Coercing compliance : state-initiated brute force in today's world / Robert Mandel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mandel, Robert, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military policy.

War.

National security.

Internal security.

Security, International.

World politics--21st century.

World politics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (318 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, [2020]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Few global security issues stimulate more fervent passion than the application of brute force. Despite the fierce debate raging about it in government, society and the Academy, inadequate strategic understanding surrounds the issue, prompting the urgent need for —the first comprehensive systematic global analysis of 21st century state-initiated internal and external applications of brute force. Based on extensive case evidence, Robert Mandel assesses the short-term and long-term, the local and global, the military, political, economic, and social, and the state and human security impacts of brute force. He explicitly isolates the conditions under which brute force works best and worst by highlighting force initiator and force target attributes linked to brute force success and common but low-impact force legitimacy concerns. Mandel comes to two major overarching conclusions. First, that the modern global application of brute force shows a pattern of futility—but one that is more a function of states' misapplication of brute force than of the inherent deficiencies of this instrument itself. Second, that the realm for successful application of state-initiated brute force is shrinking: for while state-initiated brute force can serve as a transitional short-run local military solution, he says, it cannot by itself provide a long-run global strategic solution or serve as a cure for human security problems. Taking the evidence and his conclusions together, Mandel provides policy advice for managing brute force use in the modern world.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

TABLES AND FIGURES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1. INTRODUCTION: The Study’s Central Thrust

2. MODERN COERCION CONUNDRUM

3. CASES OF STATE EXTERNAL BRUTE FORCE USE

4. CASES OF STATE INTERNAL BRUTE FORCE USE

5. BRUTE FORCE SECURITY IMPACT PATTERNS

6. CONCLUSION: Promising Security Paths

NOTES

INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-296) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

9780804795357

0804795355

OCLC:

1178769126