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In the mid-twentieth century, a certain idea of technology emerged in the work of many influential political theorists: a critical, catastrophic concept of technology, entangled with the apocalyptic fears fuelled by two all-consuming world wars and the looming nuclear threat. Drawing on the work of theorists such as Hannah Arendt, Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger and Herbert Marcuse, Catastrophic Technology in Cold War Political Thought explores the critical idea of technology as both a response to a dramatically changing world, and a radical political critique of Cold War liberalism.

From sensor-fuzed munitions and autonomous weapons, to ground moving target indication radar, laser vibrometers and artificial intelligence, the weapons of warfare are undergoing a rapid transformation, with modern technologies reshaping how armies intend to fight in the twenty-first century. The Arms of the Future analyses how the emergence of novel weapons systems is shaping the risks and opportunities on the battlefield. Drawing on extensive practical observation and experimentation, the book unpacks the operational challenges new weapons pose on the battlefield and how armies might be structured to overcome them. At a time when defence spending across NATO is on the rise, and conflict with Russia raises new questions of what it means to fight a truly'modern'war, Watling examines not just the arms to be employed but how they can be fielded and wielded to survive and prevail in future wars.

Global politics in the twenty-first century is complicated by dense economic interdependence, rapid technological innovation, and fierce security competition. How should governments formulate grand strategy in this complex environment? Many strategists look to deterrence as the answer, but how much can we expect of deterrence? Classical deterrence theory developed in response to the nuclear threats of the Cold War, but strategists since have applied it to a variety of threats in the land, sea, air, space, and cyber domains. If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then the diversity of technologies in modern war suggests a diversity of political effects. Some military forces or postures are most useful for'winning'various kinds of wars. Others are effective for'warning'adversaries of consequences or demonstrating resolve. Still others may accomplish these goals at lower political cost, or with greater strategic stability. Deterrence is not a simple strategy, therefore, but a complex relationship between many ends and many means. This book presents findings from a decade-long research program on'cross-domain deterrence.'Through a series of theoretical and empirical studies, we explore fundamental trade-offs that have always been implicit in practice but have yet to be synthesized into a general theory of deterrence. Gartzke and Lindsay integrate newly revised and updated versions of published work alongside new work into a holistic framework for understanding how deterrence works--or fails to work--in multiple domains. Their findings show that in deterrence, all good things do not go together.

This book explores the changing tactics, technologies and terrains of twenty-first century war.It argues that the world in 2049 is unlikely to look like the climate change/artificial intelligence (AI) dystopia depicted in Blade Runner 2049, but nor will it be a world where conflict and war has been transformed by a ‘civilising process'that eradicates violence and conflict from the human condition. 2049 is also the year that the US Department of Defense has suggested China will become a world-shaping military power. All states will be engaged in ‘arms races'across a variety of new tools and technologies—from drones, robotics, AI and quantum computing—that will transform politics, economy, society and war.Drawing on thinkers such as Zygmunt Bauman and Paul Virilio, the book suggests that future war will be shaped by three broad tendencies that include a broad range of tactics, technologies and trends; the impure, the granular and the machinic. Through discussions of cybersecurity, urban war, robotics, AI, climate change, science fiction and new strategic concepts, it examines how these tendencies might evolve in the different geopolitical futures and types of war ahead of us. The book provides a thought-provoking and distinctive framework through which to think about the changing character of war. It concludes that for all the novel and dangerous challenges ahead, the futuristic possibilities of warfare will likely continue to be shaped by problems familiar to students of international relations and the history of war—albeit problems that will play out in geopolitical and technological contexts that we have never encountered before.This book will be of much interest to students of critical war studies, security studies, science and technology studies, and International Relations in general.

