Suchergebnisse

Following the principles of realist school of international relations we are
analysing the shifts in Chinese military budget, military posture and
overall modernization of armed forces before and after the American ?Pivot?
to Asia. These results are later compared to the United States? foreign
policy and military posture in East Asia that had changed in the past
decade. Employing Walt?s theory of balance of threat in the following
article we have analyzed the shifts in Chinese military power and how other
regional actors? perceptions had changed during the last two decades of the
21st century. China that began internal balancing at the end of the
twentieth century wasnot perceived as a threat to American interests in East
Asia, which could potentially alter the regional status quo. The United
States along other regional countries didnot perceive Chinese growing
military power that was primarily land based, as a factor that should be
contained. However, things started to change as Beijing assertiveness in
South China Sea alerted other regional actors of Chinese growing naval power
and political aspirations. As the research results show, the idea that any
kind of balancing can lead to revisionism in the unipolar system is only
partially correct concept which can be affected by intensity and nature of
balancing politics.

With the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis, more than a decade old term of
hybrid warfare was brought back to life. The frequent usage of the term
"hybrid warfare" on a global scale inconsequentially produced an alteration
of the term's true meaning. In an attempt to define a hybrid war various
aspects of power are being added, sometimes by mistake, which can be
employed in a military manner. This paper will explore the concept of hybrid
warfare in Ukraine on the premises of Russian military operations and their
method of employing military force in the next generation of warfare. The
main research subject represents the study of operational and tactical
components of the military-political happenings on Crimea and in the region
of Donbas, as well as the study of the modern approach in the deployment and
utilization of military forces in the next generation of warfare. The
altered visage of modern warfare, affected by various socio-economic and
technological changes, also demands certain adjustments to military strategy
and tactics in terms of force employment and how these efforts correlate
with geopolitical goals and the manner in which they are accomplished. In
the paper, the author will use a variety of primary and secondary sources in
order to set a comprehensive theoretical foundation that will help us with
the ongoing analysis of the Ukrainian war and the role of Russian armed
forces in it. The goal of this study is to grasp and explain the changed
concept of military force as well as to call attention to the dynamic nature
of military strategy, which is constantly adjusting itself to the volatile
character of war. The main findings of this paper are focused on a partial
displacement of the Klauzewitzian centre of gravity, from higher strategic
levels towards lower operational and tactical levels of military
organization, as well as the fact that the Russian armed forces have managed
to successfully reinvent itself after numerous political and economic
hardships that have ensued after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The rise of a land power that is trying to develop its maritime forces has been viewed as an important conflict instigator among great powers. Great Britain shared similar concerns with the rise of Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Power relations among states in East Asia, during last two decades, share many similarities with those of pre-World War I Europe. This historical analogy provides abundant information regarding the behavior of land and maritime states. On the other hand, the analogy is often used without reference to other great powers in the system and how these states influenced the overall balance of power. In other words, we get the notion that the conflict between land and maritime power is inevitable regardless of other actors and their position in the system. In our work we shall focus our attention on the two processes that are balance of power and balance of threat; and try to understand how these mechanisms affected the politics of key actors in Europe before the Great War and how they affect the politics of contemporary states in East Asia. Since we are discussing the balance of power concept the article follows ideas set forth by authors of realism. Comparing different approaches of great powers to balancing in the years before the Great War and what balancing looks like in contemporary East Asia we shall try to point out to some strategic misconceptions regarding this historical analogy.