The Paradox of Precision and the Weapons Review Regime

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-34
Author(s):  
Joshua Andresen
Keyword(s):  
Military Force ◽  
The Us ◽  
Enemy Combatants

As aerial weapons become more accurate and precise, they paradoxically expose civilians to greater harm. They make the use of military force feasible where previously it had not been. While these weapons are subject to legal review to certify that they are capable of being deployed in a discriminate manner, weapons review practice in the US and UK lends cursory approval to weapons that are as likely to harm civilians as enemy combatants. This article argues that a robust contextualized review of weapon’s effects on civilians and combatants is both legally required and in states’ strategic security interests.

The USA: New Stage of Development

2014 ◽  
pp. 88-97
Author(s):  
N. Zagladin
Keyword(s):  
Tax Policy ◽  
Political System ◽  
The State ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
The U.S

In today’s world the U.S. ruling elite has proved unable to maintain its claim to world leadership by relying on military force. It was also necessary to make corrections in the budget and tax policy and to limit further increase of the state debt. The problems of choosing political alternatives, however, have provoked a serious conflict between the republican and the democratic parties, involving public movements. In fact, the US political system is in the state of crisis that exerts influence on Russian-American relations.

The USS Taiwan?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jude Woodward
Keyword(s):  
Mainland China ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Post War

This chapter considers the developing relations between Taiwan and Mainland China. After a post-war history that pitted them as rival governments of China, despite both sides having to abandon the project of early reunification by military force, the primary relations between them remained hostile. These hostilities began to diminish as first Taiwan then mainland China took off economically, and the primary drivers of their bilateral relations increasingly became economic rather than political or military and the knotty problem of Taiwan’s status has been shelved. The US ‘pivot’ has tended to bring the issue of Taiwan’s status back to the fore; but while Taiwan continues to prioritise relations with the US, on which it is militarily dependent, it has shown caution about allowing tensions to rise with China.

Is there an emerging left-wing foreign policy in the United States?

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-48
Author(s):  
Aaron Ettinger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Foreign Policies

Is there a left-wing foreign policy emerging in the United States? The rise of an energized and assertive left wing of the Democratic Party, and a receptive constituency within the electorate, has opened space for new political possibilities at home. In the foreign policy realm, leftist internationalism is making compelling arguments about new directions. However, there are limitations to the possible realization of a left-wing foreign policy in the US. While candidates like Sanders and Warren are distinctive in a left-wing foreign policy worldview, the practical implications of their foreign policies are consistent with post-Cold War practice. There are two important exceptions: in trade policy and in their positions on the use of military force. Here they mark a sharp break from the liberal internationalist mainstream. This paper outlines five broad principles of left internationalism, assesses the foreign policy positions of leading Democratic candidates for the 2020 nomination, and explores the long-term prospects of left-wing foreign policy in the US after 2020.

The Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons Against the Syrian People: Does It Justify Forceful Intervention?

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-159
Author(s):  
S. Krishnan
Keyword(s):  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
American People ◽  
Chemical Weapons ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Us Military ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Military Campaign

The USA continues to deliberate over the use of military force against the Syrian regime under Bashar al-Assad, after its alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians. So long as the UN Security Council does not agree with intervention, any US action is not permissible under the UN Charter. Even the principle of Responsibility to Protect would not be justified in this case, as any action is likely to be short, punitive, and unlikely to end the attacks on Syrian civilians. To determine if international law permits the launching of US military strikes in Syria, it is the UN Charter, and not the Geneva Conventions, which must guide the US government and the American people. Then, there is the so-called humanitarian intervention, or a military campaign calculated to stop widespread attacks on a civilian population, including acts of genocide, other crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Modeling the Complexity of the Terrorism/Counter-Terrorism Struggle

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Arney ◽  
Zachary Silvis ◽  
Matthew Thielen ◽  
Jeff Yao
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Asymmetric Warfare ◽  
United States Armed Forces ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
Complex Mathematical Model

The United States armed forces could be considered the world’s most powerful military force. However, in modern conflicts, techniques of asymmetric warfare (terrorism) wreak havoc on the inflexible, regardless of technological or numerical advantage. In order to be more effective, the US military must improve its counter-terrorism (CT) capabilities and flexibility. In this light, the authors model the terrorism-counter-terrorism (T-CT) struggle with a detailed and complex mathematical model and analyze the model’s components of leadership, promotion, recruitment, resources, operational techniques, cooperation, logistics, security, intelligence, science, and psychology in the T-CT struggle, with the goal of informing today’s decision makers of the options available in counter-terrorism strategy.