This handbook provides a comprehensive, problem-driven and dynamic overview of the future of warfare. The volatilities and uncertainties of the global security environment raise timely and important questions about the future of humanity's oldest occupation: war. This volume addresses these questions through a collection of cutting-edge contributions by leading scholars in the field. Its overall focus is prognostic rather than futuristic, highlighting discernible trends, key developments and themes without downplaying the lessons from the past. By making the past meet the present in order to envision the future, the handbook offers a diversified outlook on the future of warfare, which will be indispensable for researchers, students and military practitioners alike. The volume is divided into six thematic sections. Section I draws out general trends in the phenomenon of war and sketches the most significant developments, from the past to the present and into the future. Section II looks at the areas and domains which actively shape the future of warfare. Section III engages with the main theories and conceptions of warfare, capturing those attributes of contemporary conflicts which will most likely persist and determine the dynamics and directions of their transformations. The fourth section addresses differentiation and complexity in the domain of warfare, pointing to those factors which will exert a strong impact on the structure and properties of that domain. Section V focuses on technology as the principal trigger of changes and alterations in the essence of warfare. The final section draws on the general trends identified in Section I and sheds light on how those trends have manifested in specific local contexts. This section zooms in on particular geographies which are seen and anticipated as hotbeds where future warfare will most likely assume its shape and reveal its true colours. This book will be of great interest to students of strategic studies, defence studies, war and technology, and International Relations.

This book outlines the concept of Fifth Generation Warfare (5GW) and demonstrates its relevance for understanding contemporary conflicts.Non-kinetic modes of attack and war waged by groups or non-state actors at the societal level has been termed 5GW. This book discusses the theory of generational warfare and explores the key ideas of 5GW, such as secrecy, the manipulation of proxies, the manipulation of identity and culture (including disinformation and big data), and the use of psychological warfare. These techniques are used to achieve strategic objectives, such as inducing desired behaviour and controlling human terrain, without resorting to overt war or overt violence. The text expands the debate on 5GW by exploring emerging technologies and how they could be used for maliciously shaping human society and even for maliciously changing the genetic makeup of a population for the purpose of unprecedented social control. The work closes with comments on the possibility of a Sixth Generation of Warfare, which targets technical systems to possibly collapse a society through strategic sabotage. Overall, the book demonstrates the relevance of 5GW for understanding contemporary conflicts, from the Arab Spring to the war in Ukraine, in terms of the need for dominating the human domain.This book will be of interest to students of security and technology, defence studies and International Relations.

How the character of war is changing and how militaries can successfully adapt to meet the challenge This book by military strategist Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., is the definitive take on the race for military dominance in the twenty-first century. It shows how militaries that successfully pursue disruptive innovation can gain a major advantage over their rivals, while those that fail to do so risk exposing their countries to great danger. The Precision Warfare Revolution introduced by the U.S. military in the First Gulf War found the United States enjoying a near monopoly in this form of warfare for several decades. But now other powers have these capabilities. The U.S. military also confronts an emerging military revolution driven by advances across a wide range of technologies—from artificial intelligence and synthetic biology to quantum computing and additive manufacturing. To stay competitive, the U.S. military must pursue disruptive innovation in a race with other militaries to exploit war's changing character. Clues exist as to the winner's identity. They are revealed by militaries that went beyond the bounds of mere innovation to overturn the existing forms of warfare, changing the course of history and the fate of nations. Through exploring their experiences, Krepinevich shows how the U.S. military can win the race to identify and exploit the “next big thing” in warfare.

This book examines the future trend toward'intelligent'warfare considering the global environment, the history of warfare, and scientific and technological advancement. It develops a comprehensive set of theoretical frameworks, application concepts, and evaluation criteria for military intelligence.The volume is packed with theoretical highlights and vivid examples, including the tracking of Osama bin Laden, the decapitation strike against Qasem Soleimani, the remote assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, the drone war in the Nagorno–Karabakh conflict, modern equipment deployed in the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, and the war between social media groups. In addition, the author envisions a possible future for'intelligent'wars in which adversarial parties engage in combat through virtual and unmanned systems. This nature may help avoid the brutality and high death toll associated with traditional warfare.The book explores the possibility of future civilized warfare. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of politics, military intelligence, and military technology, and to those who are interested in intelligent warfare in general.

