The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad factor in the Mali crisis

Mali has been a battleground for more than a year now. While the armed conflict came in the aftermath of the Libyan crisis that left the regional security environment depleted, it also served as a catalyst for the collapse of state authority in Mali. This created conditions conducive for the proliferation of, and attacks by, radical religious armed groups in the northern regions of the country, including the Tuareg armed movement: the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). But, far from being a new phenomenon, the Tuareg-led armed insurrection in the northern regions is as old as the post-colonial Malian state, and continues to pose tremendous challenges in West Africa and the Sahel region for both regional and extra-regional actors. The recent crisis in the Sahel region is seen as one of the most serious since the end of the Cold War, with anticipated dire long-term impacts on the security of the region and beyond. While attention is predominantly focused on defeating the jihadist groups that have threatened the survival of the Malian state, one must not lose sight of the fact that the ‘Tuareg Factor’, as represented by the rebellion launched by MNLA, remains critical both in terms of appreciating the deterioration of the situation and attempting to frame long-lasting solutions. The paper argues that the Tuareg's persistent recourse to rebellion against Bamako needs to be understood within a historical trajectory that takes into consideration three key parameters: firstly, the post-colonial state in Mali and its African leadership's relations with the descendants of the Tuareg communities; secondly, the amalgamation created by the so-called war on terror; and, finally, the contradictions of the democratisation process of the 1990s.¹1 This article is based on field research carried out between 2008 and 2013 on the ‘Resurgence of Tuareg-led Rebellions’.     

Currency Warfare and Just War: The Ethics of Targeting Currencies in War

ABSTRACT

Is Currency Warfare defined as, the use of monetary or military force directed against an enemy’s monetary power as part of a military campaign, a just way to fight a war? This article explores the ethics of waging currency warfare against the Just War Tradition’s principles of jus in bello (just conduct in war) and its criteria of discrimination and proportionality. The central argument is that currency warfare is inherently indiscriminate but may be proportionate when policy makers consider the nature of the threat confronted and the targeted currency's level of internationalization, that is, to what degree it is used in foreign transactions or used as a foreign currency reserve. I evaluate this argument against historical cases during the Second World War (1939–1945), the Gulf War (1990–1991), subsequent operations against Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s, and the ongoing campaign against ISIS.     

Book reviews

Military Helicopters. By E. J. Everett‐Heath, G. M. Moss, A. W. Mowat and K. E. Reid. Brassey's, London (1990), ISBN 0–08–037341–0 (hardcover), ISBN 0–08–036716‐X (flexicover), £22.50 (hardcover), £12.95 (flexicover)

The Killing Ground: the British Army, the Western Front and the Emergence of Modern Warfare 1900–1918. By Tim Travers. Unwin‐Hyman, London (1990), ISBN 0–04–4457367, £11.95

The Influence of S. L. A. Marshall on the United States Army. By Major F. D. G. Williams. TRADOC Historical Monograph Series, Fort Monroe, VA (1990)     

Book reviews

America's Secret Power: the CIA in a Democratic Society. By Loch K. Johnson. Oxford University Press, New York (1989), ISBN 0–19–505490–3, $24.95

The Bundeswehr and Western Security. Edited by Stephen F. Szabo. Houndmills, Basingstoke, and Macmillan, London (1990), ISBN 0–333–49880–1, £45.00

Symbolic Defense: the Cultural Significance of the Strategic Defense Initiative. By Edward Tabor Linenthal. University of Illinois Press, Chicago, IL (1989), ISBN 0–252–01619‐X, $19.95

Rethinking European Security. Edited by Furio Cerutti and Rodolfo Ragionieri. Crane Russak, New York (1990), £29.00

Alternative Conventional Defense Postures in the European Theater, Vol. 1: The Military Balance and Domestic Constraints. Edited by Hans Günter Brauch and Robert Kennedy, Crane Russak, New York (1990), £32.00

The Gulf War. Edited by Hanns Maull and Otto Pick. Pinter, London (1989), ISBN 0–86187–763–2, £36.00     

Country survey military expenditure in Cyprus

Cyprus, a small island state, gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960. For more that half its history as an independent state Cyprus has been under occupation following the 1974 Turkish invasion. Despite the fact that it has faced war, invasion and occupation, Cyprus has allocated a comparatively small proportion of its national income to defence. The average defence burden—military expenditure as a share of GDP—during 1964–98 was around 2.5%. However, as a result of a substantial shift in defence policy during the past decade or so, the defence burden during the 1990s has increased, averaging about 4% of GDP as Cyprus decided to implement an extensive military modernization program aiming to present a more credible military deterrence vis‐a‐vis Turkey. Empirical estimations of a demand function for Cypriot military expenditure suggest that it is positively affected by alliance spillins and external military threat.     

