You, the People

You, the People

Author: Simon Chesterman

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9780199284009

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The governance of post-conflict territories embodies a central contradiction - how does one help a population prepare for democratic governance and the rule of law by imposing a form of benevolent autocracy? This book explores the transitional administrations put in place by the UN.


Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq

Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq

Author: Ahmed S. Hashim

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2011-02-23

Total Pages: 513

ISBN-13: 0801459699

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a loosely organized insurgency continues to target American and Coalition soldiers, as well as Iraqi security forces and civilians, with devastating results. In this sobering account of the ongoing violence, Ahmed Hashim, a specialist on Middle Eastern strategic issues and on irregular warfare, reveals the insurgents behind the widespread revolt, their motives, and their tactics. The insurgency, he shows, is not a united movement directed by a leadership with a single ideological vision. Instead, it involves former regime loyalists, Iraqis resentful of foreign occupation, foreign and domestic Islamist extremists, and elements of organized crime. These groups have cooperated with one another in the past and coordinated their attacks; but the alliance between nationalist Iraqi insurgents on the one hand and religious extremists has frayed considerably. The U.S.-led offensive to retake Fallujah in November 2004 and the success of the elections for the Iraqi National Assembly in January 2005 have led more "mainstream" insurgent groups to begin thinking of reinforcing the political arm of their opposition movement and to seek political guarantees for the Sunni Arab community in the new Iraq.Hashim begins by placing the Iraqi revolt in its historical context. He next profiles the various insurgent groups, detailing their origins, aims, and operational and tactical modi operandi. He concludes with an unusually candid assessment of the successes and failures of the Coalition's counter-insurgency campaign. Looking ahead, Hashim warns that ethnic and sectarian groups may soon be pitted against one another in what will be a fiercely contested fight over who gets what in the new Iraq. Evidence that such a conflict is already developing does not augur well for Iraq's future stability. Both Iraq and the United States must work hard to ensure that slow but steady success over the insurgency is not overshadowed by growing ethno-sectarian animosities as various groups fight one another for the biggest slice of the political and economic pie. In place of sensational headlines, official triumphalism, and hand-wringing, Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq offers a clear-eyed analysis of the increasingly complex violence that threatens the very future of Iraq.


The Colonial Present

The Colonial Present

Author: Derek Gregory

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2004-07-30

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1577180895

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this powerful and passionate critique of the 'war on terror' in Afghanistan and its extensions into Palestine and Iraq, Derek Gregory traces the long history of British and American involvements in the Middle East and shows how colonial power continues to cast long shadows over our own present. Argues the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11 activated a series of political and cultural responses that were profoundly colonial in nature. The first analysis of the “war on terror” to connect events in Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq. Traces the connections between geopolitics and the lives of ordinary people. Richly illustrated and packed with empirical detail.


Rebuilding War-Torn States

Rebuilding War-Torn States

Author: Graciana del Castillo

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2008-09-25

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 0191608106

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Post-conflict economic reconstruction is a critical part of the political economy of peacetime and one of the most important challenges in any peace-building or state-building strategy. After wars end, countries must negotiate a multi-pronged transition to peace: Violence must give way to public security; lawlessness, political exclusion, and violation of human rights must give way to the rule of law and participatory government; ethnic, religious, ideological, or class/caste confrontation must give way to national reconciliation; and ravaged and mismanaged war economies must be reconstructed and transformed into functioning market economies that enable people to earn a decent living. Yet, how can these vitally important tasks each be successfully managed? How should we go about rehabilitating basic services and physical and human infrastructure? Which policies and institutions are necessary to reactivate the economy in the short run and ensure sustainable development in the long run? What steps should countries take to bring about national reconciliation and the consolidation of peace? In all of these cases, unless the political objectives of peacetime prevail at all times, peace will be ephemeral, while policies that pursue purely economic objectives can have tragic consequences. This book argues that any strategy for post-conflict economic reconstruction must be based on five premises and examines specific post-conflict reconstruction experiences to identify not only where these premises have been disregarded, but also where policies have worked, and the specific conditions that have influenced their success and failure.


