud debate on the utility of force in modern war. This edited volume poses as its central question: what is in fact the utility of force? Is force useful for anything other than a complete conventional defeat of a regular opponent, who is confronted in the open field?

Introduction : the problem of victory and defeat in modern war / Jan Angstrom -- Defining postwar victory / Robert Mandel -- In the eye of the beholder : victory and defeat in US military operations / Dominic Johnson and Dominic Tierney -- Victory, counter-insurgency and Iraq -- Ian F.W. Beckett -- The United States perspective on victory in the war on terrorism / Jan Angstrom -- Paradoxes of the strategy of terrorism / Isabelle Duyvesteyn -- How to lose a war on terror : a comparative analysis of a counterinsurgency success and failure / Ivan Arreguin-Toft -- The origins and implications of Western counterinsurgency failures / Gil Merom -- Toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan / Stephen Biddle -- Culture and the outcome of military intervention : developing some hypotheses / Kersti Larsdotter -- Understanding victory and defeat : some conclusions / Isabelle Duyvesteyn

Military theory: an introduction -- War -- Strategy -- The principles of war -- Joint operations -- Land operations -- Sea operations -- Air operations -- The dynamics of war: some conclusions

The security behavior of small states has traditionally been explained by different takes of realism, liberalism, or constructivism – focusing on the behavior that aims toward safeguarding sovereignty or engaging in peace policies. The issue of why states with limited military capacities and little or no military alignments or engagements decide to participate in an international mission has received limited attention by previous research. In contrast, this article argues that a three-layered discursive model can make the choices of small states more precisely explained and thereby contribute to an increased understanding of small states' security behavior beyond threat balancing and interdependence. Analyzing a deviant case of a non-aligned small state, this article explains why Sweden became increasingly involved in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. By focusing on the domestic political discourses regarding the Swedish involvement in this mission, it is suggested that a narrative shapes public perception of a particular policy and establishes interpretative dominance of how a particular event should be understood. This dominant domestic discourse makes a certain international behavior possible and even impossible to alter once established. In the Swedish case, it is demonstrated that this discourse assumed a 'catch-all' ambition, satisfying both domestic and international demands. In general terms, it should thus be emphasized that certain discourses and narratives are required in order to make it possible for a country to participate in a mission such as ISAF and prolong the mission for several years.

The security behavior of small states has traditionally been explained by different takes of realism, liberalism, or constructivism – focusing on the behavior that aims toward safeguarding sovereignty or engaging in peace policies. The issue of why states with limited military capacities and little or no military alignments or engagements decide to participate in an international mission has received limited attention by previous research. In contrast, this article argues that a three-layered discursive model can make the choices of small states more precisely explained and thereby contribute to an increased understanding of small states' security behavior beyond threat balancing and interdependence. Analyzing a deviant case of a non-aligned small state, this article explains why Sweden became increasingly involved in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. By focusing on the domestic political discourses regarding the Swedish involvement in this mission, it is suggested that a narrative shapes public perception of a particular policy and establishes interpretative dominance of how a particular event should be understood. This dominant domestic discourse makes a certain international behavior possible and even impossible to alter once established. In the Swedish case, it is demonstrated that this discourse assumed a 'catch-all' ambition, satisfying both domestic and international demands. In general terms, it should thus be emphasized that certain discourses and narratives are required in order to make it possible for a country to participate in a mission such as ISAF and prolong the mission for several years.