In late 2021, the new means of warfare were confidently being described by political and military leaders alike using phrases such as ‘grey zone', ‘sub-liminal'and ‘below the threshold of outright conflict', a mix of hybrid strategies that would no longer involve the messy, noisy use of sticks and stones and bombs and gore. Future warfare was to be political warfare. Cyber and influence tools were the future and many academics agreed. In difficult retrospect, this was actually a narrative based on hubris and a simple extension of commentators'own experiences over what had been twenty years of failed interventions. But by February 2022, everyone had changed their tune. War was suddenly 20th century redux, a tapestry of trenches, bayonets and massed artillery that would have been quite familiar to participants of that century's two World Wars. The picture, of course, is more complicated and nuanced. Technology is disrupting practices and doing so right across battlespace. But hybrid warfare has very much not disappeared and political warfare in its many forms remains the overt strategy of several states notwithstanding unprecedented expansion in the means available to parties to undertake meddling and conflict. It is quickly evident, moreover, that contemporary war is actually less defined by technical innovation than armchair experts would have you to believe. And disruptions today are too often tomorrow's old news. Empirically, war's norms and behaviours are quite slow to change with each shiny new driver for that change often giving rise to compelling versos and points of friction that combine to dull material transformation. This book unpicks the arguments made pre and post 2022 and, based on interviews with experts from around the world, seeks to dissect battlecraft's enduring themes and how these may affect conflicts'current norms.

This book provides multifaceted components and full practical perspectives of systems engineering and risk management in security and defense operations with a focus on infrastructure and manpower control systems, missile design, space technology, satellites, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and space security.While there are many existing selections of systems engineering and risk management textbooks, there is no existing work that connects systems engineering and risk management concepts to solidify its usability in the entire security and defense actions. With this book Dr. Anna M. Doro-on rectifies the current imbalance. She provides a comprehensive overview of systems engineering and risk management before moving to deeper practical engineering principles integrated with newly developed concepts and examples based on industry and government methodologies. The chapters also cover related points including design principles for defeating and deactivating improvised explosive devices and land mines and security measures against kinds of threats.The book is designed for systems engineers in practice, political risk professionals, managers, policy makers, engineers in other engineering fields, scientists, decision makers in industry and government and to serve as a reference work in systems engineering and risk management courses with focus on security and defense operations.

An in-depth assessment of innovations in military information technology informs hypothetical outcomes for artificial intelligence adaptationsIn the coming decades, artificial intelligence (AI) could revolutionize the way humans wage war. The military organizations that best innovate and adapt to this AI revolution will likely gain significant advantages over their rivals. To this end, great powers such as the United States, China, and Russia are already investing in novel sensing, reasoning, and learning technologies that will alter how militaries plan and fight. The resulting transformation could fundamentally change the character of war.In Information in War, Benjamin Jensen, Christopher Whyte, and Scott Cuomo provide a deeper understanding of the AI revolution by exploring the relationship between information, organizational dynamics, and military power. The authors analyze how militaries adjust to new information communication technology historically to identify opportunities, risks, and obstacles that will almost certainly confront modern defense organizations as they pursue AI pathways to the future. Information in War builds on these historical cases to frame four alternative future scenarios exploring what the AI revolution could look like in the US military by 2040.

Get the Summary of Christian Brose's The Kill Chain in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: As Christian Brose reveals in this urgent wake-up call, the future will be defined by artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and other emerging technologies that are revolutionizing global industries and are now poised to overturn the model of American defense. This fascinating, if disturbing, book confronts the existential risks on the horizon, charting a way for America's military to adapt and succeed with new thinking as well as new technology. America must build a battle network of systems that enables people to rapidly understand threats, make decisions, and take military actions, the process known as'the kill chain.'Examining threats from China, Russia, and elsewhere, The Kill Chain offers hope and, ultimately, insights on how America can apply advanced technologies to prevent war, deter aggression, and maintain peace.

Was ist ein nervöser Staat? Vor dem Hintergrund der sicherheitsrechtlichen Herausforderungen des 21.Jahrhunderts entwirft Tristan Barczak ein facettenreiches, als kritische Analyse konzipiertes Staatsbild. Skizziert wird ein Staat, der aus ständiger Angst, den letzten Zeitpunkt rechtzeitigen Handelns zu verpassen, schon in der Normallage so handelt, als befinde er sich im Ausnahmezustand. Unter den Bedingungen einer von Globalisierung, Digitalisierung und Dynamisierung geprägten Risiko- undSicherheitsgesellschaft tritt an die Stelle des verfassungsrechtlichen Ausnahmeregimes ein permanent abrufbares Präventionsrecht, das der Verhinderung der Krise weit im Voraus konkretisierter Gefahren dient. Vorverlagerung, Verstetigung und Vergesetzlichung wirken auf Form und Struktur des Ausnahmezustands zurück. Sie erfordern neue rechtliche Bindungen, die ebenso stabil wie elastisch, ebenso rigide wie flexibel sein müssen. Nur so erweist sich das Recht resilient gegenüber einem antizipierten Ausnahmezustand und ebnet dem Staat den Weg aus der Antizipationsfalle. Das Werk zählt zu den ‚Juristischen Büchern des Jahres 2021‘, die als Leseempfehlung in der JZ 2021, 991 ff. besprochen werden.'Die Studie der Stunde'(Jochen Zenthöfer FAZ v. 10.8.2020, S.16)'Klug, aufschlussreich, hellsichtig […] eine meisterhafte Großdarstellung'(Heribert Prantl SZ v. 20./21.2.2021, S.6)

