Unique in its breadth and depth of coverage, the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations presents the most detailed collection of data on peace operations—those launched by the UN, by regional organizations, by coalitions, and by individual nations—that is available. Features of the 2007 volume include:

• an introductory essay on the priorities and    More >

Unique in its breadth of coverage, the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations presents the most detailed collection of data on peace operations—those launched by the UN, by regional organizations, by coalitions, and by individual nations—that is available. Features of the 2008 volume include:

• a summary analysis of the trends and developments in    More >

What does the increasing use of private security forces mean for governments? For individuals? Armies Without States offers a comprehensive analysis of the varieties, causes, and consequences of this growing phenomenon.

Ranging from the international to the subnational level and from the use of mercenaries by private parties to the government outsourcing of military    More >

Beginning with Mikhail Gorbachev's December 1988 announcement that Moscow intended to unilaterally reduce its conventional armed forces, the spotlight on arms control has turned away from negotiated treaties toward unilateral reductions, and there have been a number of reciprocal reductions not subject to negotiation.

While these initiatives appear novel, this book demonstrates that they are    More >

More than a decade after the end of the Cold War, the need to control the spread of arms remains clear, while the usefulness of traditional paradigms is increasingly called into question. The authors of Arms Control thoroughly review this complex topic, exploring differing approaches to arms control, successes and failures thus far, and the likelihood of future agreements. Ranging from    More >

Recent revelations about Iraqi and Soviet/Russian biological weapons programs and highly publicized events such as the deployment of anthrax and botulinum by the Aum Shinrikyo sect in Japan have made clear the necessity for addressing the issues of biological warfare and defense. In a comprehensive analysis of this imminent threat to global security, fourteen internationally recognized authorities    More >

Especially since the anthrax attacks of 2001, the issue of bioterrorism has been controversial: Are governments underestimating the potential hazard of biological toxins, as some claim, or is the danger in fact exaggerated? What are the policy options for dealing with such a complex threat? The authors of this book offer a reasoned assessment of the issues at the core of the    More >

Bjorn Møller explores the implications of switching to a new type of defense structure, nonoffensive defense (NOD), that would maintain an undiminished—or even improved—capability for defense while possessing no offensive capabilities. The advantages of such a switch, he posits, would be enhanced possibilities for arms control and disarmament, increased crisis stability, and the    More >

Realist assumptions of security studies increasingly have been challenged by an approach that places the human being, rather than the state, at the center of security concerns. This text is an indispensable statement of the ideas of this critical security project, written by some of its leading exponents.

The book is structured around three concepts—security, community,    More >

Errol Henderson critically examines what has been called the closest thing to an empirical law in world politics, the concept of the democratic peace.

Henderson tests two versions of the democratic peace proposition (DPP)—that democracies rarely if ever fight one another, and that democracies are more peaceful in general than nondemocracies—using exactly the same    More >

This multi-layered history of World War I’s doughboys recapitulates the enthusiasm of scores of soldiers as they trained for war, voyaged to France, and finally, faced the harsh reality of combat on the Western Front. Drawing on journals, diaries, personal narratives, and unit histories, Hallas relates the story of men in combat—the men behind the rifles. He has crafted a vivid    More >

Thoroughly examining the deliberations over nato enlargement in twelve countries—five current members of the alliance; three invited to join in the first round of enlargement; two seeking membership; and Russia and Ukraine, both involved with nato, but unlikely to join—the authors shed light on the political motives leading to each country's position. Their comparative analysis    More >

A central point of controversy among both academics and policymakers is the nature and significance of security in the post–Cold War world. Engaging that discussion, this original collection explores the new security challenges facing Europe.

The authors assess the relevance and usefulness of various actors and various approaches for tackling those security challenges. Seeking to avoid    More >

Reflecting the growing interest among scholars and practitioners in the relationship between security affairs and economics, this new volume explores the nature of that relationship in the first decade of the 21st century.

Among the issues addressed in the book are the impact of the events of September 11 and of the U.S. response. The authors also consider whether the challenges    More >

As national governments struggle to cope with the complex threat of mass-casualty terrorist attacks, there is an ongoing debate about the best approaches to counterterrorism policy. The authors of How States Fight Terrorism explore the dynamics of counterterrorism policy development in Europe and North America.

A series of case studies examine security concerns,    More >

Michael Sheehan provides a masterly survey of the varied positions that scholars have adopted in interpreting "security"—one of the most contested terms in international relations—and asks whether a synthesis is possible that both widens and deepens our understanding of the concept.

Sheehan first outlines the classical realist approach of Morgenthau and    More >

Is an end to the violence in Iraq, and the establishment of an enduring peace within a unified state, a realistic goal? Addressing this question, the authors of Iraq Preventing a New Generation of Conflict consider the sources of conflict in the country and outline the requirements for a successful peacebuilding enterprise.

In this important, controversial, and at times troubling book, Sandra Whitworth looks behind the rhetoric to investigate from a feminist perspective some of the realities of military intervention under the UN flag.

Whitworth contends that there is a fundamental contradiction between portrayals of peacekeeping as altruistic and benign and the militarized masculinity that    More >

Mixed Motives, Uncertain Outcomes looks critically at China's efforts to adapt its vast military- industrial complex to the service of its socialist market economy. The authors—all of whom have witnessed or participated first-hand in the country's defense conversion—offer political, macroeconomic, business, and military perspectives on this complex issue.

