This volume chronicles RAND's involvement in researching insurgency and counterinsurgency in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand during the Vietnam War era and assesses the effect that this research had on U.S. officials and policies. Elliott draws on interviews with former RAND staff and the many studies that RAND produced on these topics to provide a narrative that captures the tenor of the times and conveys the attitudes and thinking of those involved.
A Sino-U.S. war could take various, and unintended, paths. Because intense, reciprocal conventional counterforce attacks could inflict heavy losses and costs on both sides, leaders need options and channels to contain and terminate fighting.
This history of the RAND Corporation, written with full access to its archives, is a page-turning chronicle of the rise of the secretive think tank that has been the driving force behind the American government for 60 years.
Diana Cammack provides a rich and readable account of events in the city of Johannesburg that led to the Anglo-Boer War, and she enhances our understanding of both the effects of British imperialism at the turn of the century and the development of the unique racial order of contemporary South Africa. Incorporating social, political, and military history, this work covers events on the Rand during the final year before the war including the flight of well over a hundred thousand black and white refugees in a few weeks of panic; refugee life at the coast; and work, politics, and life on the Rand and in the city between October 1899 and May 1902. Drawing on varied sources, the author provides new information for the specialist, including material on the infamous "Uitlander grievances," the motives and machinations of the Rand agitators, their role in Rand reconstruction, and their relationship with the British high commissioner, Sir Alfred Milner. The wealth of detail enhances the readability of the book which recounts this interesting period of South African history.
This book investigates France's 2013 military intervention in Mali and its lessons for America's fight against terrorist groups in Africa and worldwide. Its assessment of new anti-terrorist military strategy will be of use to those in the foreign policy and national security communities.
The United States has failed to achieve strategic objectives in nearly every military campaign since Vietnam. This memoir describes how the United States can begin to build the American way of irregular war needed for success in modern conflict.
The Improbable War explains why conflict between the USA and China cannot be ruled out. In 1914 war between the Great Powers was considered unlikely, yet it happened. We learn only from history, and popular though the First World War analogy is, the lessons we draw from its outbreak are usually mistaken. Among these errors is the tendency to over-estimate human rationality. All major conflicts of the past 300 years have been about the norms and rules of the international system. In China and the US the world confronts two 'exceptional' powers whose values differ markedly, with China bidding to challenge the current order. The 'Thucydidean Trap' - when a conservative status quo power confronts a rising new one - may also play its part in precipitating hostilities. To avoid stumbling into an avoidable war both Beijing and Washington need a coherent strategy, which neither of them has. History also reveals that war evolves continually. The next global conflict is likely to be played out in cyberspace and outer space and like all previous wars it will have devastating consequences. Such a war between the United States and China may seem improbable, but it is all too possible, which is why we need to discuss it now.