Dominant narratives about the changing character of warfare and the revolutionary effect of technological advancement lack nuance and can ultimately be detrimental to the development of a defence capability fit for future purpose.

Desde la bomba atómica hasta los robots de combate y la inteligencia artificial. Una visión moderna de la industria armamentística y la evolución de los artefactos de combate y su capacidad destructiva, desde la Guerra Fría hasta nuestros días; desde las armas más pequeñas e invisibles hasta las más mortíferas, los arsenales atómicos y la guerra tecnológica en el mundo digital. Tecnología militar nos adentra en un contexto en el que el desarrollo de armas, desde las más pequeñas e invisibles, hasta las más grandes y mortíferas van a tener una enorme influencia en la política internacional y el modelado del mundo durante la segunda mitad del S.XX y el S.XXI. Finalizada la Segunda Guerra Mundial las grandes potencias vencedoras llegaron a una serie de acuerdos para repartirse las áreas de influencias, en especial las dos grandes potencias vencedoras los EE.UU. y la Unión Soviética, ambas con dos modelos distintos de sociedad las cuales se verán, unos pocos años más tarde, envueltas en un conflicto diplomático, político e incluso en algunas zonas en conflictos militares (directos e indirectos), esta obra se centrará en la utilización específica de los armamentos de cada uno de los contingentes relacionados con el último aspecto, tanto de los Estados Unidos y la Unión Soviética. Desde el desarrollo del proyecto Manhattan, ambas superpotencias van a iniciar una doble carrera. La carrera atómica por un lado, con hitos como la consecucion de la Bomba H por parte de la URSS en 1953 probada en Kazajistán. La problemática de armamentos no terminó con la caída del Telón de Acero, el descontrol político que siguió a la caída de la Unión Soviética, dio como resultado a un mercado prácticamente ilimitado e ilegal de las armas rusas, provocando su redistribución y su reutilización a lo largo de todo el globo. El 10% del arsenal atómico que estaba distribuido por los antiguos países del bloque soviético se perdió. Durante la década de los años 90 del S.XX, la OTAN creó programas de destrucción, así como de control de armamentos y el fracaso de estas políticas dio como resultado la crisis de las armas de destrucción masiva en Irak, que culminaron con la invasión del país, en el año 2003, motivado también gracias a la nueva llamada'guerra contra el terrorismo'(que inauguraría las guerras 4.0) que proclamó el presidente George W. Bush tras los ataques del 11 de septiembre de 2001 en Nueva York. La'nueva Guerra Fría'entre Estados Unidos, Rusia y China ha provocado un renacimiento y reinvención en la industria armamentística. Chica ha conseguido replicar los cruceros americanos Arleigh Burke, poniendo en servicio su modelo tipo 055, así como el caza J20, de tecnología Stheal, son claros ejemplos de la nueva hegemonía que está ejerciendo la República Popular China en el Pacífico.

This book offers a multidisciplinary analysis of emerging technologies and their impact on the new international security environment across three levels of analysis.While recent technological developments, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and automation, have the potential to transform international relations in positive ways, they also pose challenges to peace and security and raise new ethical, legal and political questions about the use of power and the role of humans in war and conflict. This book makes a contribution to these debates by considering emerging technologies across three levels of analysis: (1) the international system (systemic level) including the balance of power; (2) the state and its role in international affairs and how these technologies are redefining and challenging the state's traditional roles; and (3) the relationship between the state and society, including how these technologies affect individuals and non-state actors. This provides specific insights at each of these levels and generates a better understanding of the connections between the international and the local when it comes to technological advance across time and spaceThe chapters examine the implications of these technologies for the balance of power, examining the strategies of the US, Russia, and China to harness AI, robotics and automation (and how their militaries and private corporations are responding); how smaller and less powerful states and non-state actors are adjusting; the political, ethical and legal implications of AI and automation; what these technologies mean for how war and power is understood and utilized in the 21st century; and how these technologies diffuse power away from the state to society, individuals and non-state actors. This volume will be of much interest to students of international security, science and technology studies, law, philosophy, and international relations.