Routledge Handbook on Middle East Security

Routledge Handbook on Middle East Security

Author: Anders Jägerskog

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-02-11

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13: 1351718363

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Routledge Handbook on Middle East Security provides the first comprehensive look at Middle East security issues that includes both traditional and emerging security threats. Taking a broad perspective on security, the volume offers both analysis grounded in the ‘hard’ military and state security discourse but also delves into the ‘soft’ aspects of security employing a human security perspective. As such the volume addresses imminent challenges to security, such as the ones relating directly to the war in Syria, but also the long-term challenges. The traditional security problems, which are deep-seated, are at risk of being exacerbated also by a lack of focus on emerging vulnerabilities in the region. While taking as a point of departure the prevalent security discourse, the volume also goes beyond the traditional focus on military or state security and consider non-traditional security challenges. This book provides a state-of-the-art review of research on the key challenges for security in the Middle East; it will be a key resource for students and scholars interested in Security Studies, International Relations, Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies.


Cities at War

Cities at War

Author: Mary Kaldor

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2020-03-31

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0231546130

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Warfare in the twenty-first century goes well beyond conventional armies and nation-states. In a world of diffuse conflicts taking place across sprawling cities, war has become fragmented and uneven to match its settings. Yet the analysis of failed states, civil war, and state building rarely considers the city, rather than the country, as the terrain of battle. In Cities at War, Mary Kaldor and Saskia Sassen assemble an international team of scholars to examine cities as sites of contemporary warfare and insecurity. Reflecting Kaldor’s expertise on security cultures and Sassen’s perspective on cities and their geographies, they develop new insight into how cities and their residents encounter instability and conflict, as well as the ways in which urban forms provide possibilities for countering violence. Through a series of case studies of cities including Baghdad, Bogotá, Ciudad Juarez, Kabul, and Karachi, the book reveals the unequal distribution of insecurity as well as how urban capabilities might offer resistance and hope. Through analyses of how contemporary forms of identity, inequality, and segregation interact with the built environment, Cities at War explains why and how political violence has become increasingly urbanized. It also points toward the capacity of the city to shape a different kind of urban subjectivity that can serve as a foundation for a more peaceful and equitable future.


Vortex of Conflict

Vortex of Conflict

Author: Dan Caldwell

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2011-02-17

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 0804776660

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

More than two million Americans have served in Afghanistan or Iraq; more than 5,000 Americans have been killed; and over 35,000 have been grievously wounded. The war in Afghanistan has become America's longest war. Most Americans do not understand the background of, or reasons for, the United States' involvement in these two wars. Using primary and secondary sources, author Dan Caldwell describes relevant historical, political, cultural, and ideological elements related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He demonstrates how they are interrelated. Beginning with the history of the two conflicts within the context of U.S. policies toward Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan because American policy toward terrorism and Afghanistan cannot be understood without some consideration of Pakistan he outlines and analyzes major issues of the two wars. These include intelligence quality, war plans, postwar reconstruction, interagency policymaking, U.S. relations with allies, and shift from conventional to counterinsurgency strategy. He concludes by capturing the lessons learned from these two conflicts and points to their application in future conflict. His book is a one-volume resource for anyone who wishes to understand why and how the U.S. became involved in these two wars and in the affairs of Pakistan concurrently.


Where is the Lone Ranger when We Need Him?

Where is the Lone Ranger when We Need Him?

Author: Robert Perito

Publisher: US Institute of Peace Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9781929223510

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A penetrating study of U.S. policy on peace operations, Perito examines the challenges of establishing sustainable security in postconflict environments in places like the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq.


Post-Saddam Iraq

Post-Saddam Iraq

Author: Amnon Cohen

Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Published: 2011-03-29

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 1836241062

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Describes and analyses the major developments in Iraq from the US-led invasion until 2010. This title provides an important external, international dimension to Iraq's post-war development through discussion of the central role played by the Iranian regime and its deep and multi-faceted involvement in the Iraqi internal scene.


Thieves of Baghdad

Thieves of Baghdad

Author: Matthew Bogdanos

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2008-12-09

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1596919841

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Thieves of Baghdad is a riveting account of Colonel Matthew Bogdanos and his team's extraordinary efforts to recover over 5,000 priceless antiquities stolen from the Iraqi National Museum after the fall of Baghdad. A mixture of police procedural, treasure hunt, war-time thriller, and cold-eyed assessment of the international black market in stolen art, Thieves of Baghdad also explores the soul of a truly remarkable man: a soldier, a father, and a passionate, dedicated scholar.