Defence Reforms


Book Description

Keeping in mind the necessity as well as the urgency of reform, this volume brings together practitioners as well as researchers on defence issues, on the key issue of defence reforms. The aim is not just to interrogate the status of reforms in current times but to also place the issue before a wider readership.




Chinese Military Reform in the Age of Xi Jinping: Drivers, Challenges, and Implications


Book Description

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has embarked on its most wide-ranging and ambitious restructuring since 1949, including major changes to most of its key organizations. The restructuring reflects the desire to strengthen PLA joint operation capabilities- on land, sea, in the air, and in the space and cyber domains. The reforms could result in a more adept joint warfighting force, though the PLA will continue to face a number of key hurdles to effective joint operations, Several potential actions would indicate that the PLA is overcoming obstacles to a stronger joint operations capability. The reforms are also intended to increase Chairman Xi Jinping's control over the PLA and to reinvigorate Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organs within the military. Xi Jinping's ability to push through reforms indicates that he has more authority over the PLA than his recent predecessors. The restructuring could create new opportunities for U.S.-China military contacts.




Core Concerns in Indian Defence and the Imperatives for Reforms


Book Description

India's defence imperatives transcend the ideological "defence vs. butter" debate. Even while there may be no profound existential concerns, the geo-political reality of a deeply troubled neighbourhood, long legacy of border disputes with neighbours in the north and west and a widening spectrum of potential warfare from conventional and strategic to the asymmetric can be ignored at our own peril.




Defence reform


Book Description

The Defence Reform was launched in August 2010 as a fundamental review of how Defence is structured and managed. Many of the issues are not new and have been noted by similar reviews. The Steering Group believes an effective MOD is one which builds on the strengths of the individual Services and the Civil Service and does so within a single Defence framework that ensures the whole is more than the sum of its parts. A key driver for this review has been the Department's over-extended programme, to which the existing departmental management structure and management structure and behaviours contributed. Many of the Steering Group's proposals are designed to help prevent the Department from getting into such a poor financial position in the future and to put it in the position to make real savings. There are 53 recommendations the key ones of which are: to create a new and smaller Defence Board chaired by the Defence Secretary to strengthen top level decision making; to clarify the responsibilities of senior leaders, including the Permanent Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Staff; make the Head Office smaller and more strategic, to make high level balance of investment decisions, set strategic direction and a strong corporate framework; focus the Service Chiefs on running their Services and empower them to perform their role effectively with greater freedom to manage; strengthen financial and performance management throughout the Department to ensure future plans are affordable; create a 4 star led Joint Forces Command; create single, coherent Defence Infrastructure and Defence Business Services organisations; manage and use less senior military and civil personnel more effectively, people staying in post longer, more transparent and joint career management.




The Military Transition


Book Description

Narcís Serra, former Spanish Minister of Defence, explains the process and conditions necessary for successful democratic military reform.




Russia’s Military Modernisation: An Assessment


Book Description

This new IISS Strategic Dossier examines the recent development of Moscow’s armed forces and military capabilities. It analyses the aspirations underpinning Russia’s military reform programme and its successes as well as its failures. The book also provides insights into Russia’s operational use of its armed forces, including in the intervention in Syria, the goals and results of recent state armament programmes, and the trajectory of future developments. This full-colour volume includes more than 50 graphics, maps and charts and over 70 images, and contains chapters on: Russia's armed forces since the end of the Cold War Strategic forces Ground forces Naval forces Aerospace forces Russia’s approach to military decision-making and joint operations Economics and industry At a time when Russia’s relations with many of its neighbours are increasingly strained, and amid renewed concern about the risk of an armed clash, this dossier is essential reading for understanding the state,capabilities and future of Russia’s armed forces.




Neoclassical Realism and Defence Reform in Post-Cold War Europe


Book Description

Dyson explains the convergence and divergence between British, French and German defence reforms in the post-Cold War era. He engages with cultural and realist theories and develops a neoclassical realist approach to change and stasis in defence policy, bringing new material to bear on the factors which have affected defence reforms.




Emerging Strategies in Defense Acquisitions and Military Procurement


Book Description

Military and defense organizations are a vital component to any nation. In order to maintain the standards of these sectors, new procedures and practices must be implemented. Emerging Strategies in Defense Acquisitions and Military Procurement is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly research on the present state of defense organizations, examining reforms and solutions necessary to overcome current limitations and make vast improvements to their infrastructure. Highlighting methodologies and theoretical foundations that promote more effective practices in defense acquisition, this book is ideally designed for academicians, practitioners, researchers, upper-level students, and professionals engaged in defense industries.




Cultivating Humanity


Book Description

How can higher education today create a community of critical thinkers and searchers for truth that transcends the boundaries of class, gender, and nation? Martha C. Nussbaum, philosopher and classicist, argues that contemporary curricular reform is already producing such “citizens of the world” in its advocacy of diverse forms of cross-cultural studies. Her vigorous defense of “the new education” is rooted in Seneca’s ideal of the citizen who scrutinizes tradition critically and who respects the ability to reason wherever it is found—in rich or poor, native or foreigner, female or male. Drawing on Socrates and the Stoics, Nussbaum establishes three core values of liberal education: critical self-examination, the ideal of the world citizen, and the development of the narrative imagination. Then, taking us into classrooms and campuses across the nation, including prominent research universities, small independent colleges, and religious institutions, she shows how these values are (and in some instances are not) being embodied in particular courses. She defends such burgeoning subject areas as gender, minority, and gay studies against charges of moral relativism and low standards, and underscores their dynamic and fundamental contribution to critical reasoning and world citizenship. For Nussbaum, liberal education is alive and well on American campuses in the late twentieth century. It is not only viable, promising, and constructive, but it is essential to a democratic society. Taking up the challenge of conservative critics of academe, she argues persuasively that sustained reform in the aim and content of liberal education is the most vital and invigorating force in higher education today.




Taiwan's Defense Reform


Book Description

The stand-off across the Straits of Taiwan continues to be one of the most dangerous confrontations in Asia. The technical superiority of the Taiwanese forces has been a major factor in maintaining balance, but as mainland China's armed forces modernize, Taiwan's advantages are being eroded. In response, Taiwan has recently undertaken a major reform of its armed forces. Bringing together a wide range of experts including people who are involved in defence policy making in Taiwan, this book presents a comprehensive analysis of these reforms, and assesses their likely effectiveness. Chapters are devoted to issues including the Chinese threat, the domestic context of reform, the role of the United States and specific defence issues, making the book an invaluable guide to the changes undertaken and underway within Taiwan’s strategic environment. With a foreword by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's Defense Reformwill be of interest to policy makers and academics working in this vital strategic area.