Through a Glass Darkly: Looking at Conflict Prevention, Management, and Termination

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Cimbala shows why the prevention, management and limiting, or ending of war require understanding the subjective aspects of political decision making and the nuances of policy making. Cimbala shows why the prevention, management, and concluding of war all require an understanding of the subjective aspects of decision making as well as the hardware and tactics of military operations. A review of past cases of U.S. security policy decision making and a preview of some future problems are combined to distill important lessons about coping with conflict in the post-Cold War world. These lessons include the awareness that some conflicts are unnecessarily provoked or prolonged on account of the gap between the perspectives and experiences of civilian policy makers and the views of the armed forces leadership. Another important lesson is that, in resolving or managing conflicts, perceptions, and expectations of leaders filter out alternatives that might have led to preferred solutions had they been attempted in good time. Of particular interest to policy makers, military professionals, and researchers involved with contemporary military issues.

Reviews

[A] healthy dose of venerable and well-supported pieces of wisdom regarding military affairs that bears repeating. With the bold cries for eradicating evil from the face of the earth and the increasingly technological nature of the "war on terrorism," reminders of the problems of hubris, ethnocentrism, and the general foibles and limitations of the human animal are both very timely and very welcome.-American Political Science Review
"A healthy dose of venerable and well-supported pieces of wisdom regarding military affairs that bears repeating. With the bold cries for eradicating evil from the face of the earth and the increasingly technological nature of the "war on terrorism," reminders of the problems of hubris, ethnocentrism, and the general foibles and limitations of the human animal are both very timely and very welcome."-American Political Science Review
"[A] healthy dose of venerable and well-supported pieces of wisdom regarding military affairs that bears repeating. With the bold cries for eradicating evil from the face of the earth and the increasingly technological nature of the "war on terrorism," reminders of the problems of hubris, ethnocentrism, and the general foibles and limitations of the human animal are both very timely and very welcome."-American Political Science Review

Author Bio

STEPHEN J. CIMBALA is Professor of Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University (Delaware County). He is the author of numerous books and articles in professional journals on topics related to national security. His most recent books include The Past and Future of Nuclear Deterrence (Praeger, 1998) and Nuclear Strategy in the Twenty-First Century (Praeger, 2000).