This book examines the European governance of emerging security technologies.The emergence of technologies such as drones, autonomous robotics, artificial intelligence, cyber and biotechnologies has stimulated worldwide debates on their use, risks and benefits in both the civilian and the security-related fields. This volume examines the concept of ‘governance'as an analytical framework and tool to investigate how new and emerging security technologies are governed in practice within the European Union (EU), emphasising the relational configurations among different state and non-state actors. With reference to European governance, it addresses the complex interplay of power relations, interests and framings surrounding the development of policies and strategies for the use of new security technologies. The work examines varied conceptual tools to shed light on the way diverse technologies are embedded in EU policy frameworks. Each contribution identifies actors involved in the governance of a specific technology sector, their multilevel institutional and corporate configurations, and the conflicting forces, values, ethical and legal concerns, as well as security imperatives and economic interests.This book will be of much interest to students of science and technology studies, security studies and EU policy.Chapter 11 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

In Chemical Heroes Andrew Bickford analyzes the US military's attempts to design performance enhancement technologies and create pharmacological'supersoldiers'capable of withstanding extreme trauma. Bickford traces the deep history of efforts to biologically fortify and extend the health and lethal power of soldiers from the Cold War era into the twenty-first century, from early adoptions of mandatory immunizations to bio-protective gear, to the development and spread of new performance enhancing drugs during the global War on Terrorism. In his examination of government efforts to alter soldiers'bodies through new technologies, Bickford invites us to contemplate what constitutes heroism when armor becomes built in, wired in, and even edited into the molecular being of an American soldier. Lurking in the background and dark recesses of all US military enhancement research, Bickford demonstrates, is the desire to preserve US military and imperial power.

Was ist ein nervöser Staat? Vor dem Hintergrund der sicherheitsrechtlichen Herausforderungen des 21.Jahrhunderts entwirft Tristan Barczak ein facettenreiches, als kritische Analyse konzipiertes Staatsbild. Skizziert wird ein Staat, der aus ständiger Angst, den letzten Zeitpunkt rechtzeitigen Handelns zu verpassen, schon in der Normallage so handelt, als befinde er sich im Ausnahmezustand. Unter den Bedingungen einer von Globalisierung, Digitalisierung und Dynamisierung geprägten Risiko- und Sicherheitsgesellschaft tritt an die Stelle des verfassungsrechtlichen Ausnahmeregimes ein permanent abrufbares Präventionsrecht, das der Verhinderung der Krise weit im Voraus konkretisierter Gefahren dient. Vorverlagerung, Verstetigung und Vergesetzlichung wirken auf Form und Struktur des Ausnahmezustands zurück. Sie erfordern neue rechtliche Bindungen, die ebenso stabil wie elastisch, ebenso rigide wie flexibel sein müssen. Nur so erweist sich das Recht resilient gegenüber einem antizipierten Ausnahmezustand und ebnet dem Staat den Weg aus der Antizipationsfalle. Die Arbeit wurde von der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster mit dem Preis zur Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses 2020 für herausragende wissenschaftliche Leistungen ausgezeichnet.

This book explores and analyzes emerging innovations within today's most cutting-edge science and technology (S&T) areas, which are cited as carrying the potential to revolutionize governmental structures, economies, and international security. Some have argued that such technologies will yield doomsday scenarios and that military applications of such technologies have even greater potential than nuclear weapons to radically change the balance of power. As the United States looks to the future – whether dominated by extremist groups co-opting advanced weapons in the world of globalized non-state actors or states engaged in persistent regional conflicts in areas of strategic interest – new adversaries and new science and technology will emerge. Choices made today that affect science and technology will impact how ably the US can and will respond. Chapters within the book look at the changing strategic environment in which security operations are planned and conducted; how these impact science and technology policy choices made today; and predictions of how science and technology may play a beneficial or deleterious role in the future. Some game changing technologies have received global attention, while others may be less well known; the new technologies discussed within this proposal, as well as future discoveries, may significantly alter military capabilities and may generate new threats against military and civilian sectors.

