Parameters back issues from December 2007:
Afghanistan: regaining momentum.
Dec 22, 2007; ... On the sixth anniversary of the US-led military invasion, Afghanistan is faced with its worst crisis since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001. There are increasing concerns, both internationally and domestically, that Afghanistan faces the distinct possibility of sliding back into ...
New challenges and old concepts: understanding 21st century insurgency.(Viewpoint essay)
Dec 22, 2007; ... From the 1960s to the 1980s stopping Communist-backed insurgents was an important part of American strategy, so counterinsurgency was an important mission for the US military, particularly the Army. Even when most of the Army turned its attention to large-scale warfighting and the ...
US COIN doctrine and practice: an ally's perspective.(counterinsurgency )(Viewpoint essay)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Until very recently, the four and a half years of military operations in Iraq appeared to have created an obstacle in people's minds. Rightly or wrongly, reality has subsumed theory, and because of the media coverage Iraq has received, counterinsurgency is now seen as nothing but an ...
Strategic realignment: ends, ways, and means in Iraq.(Viewpoint essay)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Four years into the war in Iraq, the debate rages over whether there are enough troops deployed to accomplish the mission. Congress and the White House continuously argue over resources and the conduct of the war. Meanwhile, American and Iraqi casualties persist at an unacceptable rate ....
The military and reconstruction operations.(Viewpoint essay)
Dec 22, 2007; ... The post-Cold War trend of convergence between military and nonmilitary tasks has accelerated over the past six years as western nations seek to defeat the insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq. (1) One result of this convergence is an increased role for military forces in the conduct of ...
Disarming rogues: deterring first-use of weapons of mass destruction.(Viewpoint essay)
Dec 22, 2007; ... The United States and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003 with the declared intention of removing Saddam Hussein's regime. Although it was determined after the war that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD), removing a regime believed to be in possession of WMD raises the ...
Stabilization and democratization: renewing the transatlantic alliance.(Viewpoint essay)
Dec 22, 2007; ... The transatlantic disagreement over how to deal with the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003 gave rise to a spate of warnings about the imminent demise of NATO. (1) To some extent it is easy to discount many of those predictions based on the endurance of the alliance and its ongoing ...
The moral equality of combatants.(Essay)
Dec 22, 2007; ... According to the Just War tradition a war can only be just if two sets of principles are satisfied. (1) First there is the jus ad bellum. These principles tell us when it is just to start a war. There has to be a good reason or a just cause in order for a war to be morally permissible ...
Editor's shelf.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007 ... Since the events of 9/11 it would appear that every facet of the global media is to some degree searching for the answer to America's "intelligence failure;" not in any attempt to provide solutions, but rather, to cast doubt and incrimination. True, the conduct of some phases of the war on ...
Rethinking morality in war.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Thirty years ago, when Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) framed the boundaries of the Cold War, Michael Walzer exclaimed in his landmark work Just and Unjust Wars: "Nuclear weapons explode the theory of just war." For this reviewer, just as explosive was the assertion in America's 2002 ...
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944. By Rick Atkinson. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. 816 pages. $35.00. Reviewed by Colonel Len Fullenkamp, USA Ret., Professor of Military History and Strategy, US Army War College. The Day of Battle provides an ...
Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower. By Zbigniew Brzezinski. New York: Basic Books, 2007. 234 pages. $26.95. Reviewed by John W. Coffey, retired Foreign Affairs Officer at the State Department and author of numerous articles on foreign and defense policy. ...
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy: Confronting Today's Threats.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy: Confronting Today's Threats. Edited by George Bunn and Christopher F. Chyba. Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2006. 340 pages. $29.95 (paper). Reviewed by George H. Quester, Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland. ...
Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War. By Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005. 300 pages. $32.95. Reviewed by Major Bradley L. Bowman, Assistant Professor of American Politics, Policy, and Strategy, Department of Social Sciences, United ...
Caesar: Life of a Colossus.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Caesar: Life of a Colossus. By Adrian Goldsworthy. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2006. 583 pages. $35.00. Reviewed by Dr. J. Boone Bartholomees, Jr., Professor of Military History, US Army War College. Adrian Goldsworthy has produced the definitive modern biography of ...