The keyhole satellite program

James S. Corum, The Roots of Blitzkrieg: Hans von Seeckt and German Military Reform. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 1992. Pp.274, photos, biblio, index; $29.95. ISBN 0–7006–0541‐X.

G. M. Hall, Geopolitics and the Decline of Empire, Implications for United States Defence Policy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &; Co., 1990. Pp.xii + 210, index; £22.50. ISBN 0–89950–538–4.

Eric Carlton, Occupation: The Policies and Practices of Military Conquerors. London: Routledge, 1992. Pp.viii + 198, biblio, index; £30. ISBN 0–415–05846–5.

Erik Goldstein, Wars and Peace Treaties, 1816–1991. London: Routledge, 1992. Pp.xx + 264, 19 maps, biblio, index; £40. ISBN 0–415–07822–9.

Marc D. Lax, Selected Strategic Minerals. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1992. Pp.xvii + 337, 15 illus, biblio, index; $48.50. ISBN 0–8191–8300–8.

Keith Krause, Anns and the State: Patterns of Military Production and Trade, Cambridge Studies in International Relations Vol.22. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp.xi + 299, 32 tables, 3 figures, biblio, index; £35. ISBN 0–521–39446–5.

Frank Barnaby, The Role and Control of Weapons in the 1990s. London: Routledge 1992. Pp.189, index; £30. ISBN 0–415–07667–3.

Manus I. Midlarsky (ed.), The Internationalization of Communal Strife. London: Routledge, 1992. Pp.xvii + 306, 10 figures and tables, index; £45. ISBN 0–415–08408–3.

Richard N. Haass, Conflicts Unending: The United States and Regional Disputes. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp.xiv + 176, notes and index; $12 (paperback), $25 (hardback). ISBN 0–300–04555–7 and 15129–8.

Sean M. Lynn and Steven E. Miller (eds.), America's Strategy in a Changing World. Cambridge, MA and London, UK, The MIT Press, 1992. Pp.xvii + 398, 6 tables; £14.25. ISBN 0–262–62085–5.

Robert Cribb, Gangsters and Revolutionaries: The Jakarta People's Militia and the Indonesian Revolution, 1945–1949. Sydney: Asian Studies Association of Australia/Allen &; Unwin, 1991. Pp.xiii + 222, 4 photos, 2 maps, glossary, biblio, index; £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–04–301296–5.

Anton Lucas, One Soul, One Struggle: Region and Revolution in Indonesia. North Sydney: Asian Studies Association of Australia/Allen &; Unwin, 1992. Pp.xxvi + 301, 14 photos, 4 maps, glossary, biblio, index; £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–04–442249–0.     

Book reviews

Die Faszination des Verrats: Eine Studie zur Dekadenz im Ost‐West Konflikt. By Thomas Noetzel. Hamburg, Junius (1989) DM48.

Les Nations Armées. By Maurice Faivre (Preface by Pierre Messmer), Paris FEDN/Economica (1988).

Insurgency and Terrorism: Inside Modern Revolutionary Warfare. By Bard E. O'Neill, Brassey's (US), Washington, DC (1990), $19.00.

LIC 2010: Special Operations and Unconventional Warfare in the Next Century. By Rod Paschall, Brassey's (US), Washington, DC, $24.00.

Air Power and Colonial Conflict: The Royal Air Force 1919–1939. By D. E. Omissi, Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York (1990), ISBN 0–7190–2960–0. £35.00.

Key to the Sinai: The Battles for Abu Ageila in the 1956 and 1967 Arab‐Israeli Wars. By George W. Gawrych. Combat Studies Institute Research Survey No. 7, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1990. $8.00.

Arms Export Regulations. Edited by Ian Anthony. SIPRI/Oxford University Press, Oxford (1991), ISBN 0–19–829158–2, £25.00.     

