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What accounts for the diverging contributions to multinational military operations? Over two decades ago, Bennett, Lepgold and Unger published a seminal study that aimed to explain the division of the burdens of the Desert Storm Coalition. This article reviews four recent monographs on national behaviour in multinational operations against the backdrop of their conclusions. While the four reviewed titles suggest that the bulk of the conclusions of Bennett, Lepgold and Unger's study hold beyond the scope of the Desert Storm Coalition, each of them also makes a distinct contribution to the literature. Baltrusaitis offers three excellent case studies on burden sharing in the 2003 Iraq War, Davidson provides essential insights on the impact of alliance value and threat and the studies of Auerswald and Saideman and Mello invoke important domestic variables that were not structurally examined by Bennett, Lepgold and Unger. Altogether, the reviewed titles provide convincing explanations for the behaviour of democratic states in US-led operations. Consequently, the article concludes by arguing that the most promising avenue for future research would be to focus on military operations in which the United States has a more limited role and on the contributions of non-democratic states to multinational operations. Auerswald DP and Saideman SM (2014) NATO in Afghanistan: Fighting Together, Fighting Alone. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Baltrusaitis DF (2010) Coalition Politics and the Iraq War: Determinants of Choice. Boulder, CO: First Forum Press. Davidson J (2011) America's Allies and War: Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Mello P (2014) Democratic Participation in Armed Conflict Military Involvement in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Although political friction and ideological differences between China and the West can hamper co-operation on missions known as 'Military Operations Other than War', the UK and China have achieved a certain level of success in this regard, particularly in relation to UN peacekeeping and counter-piracy operations. In this article, Miwa Hirono and Manshu Xu argue that the key has been to use multilateral platforms to frame bilateral collaboration, thereby diminishing Chinese perceptions of the associated political risks. Thus it is useful for Western militaries to exploit multilateralism to make military co-operation more attractive to China

THE PAPER ARGUES THAT THE CURRENT EMPHASIS ON "RISK-FREE" OPERATIONS IN US MILITARY CIRCLES IS INEFFICIENT AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. TO COMBAT THIS TREND, THE PAPER OFFERS A BASIC EQUATION OF RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT. IT SEEKS TO ENCOMPASS BOTH MILITARY AND POLITICAL SENSITIVITIES, AS WELL AS ECONOMIC, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND INFORMATIONAL RISKS. IT OFFERS FOUR RISK-ORIENTED QUESTIONS WHICH FORM A "FILTER" THAT PLANNERS MUST APPLY AFTER THE COMMITMENT TO USE FORCE HAS BEEN MADE.