The Kremlin and the High Command: Presidential Impact on the Russian Military from Gorbachev to Putin.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... The Kremlin and the High Command: Presidential Impact on the Russian Military from Gorbachev to Putin. By Dale R. Herspring, foreword by David M. Glantz. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2006. 242 pages. $34.95. Reviewed by Dr. Stephen J. Blank, Professor of National Security Studies, ...
U.S. Army Counterinsurgency and Contingency Operations Doctrine 1942-1976.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... U.S. Army Counterinsurgency and Contingency Operations Doctrine 1942-1976. By Andrew J. Birtle. Washington: US Army Center of Military History, 2006. 570 pages. $49.00. Reviewed by Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Cassidy, a US Army officer and a non-resident Fellow with the Center for ...
Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation, Global Insecurity, and the Rise and Fall of the A.Q. Khan Network.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation, Global Insecurity, and the Rise and Fall of the A. Q. Khan Network. By Gordon Corera. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 288 pages. $28.00. Reviewed by W. Andrew Terrill, General Douglas MacArthur Professor of National Security Studies, ...
The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression. By James Mann. New York: Viking Press, 2007. 127 pages. $19.95. Reviewed by Richard Halloran, onetime lieutenant of airborne infantry and formerly a correspondent in Asia for The New York Times. In good ...
John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship. By Donald B. Connelly. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. 488 pages. $49.95. Reviewed by Colonel Alan Cate, USA Ret. The hallmark of classic scholarship is that for years, or even decades, new generations of ...
Firestorm: Allied Air Power and the Destruction of Dresden.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Firestorm: Allied Air Power and the Destruction of Dresden. By Marshall De Bruhl. New York: Random House, 2006. 348 pages. $27.95. Reviewed by Dr. Tami Davis Biddle, Associate Professor of National Security Studies, US Army War College. The air attack on Dresden, waged in ...
Battle for the Ruhr: The German Army's Final Defeat in the West.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Battle for the Ruhr: The German Army's Final Defeat in the West. By Derek S. Zumbro. University Press of Kansas, 2006. 447 pages. $34.95. Reviewed by Colonel James R. Oman, Chairman, Department of Command, Leadership, and Management, US Army War College. Author Derek S. Zumbro ...
The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I. By Mark Ethan Grotelueschen. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 388 pages. $75.00. Reviewed by Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II (LTC, USA Ret.), Research Professor, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College. ...
Fighting for the Fatherland: The Story of the German Soldier from 1648 to the Present Day.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Fighting for the Fatherland: The Story of the German Soldier from 1648 to the Present Day. By David J. Stone. Dulles, Va.: Potomac Books, 2006. 488 pages. $29.95. Reviewed by Major William H. Mengel, former Assistant Professor of History, US Military Academy. In a sweeping ...
Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War. By Robert M. Cassidy. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2006. 211 pages. $49.95. Reviewed by Associate Professor William Flavin, Director of Doctrine, Concepts, Education, and Training at the ...
Gaia's Revenge: Climate Change and Humanity's Loss.(Book review)
Dec 22, 2007; ... Gaia's Revenge: Climate Change and Humanity's Loss. By E H. Liotta and Allan W. Shearer. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Press, 2006, 208 pages. $49.95. Reviewed by Dr. Kent Hughes Butts, Professor of Political Military Strategy, US Army War College who testified on climate change and security ...
Off the press ...(List)
Dec 22, 2007 ... Ackerman, Diane. The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007. 394 pp. $23.95. Atkinson, Rick. The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944. New York: Henry Holt, 2007. 816 pp. $35.00. Bacevich, Andrew J., ed. The Long War: A ...
Madigan Awards ...(Brief article)
Dec 22, 2007 ... Colonel John J. Madigan III (1936-1999) served as editor of Parameters from March 1993 to January 1999. During that time he challenged colleagues, faculty, and students to write for publication, and he worked tirelessly with writers from throughout academia and the defense establishment to ...