The book    More >

The second edition of this widely acclaimed book has been fully revised and updated to include:

• emphasis on economic, societal, and environmental aspects of security
• completely rewritten chapters on threat, the international political system, and economic security
• a new chapter on regional security
• developments in security concepts during the    More >

In recent decades, government and military officials alike have pushed increasingly in the direction of "bloodless wars," where confrontations are undertaken—and ultimately won—with minimum loss of human life. Robert Mandel provides the first comprehensive analysis of this trend.

After exploring the moral, legal, military, and political bases of the desire    More >

Two schools of thought now exist in security studies: traditionalists want to restrict the subject to politico–military issues; while wideners want to extend it to the economic, societal, and environmental sectors. This book sets out a comprehensive statement of the new security studies, establishing the case for the broader agenda.

The authors argue that security is a particular    More >

Do military expenditures retard economic growth and development, enhance the development process, or neither? How effective are military and military-dominated regimes in promoting economic development? What is the impact of military expenditures and arms acquisitions on conflict patterns?

Exploring the causal links between military expenditures and economic development in the Third World, the    More >

In this, his final book, Philip Windsor explores the emergence, meaning, and significance of the Cold War mentality. Tracing the evolution of strategic thinking from its origins in medieval Europe to the demise of the Cold War, he considers the peculiar character and autonomy that strategy acquired in the nuclear age.

Windsor is concerned with changes in our understanding of war and    More >

What is the relationship between the arms dynamic and world politics? How has that relationship changed? Considering the entire set of factors that influence the nature of armed forces, this comprehensive book puts these essential questions into historical and analytical perspective.

Buzan and Herring focus on four themes. In Part 1 they discuss the ways in which the political and    More >

Positing an "insecurity dilemma," in which national security, defined as regime security by state authorities, becomes pitted against the incompatible demands of ethnic, social, and religious forces, this book addresses the problems and prospects for security in the Third World in the 1990s.

The authors advance four lines of argument: First, there is a need to rethink the traditional    More >

While the war in Afghanistan saw most industrial countries back the US-led campaign, the subsequent war in Iraq has profoundly divided international opinion—and likely represents a watershed in the post-Cold War international order. The Iraq War examines the full range of explanations of the conflict, as well as its significance for the Middle East, for key international    More >

How has the concept of victory evolved as the nature of conflict itself has changed across time, circumstance, and culture? And to what end? Robert Mandel addresses these questions, consider¬ing the meanings, misperceptions, and challenges associated with military victory in the context of the nontraditional wars of recent decades.

Without an understanding of precisely what    More >

When and why is war justified? How, morally speaking, should wars be fought? The Morality of War confronts these challenging questions, surveying the fundamental principles and themes of the just war tradition through the words of the philosophers, jurists, and warriors who have shaped it.

The collection begins with the foundational works of just war theory, as well as those of two    More >

Although the horrors of war are manifest, academic debate is dominated by accounts that reinforce the concept of warfare as a rational project. Seeking to explain this paradox—to uncover the motivations at the core of warring communities—Theo Farrell explores the cultural forces that have shaped modern Western conflict.

Farrell finds that the norms of    More >

Why, despite indisputably superior military might, have the US-led military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq been so fraught with setbacks? Does it make sense in today’s security environment to use military force to achieve strategic objectives? How does the contemporary battlefield function? Addressing these questions, Simon Murden explores the contradictions inherent in attempting to    More >

Colin Gray returns nuclear weapons to the center stage of international politics.

Taking issue with the complacent belief that a happy mixture of deterrence, arms control, and luck will enable humanity to cope adequately with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Gray argues that the risk posed by WMD is ever more serious. Policy that ignores the present nuclear age, he cautions, is policy that    More >

In varying circumstances, military organizations around the world are undergoing major restructuring. This book explores why, and how, militaries change.

The authors focus on a complex of three influencing factors—cultural norms, politics, and new technology—offering a historical perspective of more than a century. Their analyses range from developing states to Russia, Britain, the    More >

This book explores the multifaceted security problems facing the Third World in the aftermath of the Cold War.

Ayoob proposes that the major underlying cause of conflict and insecurity in the Third World is the early stage of state making at which postcolonial states find themselves. Drawing comparisons with the West European experience, he argues that this approach provides richer comparative    More >

The proliferation of all kinds of weapons (nuclear, chemical, biological, and even conventional) is emerging as a focal point for international security. This book shows how both the language used to talk about weapons proliferation and the practices adopted to respond to it serve to define the problem in ways that promote policy responses doomed to failure.

Examining the metaphors that have    More >

A Main Selection of the Military Book Club

In the face of today’s security challenges, there is widespread recognition of the need to think and act in new ways to ensure both national and collective security interests. Transforming Defense Capabilities succinctly describes what transformation means in this context, why it is essential, and how to translate innovative concepts into relevant, feasible, and useful    More >

Completely revised throughout, the fourth edition of US National Security reflects the new strategic landscape as it has evolved in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The ongoing US military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, the focus on homeland security, the significant organizational changes in the intelligence bureaucracy, and the impact of the Bush Doctrine are    More >

In the past, posits Christopher Coker, wars were all-encompassing; they were a test not only of individual bravery, but of an entire community's will to survive. In the West today, in contrast, wars are tools of foreign policy, not intrinsic to the values of a society—they are instrumental rather than existential. The clash between these two "cultures of war" can be seen starkly in    More >

War crimes typically are discussed in sensational terms or in the dry language of international law. In contrast, David Chuter brings clarity to this complex subject, exploring why atrocities occur and what can be done to identify perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Chuter confronts the real horror of the murder, rape, and torture that are subsumed under the dispassionate    More >