Creating Military Power ─ The Sources of Military Effectiveness

Brooks (political science, Northwestern U.) and Stanley (Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown U.) analyze the non-material factors that explain why states vary in military effectiveness, which is conceived of as consisting of integration, responsiveness, skill, and quality. They identify seven key factors and analyze them in reference to particular historical cases. For example, nationalism is discussed as it relates to military effectiveness in post-Meiji Japan, social structure and ethnicity are explored for Iraq between 1980 and 2004, civil-military relations are considered for Egypt in the 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel, and the influence political institutions are examined for the contemporary United States and United Kingdom. The other factors explored are global norms, international competition, and international alliances. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)