Redefining Sovereignty


Book Description

With considerable insight and analysis, the editors and contributors to the book--the world's leading ethicists, political scientists and international lawyers--investigate the use of force since the end of the Cold War and, simultaneously, what changes have or should occur with respect to sovereignty and the law in the 21st century. Redefining Sovereignty has resulted from three groundbreaking workshops on international law and the use of force: the first was held in Rome soon after NATO's 1999 intervention in Kosovo; the second took place in Frankfurt after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan; and the third occurred in Columbus, Ohio after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Together, these and other uses of armed force since the end of the Cold War have raised new and challenging questions for the international law and policy on the regulation of armed conflict. These questions are explored in the thoughtful text, including: With the end of superpower rivalry have these uses of force had a particular impact on the state system? Have they, for example, affected the concept of state sovereignty? Have they affected the legal regime on the use of force? By the time of the Iraq invasion in March 2003, had some uses of force long-considered prohibited by the principle of non-intervention become lawful? Did the use of force to protect human rights, to respond to terrorism, for arms control or to preempt future threats become lawful or if not lawful, somehow otherwise legitimate? Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.




Military Coercion and US Foreign Policy


Book Description

This book examines the use of military force as a coercive tool by the United States, using lessons drawn from the post-Cold War era (1991–2018). The volume reveals that despite its status as sole superpower during the post-Cold War period, US efforts to coerce other states failed as often as they succeeded. In the coming decades, the United States will face states that are more capable and creative, willing to challenge its interests and able to take advantage of missteps and vulnerabilities. By using lessons derived from in-depth case studies and statistical analysis of an original dataset of more than 100 coercive incidents in the post-Cold War era, this book generates insight into how the US military can be used to achieve policy goals. Specifically, it provides guidance about the ways in which, and the conditions under which, the US armed forces can work in concert with economic and diplomatic elements of US power to create effective coercive strategies. This book will be of interest to students of US national security, US foreign policy, strategic studies and International Relations in general.




The Use of Force After the Cold War


Book Description

The end of the Cold War created a near-euphoria that nations might resort less to military force and that the Doomsday nuclear clock might stop short of midnight. Events soon dashed the higher of these hopes, but the nature of military force and the uses to which it might be put did appear to be changing. In this volume eleven leading scholars apply their particular expertise to understanding what (if anything) has changed and what has not, why the patterns are as they are, and just what the future might bring. Together, the authors address political, moral, and military factors in the decision to use or avoid military force. Case studies of the Gulf War and Bosnia, analyses of the role of women in the armed forces and the role of intelligence agencies, and studies of inter-branch and inter-agency tensions and cooperation inform the various chapters. A strong and thoughtful introduction by H. W. Brands provides the context that ties together the themes and perspectives. Scholars in this distinguished collection include Stephen Biddle, Alexander L. George, J. Bryan Hehir, Andrew Kohut, Andrew Krepinevich, James M. Lindsay, Charles Moskos, Williamson Murray, Bruce Russett, Tony Smith, and Susan L. Woodward. The volume will help scholars, policy makers, and concerned citizens contemplate national alternatives when force threatens.




The Politics of Military Force


Book Description

The Politics of Military Force examines the dynamics of discursive change that made participation in military operations possible against the background of German antimilitarist culture. Once considered a strict taboo, so-called out-of-area operations have now become widely considered by German policymakers to be without alternative. The book argues that an understanding of how certain policies are made possible (in this case, military operations abroad and force transformation), one needs to focus on processes of discursive change that result in different policy options appearing rational, appropriate, feasible, or even self-evident. Drawing on Essex School discourse theory, the book develops a theoretical framework to understand how discursive change works, and elaborates on how discursive change makes once unthinkable policy options not only acceptable but even without alternative. Based on a detailed discourse analysis of more than 25 years of German parliamentary debates, The Politics of Military Force provides an explanation for: (1) the emergence of a new hegemonic discourse in German security policy after the end of the Cold War (discursive change), (2) the rearticulation of German antimilitarism in the process (ideational change/norm erosion) and (3) the resulting making-possible of military operations and force transformation (policy change). In doing so, the book also demonstrates the added value of a poststructuralist approach compared to the naive realism and linear conceptions of norm change so prominent in the study of German foreign policy and International Relations more generally.




The changing rules on the use of force in international law


Book Description

Now available as an eBook for the first time, this 2006 book from the Melland Schill series considers the main legal issues concerning the use of force by international organisations and states. It assesses the achievements and failures of the United Nations' collective security system, and discusses the prospects ahead. It also deals with the use of force by states in self-defence and on other legal grounds. The book discusses to what extent the rules on the use of force have evolved since the end of the Cold War in order to meet the needs of the international community. It focuses in particular on the military operations directed against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The research is developed from the standpoint of the sources of international law. It rejects a static vision of the rules on the use of force, including those enshrined in the UN Charter. Rather, it highlights the interaction between conventional and customary international law and the exposure of both sources to state practice.




