The Rise of the Narcostate

The Rise of the Narcostate PDF Author: John P. Sullivan
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1984543938
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description
This book is our sixth Small Wars Journal—El Centro anthology, covering writings published between 2016 and 2017. The theme of this anthology pertains to the rise of the narcostate (mafia states) as a result of the collusion between criminal organizations and political elites—essentially authoritarian regime members, corrupted plutocrats, and other powerful societal elements. The cover image of the mass demonstration concerning the disappearance of the forty-three Ayotzinapa Teachers’ College students held at Mexico City’s Zócalo Plaza in November 2014 provides an archetype of this anthology’s theme. This anthology includes the following special essays—Preface: “New Wars” and State Transformation by Robert Muggah, Igarapé Institute; Foreword: Crime and State-Making by Vanda Felbab-Brown, The Brookings Institution; Postscript: Crime, Drugs, Terror, and Money: Time for Hybrids by Alain Bauer, CNAM Paris; and Afterword: The Rise of the Oligarchs by Col. Robert Killebrew, US Army (Ret.). Dave Dilegge (SWJ, Editor-in-Chief)

The Rise of the Narcostate

The Rise of the Narcostate PDF Author: John P. Sullivan
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1984543938
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description
This book is our sixth Small Wars Journal—El Centro anthology, covering writings published between 2016 and 2017. The theme of this anthology pertains to the rise of the narcostate (mafia states) as a result of the collusion between criminal organizations and political elites—essentially authoritarian regime members, corrupted plutocrats, and other powerful societal elements. The cover image of the mass demonstration concerning the disappearance of the forty-three Ayotzinapa Teachers’ College students held at Mexico City’s Zócalo Plaza in November 2014 provides an archetype of this anthology’s theme. This anthology includes the following special essays—Preface: “New Wars” and State Transformation by Robert Muggah, Igarapé Institute; Foreword: Crime and State-Making by Vanda Felbab-Brown, The Brookings Institution; Postscript: Crime, Drugs, Terror, and Money: Time for Hybrids by Alain Bauer, CNAM Paris; and Afterword: The Rise of the Oligarchs by Col. Robert Killebrew, US Army (Ret.). Dave Dilegge (SWJ, Editor-in-Chief)

Oil, Illiberalism, and War

Oil, Illiberalism, and War PDF Author: Andrew T. Price-Smith
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262547694
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
An argument that America's addiction to crude oil has driven a foreign policy of intervention and exploitation hidden behind a facade of liberal internationalism. The United States is addicted to crude oil. In this book, Andrew Price-Smith argues that this addiction has distorted the conduct of American foreign policy in profound and malign ways, resulting in interventionism, exploitation, and other illiberal behaviors that hide behind a facade of liberal internationalism. The symbiotic relationship between the state and the oil industry has produced deviations from rational foreign energy policy, including interventions in Iraq and elsewhere that have been (at the very least) counterproductive or (at worst) completely antithetical to national interests. Liberal internationalism casts the United States as a benign hegemon, guaranteeing security to its allies during the Cold War and helping to establish collaborative international institutions. Price-Smith argues for a reformulation of liberal internationalism (which he terms shadow liberalism) that takes into account the dark side of American foreign policy. Price-Smith contends that the “free market” in international oil is largely a myth, rendered problematic by energy statism and the rise of national oil companies. He illustrates the destabilizing effect of oil in the Persian Gulf, and describes the United States' grand energy strategy, particularly in the Persian Gulf, as illiberal at its core, focused on the projection of power and on periodic bouts of violence. Washington's perennial oscillation between liberal phases of institution building and provision of public goods and illiberal bellicosity, Price-Smith argues, represents the shadow liberalism that is at the core of US foreign policy.

Four Threats

Four Threats PDF Author: Suzanne Mettler
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 9781250244420
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
An urgent, historically-grounded take on the four major factors that undermine American democracy, and what we can do to address them. While many Americans despair of the current state of U.S. politics, most assume that our system of government and democracy itself are invulnerable to decay. Yet when we examine the past, we find that to the contrary, the United States has undergone repeated crises of democracy, from the earliest days of the republic to the present. In The Four Threats, Robert C. Lieberman and Suzanne Mettler explore five historical episodes when democracy in the United States was under siege: the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. These episodes risked profound, even fatal, damage to the American democratic experiment, and on occasion antidemocratic forces have prevailed. From this history, four distinct characteristics of democratic disruption emerge. Political polarization, racism and nativism, economic inequality, and excessive executive power – alone or in combination – have threatened the survival of the republic, but it has survived, so far. What is unique, and alarming, about the present moment is that all four conditions are present in American politics today. This formidable convergence marks the contemporary era as an especially grave moment for democracy in the United States. But history provides a valuable repository from which contemporary Americans can draw lessons about how democracy was eventually strengthened — or in some cases weakened — in the past. By revisiting how earlier generations of Americans faced threats to the principles enshrined in the Constitution, we can see the promise and the peril that have led us to the present and chart a path toward repairing our civic fabric and renewing democracy.

Thinking about Deterrence

Thinking about Deterrence PDF Author: Air Univeristy Press
Publisher: Military Bookshop
ISBN: 9781782667100
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
With many scholars and analysts questioning the relevance of deterrence as a valid strategic concept, this volume moves beyond Cold War nuclear deterrence to show the many ways in which deterrence is applicable to contemporary security. It examines the possibility of applying deterrence theory and practice to space, to cyberspace, and against non-state actors. It also examines the role of nuclear deterrence in the twenty-first century and reaches surprising conclusions.

The Struggle for Recognition in International Relations

The Struggle for Recognition in International Relations PDF Author: Michelle K. Murray
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190878908
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
How established powers can facilitate the peaceful rise of new great powers is a perennial question of international relations and has gained increased salience with the emergence of China as an economic and military rival of the United States. Highlighting the social dynamics of power transitions, The Struggle for Recognition in International Relations offers a powerful new framework through which to understand important historical cases of power transition and more recently the rise of China and how the United States can facilitate its peaceful rise.

Rising Threats, Enduring Challenges

Rising Threats, Enduring Challenges PDF Author: Andrew T. Price-Smith
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780199897636
Category : POLITICAL SCIENCE
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"The central goal of this reader is to develop the capacity for critical thinking about key issues in foreign policy and to turn students into social scientists who can understand and critique complex phenomena. Use of this reader will save time for instructors who may not want to spend weeks researching the best new articles in each subject domain. It consists of five parts: Part One: Historical Perspectives and Part Two: Theory and Grand Strategy sets the tone of the reader, wherein students are exposed to basic tenets of U.S. diplomatic history, and international relations theory; Part Three: Institutions and Processes examines the role of institutions and processes, largely at the domestic level of analysis, in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy; Part Four: The U.S. and the World provides a collection of essays on U.S. foreign relations with key states and regions in the 21st century; and Part Five: New Domains examines salient new domains in U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century. The reader will compliment existing U.S. foreign policy texts. The majority of the chapters are from published articles (e.g. Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, etc.), although several chapters were commissioned directly for this volume"--

CHINA: Threat or Challenge?

CHINA: Threat or Challenge? PDF Author: Lt Gen JS Bajwa
Publisher: Lancer Publishers LLC
ISBN: 1940988292
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
ndian Defence Review (IDR) had earlier, in 2011, published a Book titled “Threat from China” edited by Late Bharat Verma. Team IDR felt that since May 2014 when the National Democratic Alliance government took over the reins of governance in India bringing in a more focussed, dynamic and assertive approach in conduct of its foreign relations, it was necessary to review the security paradigm between India and China. Moreover, around the same time there had been a tactile parallel change in leadership at the helm in China too. During the preliminary discussions there were strong views from a certain section of the community of academic scholars and diplomats that China was not an existential THREAT. However, the military community felt that the People’s Liberation Army’s substantive military modernisation manifested such a THREAT. The academic and diplomatic community did feel that there was surely a CHALLENGE in dealing with an assertive rising China – more relevant with a decline of US interest in Asia. To accommodate both views the Title was thus revised to “China – Threat or Challenge?” The Book is a compilation of articles written and published in the IDR since May 2014. Some articles are by Authors who were requested to express their contrary views on the subject so as to present to the Readers broad based views of various Authors across the spectrum on issues impacting India-China bilateral relations. The final verdict, of course, lies entirely with the discerning Readers.

Global Trends 2040

Global Trends 2040 PDF Author: National Intelligence Council
Publisher: Cosimo Reports
ISBN: 9781646794973
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Managing the Insider Threat

Managing the Insider Threat PDF Author: Nick Catrantzos
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 100079038X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Managing the Insider Threat: No Dark Corners and the Rising Tide Menace, Second Edition follows up on the success of – and insight provided by – the first edition, reframing the insider threat by distinguishing between sudden impact and slow onset (aka “rising tide”) insider attacks. This edition is fully updated with coverage from the previous edition having undergone extensive review and revision, including updating citations and publications that have been published in the last decade. Three new chapters drill down into the advanced exploration of rising tide threats, examining the nuanced complexities and presenting new tools such as the loyalty ledger (Chapter 10) and intensity scale (Chapter 11). New explorations of ambiguous situations and options for thwarting hostile insiders touch on examples that call for tolerance, friction, or radical turnaround (Chapter 11). Additionally, a more oblique discussion (Chapter 12) explores alternatives for bolstering organizational resilience in circumstances where internal threats show signs of gaining ascendancy over external ones, hence a need for defenders to promote clearer thinking as a means of enhancing resilience against hostile insiders. Coverage goes on to identify counters to such pitfalls, called lifelines, providing examples of questions rephrased to encourage clear thinking and reasoned debate without inviting emotional speech that derails both. The goal is to redirect hostile insiders, thereby offering alternatives to bolstering organizational resilience – particularly in circumstances where internal threats show signs of gaining ascendancy over external ones, hence a need for defenders to promote clearer thinking as a means of enhancing resilience against hostile insiders. Defenders of institutions and observers of human rascality will find, in Managing the Insider Threat, Second Edition, new tools and applications for the No Dark Corners approach to countering a vexing predicament that seems to be increasing in frequency, scope, and menace.

Rising to the Challenge

Rising to the Challenge PDF Author: Avery Goldstein
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804752183
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
This book describes and explains the grand strategy China's leaders have adopted to pursue their country's interests in the international system of the 21st century