Peacemakers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Pardew
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Security ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Military Force ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Multilateral Cooperation ◽  
The Us

Peacemakers is a candid, inside account of the US response to the disintegration of Yugoslavia by James Pardew, an official at the heart of American policy-making, diplomacy, and military operations, from the US-led negotiations on Bosnia in 1995 until Kosovo declared independence in 2008. The book describes in colorful detail the drama of war and diplomacy in the Balkans and the motives, character, talents, and weaknesses of the heroes and villains involved. The US engagement in the former Yugoslavia is a major American foreign policy and national security success with lasting implications for the United States, Europe, and the Balkan region. It involves aggressive diplomacy, the selective use of military force and extensive multilateral cooperation. The experience demonstrates the value of American leadership in an international crisis and the critical importance of America’s relationship with European democracies. US engagement in the former Yugoslavia shows the overwhelming benefits of the shared costs and the international legitimacy of multilateral cooperation when responding to a crisis. A capable and determined US-led coalition restores stability and gives the new nations of Southeastern Europe the chance to become successful democracies in the European mainstream. Peacemakers concludes with lessons learned from the Balkan experience and insights on international crisis management of potential value to envoys and foreign policy and national security decision-makers in the future.

scholarly journals The EU Methodology of Security and Defense Planning

2015 ◽  
pp. 142-153
Author(s):  
M. V. Alexandrov
Keyword(s):  
Planning Process ◽  
Military Force ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Strategic Uncertainty ◽  
Russian Scientific ◽  
The Us ◽  
Defence Policy ◽  
Long Term Forecasting ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Eu

Abstract: The article examines the methodology used within the European Union when planning the security and defence policy. The author analyses the key EU documents in this field, the structure of the respective EU bodies and the corresponding decision-making process. In particular, the article looks at the security and defence planning responsibilities of the European Council, the Military Committee and the Military Staff as well as the European Defence Agency. The author conducts a comparative analysis of the EU security and defence planning methodology with that of the US and NATO. He shows that the methodology is very similar. This concerns in particular the structural composition and the logics of the planning, its geographical scope and considerable propaganda component of respective public documents. Similarly to the US and NATO, the EU defence planning relies very little on the strategic forecasting. Instead the EU makes the principle of “strategic uncertainty” the corner stone of its policies. At the same time the EU widely uses elements of “dynamic forecasting” in its planning process, especially for short term forecasting periods. Moreover, the EU moved even further than the US and NATO along this road by applying the techniques that can be described as “dynamic planning”. At the same time the methodology of the EU security and defence planning has some significant specific features. This is explained by the fact, that the EU is mostly a civilian entity and military issues play only a small, though an important role in its work. Thus priority in its planning is given to civilian methods of promoting security, and the use of military force is regarded as the last resort. That is why the main accent in the EU security and defence policy is made on such instruments as crises management, political stabilization, peacekeeping operations and engagement of other states in all sorts of security and defence partnerships. This article is prepared in the framework of the Russian Scientific Fund project 14-18-02973 “Long term forecasting of the development of international relations”.

Congress will update US military force authorisation

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Military Force ◽  
National Defense ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
White House ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
Speaker Of The House

Subject The debate on new rules authorising the use of military force. Significance When senators return from the summer recess, they will have to consider the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the House of Representatives on July 14. This NDAA, the annual spending plan for the US military, drew controversy because of a bipartisan amendment that would have repealed the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), the legal basis for military action in the US global counterterrorism campaign. The amendment was blocked by the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. Impacts Erratic White House policymaking will spark congressional initiatives to reassert the legislature’s authority. Congressional oversight of the armed drone programme will defer to the executive branch. Trump’s North Korea threats are generating additional scrutiny of the president’s absolute authority to order a nuclear attack.

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