Supported by genuine historical cases, this book argues that certain new technologies in warfare can not only be justified within the current framework of the just war theory, but that their use is mandatory from a moral perspective.Technological developments raise questions about the manner in which wars ought to be fought. The growing use of drones, capacity-increasing technologies, and cyberattacks are perceived by many as posing great challenges to Just War Theory. Instead of seeing these technologies as inherently unethical, this book adopts a different perspective by arguing that they are morally necessary since they can limit the potential violations of the moral rules of war and ensure that militaries better respect their obligation to protect their members. Caron's research offers insights into how and under what conditions autonomous or semi-autonomous robots, artificial intelligence, cyberwarfare, and capacityincreasing technologies can be considered as legitimate weapons.This book will be of interest to students, members of the armed forces, and scholars studying Politics, International Relations, Security Studies, Ethics, and Just War Theory.

Coalition Management and Escalation Control in a Multinuclear World examines the impact of new technologies on twenty-first-century crisis management and armed conflict, as well as the unprecedented number and types of actors involved in current and potential flash-points. The book's basic thesis is that new technologies are changing how wars are fought and providing a broadening range of escalation options. Cyber weapons and artificial intelligence, as well as social media, blur traditional escalation thresholds with important consequences for deterrence. Nuclear weapons possessors, especially nations and powers new to their use, may have differing strategies concerning how, when, why, or where such weapons should be used either for purposes of deterrence or as actual warfighting instruments. Today's global map differs drastically from all previous eras, not only in the types and numbers of actors but also in the level of lethality, as well as the range and accuracy of weapons available with which to threaten or actually conduct battle. A world of Great Power competition, together with non-state armed groups contains risks for miscalculation including the possibility of catalytic warfare.

The concept of soldier enhancement often invokes images of dystopian futures populated with dehumanized military personnel. These futures serve as warnings in science fiction works, and yet the enhancement of soldiers'combat capability is almost as old as war itself. Today, soldier enhancement is the purpose of military training and the application of innovative technologies, but when does it begin to challenge individuals'very humanity? Bringing together the work of a diverse group of practitioners and academics, Transhumanizing War examines performance enhancement in the military from a wide range of perspectives. The book builds on two key premises: that rapid advances in science and technology are outstripping governments'and military organizations'capacity to adapt, and that this has put pressure on the connection between the military and the public. The contributors to this collection grapple with the implications of continued technological advancement and the possibility that innovative solutions to performance enhancement will risk further alienating the soldier from society. Navigating the fine line between technological promise and ethics, this volume presents a guide to responsible implementation in Canada and abroad. Offering unique insights into a debate on the bleeding edge of public discourse, Transhumanizing War considers the best ways to improve combat effectiveness while still preserving soldiers'humanity.

This book will be about various aspects related to applications and use of knowledge of nanotechnology in promoting defense activities. The area in which scientists are focusing includes (i) nano-devices such as sensors, GPS & computers, chemical & biological weapons, nano-fabrics, bulletproof materials, nano-stealth coating, use of nanotechnology in various areas of aerospace. It is intended to cover available methodologies and understanding of technologies for these applications. Not only for destructive but also to improve medical and casualty, safety care for soldiers, and to produce lightweight, strong and multi-functional materials for use in body armour, both for protection and to provide enhanced connectivity will be covered.

This book applies cutting-edge methods from cognitive and evolutionary theories to develop models of conflict between hierarchically-structured cognitive entities under circumstances of imprecision, uncertainty and stress. Characterized as friction and the fog-of-war by the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, such conditions impair institutional cognition in real-time conflict and pose a real and continuing threat to organizations, such as the US military. In a linked collection of formal essays and a mathematical appendix, the book explores different aspects of cognitive and evolutionary process as conducted under the direction of doctrine that acts as a kind of genome for retention of what is learned through Lamarckian evolutionary selection pressures: armies and corporate entities learn from conflict, and incorporate that learning into their ongoing procedures. The book proposes models and policy solutions for strategic competence. A central feature of the book is a formal description of the famous OODA loop of the US military theorist John Boyd in terms of the Data Rate Theorem that links control and information theories. That description is expanded to cover more fully the impact of stochastic fog-of-war effects on tactical and operational scales of conflict. Subsequent chapters examine in more detail the role of doctrine, and the particular effect of embedding culture on cognitive and Lamarckian evolutionary processes associated with conflict on tactical, operational, and strategic scales and levels of organization. A scientifically sophisticated exercise in applied mathematics, history, evolutionary theory, and ecosystem theory, this book will be appropriate for researchers and students interested in defense, security, and international relations, as well as non-academic career professionals in government and industry.