American Force


Book Description

While American national security policy has grown more interventionist since the Cold War, Washington has also hoped to shape the world on the cheap. Misled by the stunning success against Iraq in 1991, administrations of both parties have pursued ambitious aims with limited force, committing the country's military frequently yet often hesitantly, with inconsistent justification. These ventures have produced strategic confusion, unplanned entanglements, and indecisive results. This collection of essays by Richard K. Betts, a leading international politics scholar, investigates the use of American force since the end of the Cold War, suggesting guidelines for making it more selective and successful. Betts brings his extensive knowledge of twentieth century American diplomatic and military history to bear on the full range of theory and practice in national security, surveying the Cold War roots of recent initiatives and arguing that U.S. policy has always been more unilateral than liberal theorists claim. He exposes mistakes made by humanitarian interventions and peace operations; reviews the issues raised by terrorism and the use of modern nuclear, biological, and cyber weapons; evaluates the case for preventive war, which almost always proves wrong; weighs the lessons learned from campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam; assesses the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia; quells concerns about civil-military relations; exposes anomalies within recent defense budgets; and confronts the practical barriers to effective strategy. Betts ultimately argues for greater caution and restraint, while encouraging more decisive action when force is required, and he recommends a more dispassionate assessment of national security interests, even in the face of global instability and unfamiliar threats.




Intervention


Book Description

Publisher Fact Sheet Draws upon case studies - including Iraq, Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, & Lebanon - & suggests political & military guidelines for potential U.S. military interventions ranging from peacekeeping & humanitarian operations to preventative strikes & all-out warfare.




Military Assistance on Request and the Use of Force


Book Description

In countries such as Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen, internationally recognized governments embroiled in protracted armed conflicts, and with very little control over their territory, have requested direct military assistance from other states. These requests are often accepted by the other states, despite the circumvention of the United Nations Security Council and extensive violation of international humanitarian law and human rights. In this book, Erika De Wet examines the authority entitled to extend a request for (or consent to) direct military assistance, as well as the type of situations during which such assistance may be requested, notably whether it may be requested during a civil war. Ultimately, De Wet addresses the question of if and to what extent the proliferation of military assistance on the request of a recognized government is changing the rules in international law applying to the use of force.




Post-Cold War Conflict Deterrence


Book Description

Deterrence as a strategic concept evolved during the Cold War. During that period, deterrence strategy was aimed mainly at preventing aggression against the United States and its close allies by the hostile Communist power centers--the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its allies, Communist China and North Korea. In particular, the strategy was devised to prevent aggression involving nuclear attack by the USSR or China. Since the end of the Cold War, the risk of war among the major powers has subsided to the lowest point in modern history. Still, the changing nature of the threats to American and allied security interests has stimulated a considerable broadening of the deterrence concept. Post-Cold War Conflict Deterrence examines the meaning of deterrence in this new environment and identifies key elements of a post-Cold War deterrence strategy and the critical issues in devising such a strategy. It further examines the significance of these findings for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Quantitative and qualitative measures to support judgments about the potential success or failure of deterrence are identified. Such measures will bear on the suitability of the naval forces to meet the deterrence objectives. The capabilities of U.S. naval forces that especially bear on the deterrence objectives also are examined. Finally, the book examines the utility of models, games, and simulations as decision aids in improving the naval forces' understanding of situations in which deterrence must be used and in improving the potential success of deterrence actions.




Exercise of Power


Book Description

From the former secretary of defense and author of the acclaimed #1 bestselling memoir, Duty, a candid, sweeping examination of power, and how it has been exercised, for good and bad, by American presidents in the post-Cold War world. Since the end of the Cold War, the global perception of the United States has progressively morphed from dominant international leader to disorganized entity. Robert Gates argues that this transformation is the result of the failure of political leaders to understand the complexity of American power, its expansiveness and its limitations. He makes clear that the successful exercise of power is not limited to the ability to coerce or demand submission, but must also encompass diplomacy, strategic communications, development assistance, intelligence, technology, and ideology. With forthright judgments of the performance of past presidents and their senior-most advisers, insightful ­firsthand knowledge, and compelling insider stories, Gates’s candid, sweeping examination of power in all its manifestations argues that U.S. national security in the future will require abiding by the lessons of the past, reimagining our approach, and revitalizing nonmilitary instruments of power essential to success and security.