Security, strategy, and the quest for bloodless war / Robert Mandel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mandel, Robert, 1949- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Casualty aversion (Military science).

United States--Military policy.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 209 pages)

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colorado ; London : Lynne Rienner Publishers, [2004]

Summary:

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 to minimize wartime casualties, Mandel examines the actual strategies and tools involved; here, the focus is on nonlethal weapons, precision-guided munitions, and information warfare. He then addresses the sobering practical constraints on aspirations to minimize casualties. His concluding review of policy options draws lessons from premodern patterns of warfare and calls for a more realistic understanding of the strategies available in today's security environment.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Figures

Preface

Introduction

1. The Quest for Bloodless War

2. Means of Pursuing Bloodless War

3. Precision-Guided Munitions

4. Nonlethal Weaponry

5. Information Warfare

6. What Can Go Wrong

7. Toward Effective Casualty Aversion

8. Security Policy Implications

Selected Bibliography of Works on Bloodless War

Index

About the Book

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-62637-491-0

OCLC:

1334344041