Essential reading on how technology empowers rogue actors and how society can adapt. Never have so many possessed the means to be so lethal. A dramatic shift from 20th century'closed'military innovation to'open'innovation driven by commercial processes is underway. The diffusion of modern technology--robotics, cyber weapons, 3-D printing, synthetic biology, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence--to ordinary people has given them access to weapons of mass violence previously monopolized by the state. As Audrey Kurth Cronin explains in Power to the People, what we are seeing now is the continuation of an age-old trend. Over the centuries, from the invention of dynamite to the release of the AK-47, many of the most surprising developments in warfare have occurred because of technological advances combined with changes in who can use them. That shifting social context illuminates our current situation, in which new'open'technologies are reshaping the future of war. Cronin explains why certain lethal technologies spread, which ones to focus on, and how individuals and private groups will adapt lethal off-the-shelf technologies for malevolent ends. Now in paperback with a foreword by Lawrence Freedman and a new epilogue, Power to the People focuses on how to both preserve the promise of emerging technologies and reduce risks. Power is flowing to the people, but the same digital technologies that empower can imperil global security--unless we act strategically.

The liberal world order, a euphemism for American global hegemony, is crumbling at an accelerating pace. While its collapse is tangible, the outcome of such a collapse remains a matter of speculation and public debate. The US is desperately seeking to preserve the status quo, which rests primarily upon recognition of its military supremacy. For millennia, warfare has been a driving force behind changes in the geopolitical status of power configurations (whether of peoples, states or empires), and it remains so, today. Accordingly, short of actual warfare, the assessment (modeling) of relative military power plays an inordinate role in the determination of national status. Models of emerging changes in military capability range from relatively simple to extremely complex ones. Viewing the evolution of the current system of international relations outside the framework of actual, rather than propaganda-driven, military capabilities is not only useless, it is dangerous since states'mistaken assessment of their own and other states'military power can lead to misadventures and catastrophic mistakes. The United States'efforts to preserve not just its dominance but the perception of its dominance are bound to fail for many important reasons, none more important than what is often misidentified in past American military-theoretical hypotheses about the future of warfare, known generically as the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). This book explains why those hypotheses are failing and will continue to fail, and addresses the real RMA. In the end, technological development in weaponry as a response to tactical, operational and strategic requirements defines not only a nation's geopolitical status but determines the global order. Assessments of military capacity, if reality-based, serve as good predictors of the level of volatility in international relations and the level of violence globally. This book gives an insight into the evolution of weapons and the way they influenced international relations in the 20th and 21st centuries. It also defines Revolution in Military Affairs as manifested via policy, politics, and technology. It reviews some models which are useful in assessing the current geopolitical situation. This book also tries to give a forecast of the future development of warfare and the ways in which it is going to change the whole system of the international relations, hopefully towards a new geopolitical equilibrium.

This book focuses on how advances in ICT have brought about a sea change in the way people work, live and share while also making them vulnerable. These advances exhibit a fundamentally reformed global context for development that has not just been restricted to the civilian domain but has simultaneously impacted the military domain. The exponential pace of advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, big data, quantum computing or IoT (Internet of Things) pioneers a significantly different vision of work and society. The current trends in warfighting present a very blurred picture of the future operating environment, but they give some shape to its likely direction. Military forces are trying to become much more flexible and have been adapting to these changes while emphasizing the importance of innovation and improvisation in order to counter challenges emanating from future scenarios. In this context, the book highlights the changing military strategies and tactics across nations vis-à-vis the hanging and emerging ICT technologies. It also highlights the importance of looking at present institutions, legal frameworks and principles as well as at the restraining factors inherent in realpolitik in order to understand if nation states are ready. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka