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Global Security Concerns : Anticipating the Twenty-First Century - Hardcover

 
9789996328602: Global Security Concerns : Anticipating the Twenty-First Century

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Synopsis

One of the most important and intellectually fascinating areas of investigation for the student of political affairs concerns the attempt to understand why man makes war. This ancient field of inquiry may be addressed at such various levels as the philosophical and psychological or the institutional and structural contexts of human behavior. For example, did the recent wars in Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti result from clashing ideologies, tribalism, poverty and class warfare, the cold war, or distant ramifications of colonial history, or, as has been postulated, the trees of these countries having been cut down? These plausible sources of conflict offer insight into various dimensions of explanations for wars; however, the analysts in this volume focus on just one aspect of the inquiry. They were charged with the task of anticipating which specific contentious issues likely will propel large, organized political units to choose violent means of acquiring their sociopolitical objectives rather than attaining them peacefully. The units on which we focus have been traditionally identified as states, but we recognize that a host of new sub- and suprastate actors also will play major roles in such wars; hence, we also will allude to them. The specific issues identified in the text are by no means completely new sources of contention. Indeed, we may easily argue that throughout history men have fought over the same objects and values-only the weapons, strategies, and tactics in their acquisition have changed. We concentrate on those issues that we believe will be prominent sources of contention at the dawn of the twenty-first century. We knowingly omitted some of the most pervasive and such well articulated causes of wars as power-balancing initiatives or the quest for such natural resources as oil or strategic minerals. These causes no doubt will prevail as sources of violent conflict, but they will not likely assume new forms as will those issues which ' comprise our chapter topics. Nor do we rank in order of importance a list of issues likely to lead to wars. We make no assumptions about the feasibility of such rankings as too many undetermined variables would enter into such an equation. We do offer a brief background on each topic; we attempt to assess the magnitude of them; we speculate on who the antagonists may be; and we attempt to project the disruptive potential of each topic under consideration and speculate on how it might impact the interests of the United States. We also are sensitive to assumptions that the potential disputes we portray must lead to war. In our analyses we offer balance by exploring the prospect that our contentious issues also may be resolved peacefully. Currently, numerous avail- able and prominent analyses caution us not to be overly sanguine about the end of war, and as analysts associated with the nation's military effort, we maintain a healthy respect for anticipating early the emerging challenges which counsel the timely formulation of appropriate responses. We do not proffer the emergence of startling new world paradigms and, we avoid the "gloom-and-doom" approach in drawing attention to our investigations. In fact, most of the sources of instability identified in this volume have manifested themselves in modemday conflicts, but we anticipate a larger role for them in the future. For example, it may seem innovative to identify international criminal activity as a future cause of armed hostilities between states, but we need only to recall our military operations in Panama and Haiti, which were motivated in part by our attempt to diminish the flow of narcotics into the United States. The US also has offered military support to the governments of several South American countries so they might curtail illicit drug production- ultimately headed for the US.

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  • ISBN 10 9996328600
  • ISBN 13 9789996328602
  • BindingHardcover

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