The Utility of Force. The Art of War in the Western World

Inbunden bok. Allen Lane. 2005. 434 sidor.

Nära nyskick. Skyddsomslag i mycket gott skick. Språk: Engelska. "Why do we try to use military force to solve our political problems? And why, when our forces win the military battles, does this still fail to solve those problems? From Iraq to the Balkans, and from Afghanistan to Chechnya, over the past fifteen years there has been a steady stream of military interventions that have not deliviered on their promise for peace, or even political resolution. This book, by one of the world's most experienced generals and leading military thinkers, explain the anomaly at the heart of our current international system and shows why force can only work if it has utility. It offers an original analysis and a bold new vision of the role of armed forces in resolving conflicts and confrontations. During the nineteenth century, industrial war established the practice of using force to achieve a decisive solution to disputes, the assumptions behind which still support our political and military decision-making. But although our enemies and our aims have changed dramatically since then, our concepts of war have remained rooted in the nineteenth century - and our national and international institutions reflect this. When we use military force in the contemporary world, therefore, it tends to lack utility. Since the Second World War too, focus has been upon the morality and legality of the use of force. As a result, the ends for which force is used have changed: the political aim has become a moral one. But the morality of the cause does not ensure the utility of the force. Reaching back to Napoleon, reflecting upon some of the major conflicts of the past two centuries and of our own time, and looking ahead to our future, 'The Utility of Force' reveals the crucial shifts in the structure of war in the modern age. Based upon history, analysis and a wealth of personal experience, it fundamentally changes the way to understand conflict".