Civil–military relations and organisational preferences regarding the use of the military in Chinese foreign policy: insights from the debate on MOOTW

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the positions of the Chinese civilian leaders and military elites on Military Operations Other Than War in order to shed light on their preferences about the use of the armed forces in foreign policy between the late 1990s and the early 2010s. Over time, a significant divergence developed between civilians and soldiers until 2011, when the Libyan crisis happened. The study also prompts important considerations about our understanding of civil–military relations in China and future role of the People’s Liberation Army as a tool of statecraft in foreign policy.     

Book reviews

Exporting Democracy: Fulfilling America's Destiny. By Joshua Muravchik, American Enterprise Institute (1991) ISSN 0–8447–3734–8. $12.95.

Generals in the Palacio. By Roderick Ai Camp. Oxford University Press, (1992), ISBN 0–19–507300–2, £45.

L'Armement en France. Genèse, Ampleur et Coût d'une Industrie By François Chesnais and Claude Serfati, Editions Nathan, Collection Economie/Sciences Sociales, Paris (1992), ISBN 2–09–190086–9.

The Têt Offensive. Intelligence Failure in War. By James Wirtz, Cornell University Press, New York (1991), ISBN 0–8014–2486–0. $38.50.

Restructuring of arms producton in Western Europe. Edited by Michael Brzoska and Peter Lock. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1992), ISBN 0–1982–9147–7. £25.00.

What is Proper Soldiering? A study of new perspectives for the future uses of the Armed Forces of the 1990s. By Michael Harbottle. The Centre for International Peacebuilding, Chipping Norton (1992), £3.50.

The Strategic Defence Initiative By Edward Reiss, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1992), ISBN 0–521–41097–5. £30.00.     

Book Reviews

Strategic Air Defense. Edited by Stephen J. Cimbala. Scholarly Resources, Wilmington, DE (1989), ISBN 0–8420–2285–6, $40.00

NATO's Defence of the North. Brassey's Atlantic Commentaries No. 1. Edited by Eric Grove. Brassey's, London (1989), ISBN 0–08–037339–9, £7.50

Maritime Strategy and the Balance of Power: Britain and America in the Twentieth Century. Edited by John B. Hattendorf and Robert S. Jordan. Macmillan, London (1989), ISBN 0–333–43789–6, £45.00

Superpowers at Sea: an Assessment of the Naval Arms Race. By Richard Fieldhouse and Shunji Taoka. SIPRI, Oxford (1989), ISBN 0–19–829135–3

Security at Sea: Naval Arms Control. Edited by Richard Fieldhouse. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1990), ISBN 0–19–829130–2, £25.00

Strategy in the Southern Oceans: a South American View. By Virginia Gamba‐Stonehouse. Pinter, London (1989), ISBN 0–86187–017–4, £30.00

The Defence Industrial Base and the West. Edited by D. G. Haglund. Routledge, London (1989), ISBN 0–415–00923–5, £30.00

Defense and Détente: US and West German Perspectives on Defense Policy. Edited by Joseph I. Coffey and Klaus von Schubert. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, ISBN 0–8133–7722–6, $36.50     

Figuring out fighting organisations: The new organisational analysis in strategic studies

Deborah D. Avant, Political Institutions and Military Change: Lessons from Peripheral Wars, Ithaca, New York, and London: Cornell University Press, 1994. Pp.xi + 161, biblio. index; £23.50. ISBN 0–8014–3034–8.

Craig M. Cameron, American Samurai: Myth, Imagination, and the Conduct of Battle in the First Marine Division, 1941–1951, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp.xiii + 297, 19 illus. 9 maps, 2 tables, biblio. index; £25. ISBN 0–521–44168–4.

Leonard A. Humphreys, The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920s, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1995. Pp.x + 252, 7 illus., biblio. index; £27.50. ISBN 0–8047–2375–3.

Jeffrey W. Legro, Cooperation Under Fire: Anglo‐German Restraint During World War II, Ithaca, New York, and London: Cornell University Press, 1995. Pp.xii + 255, 1 table, biblio. index; £27.50. ISBN 0–8014–2938–2.

Stephen Peter Rosen, Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military, Ithaca, New York, and London: Cornell University Press, 1991. Pp.vii + 275, 1 table, biblio. index; £27.50 (cloth), £11.95 (paper). ISBN 0–8014–2556–5 and ‐8196–1.

Kimberly Martin Zisk, Engaging the Enemy: Organization Theory and Soviet Military Innovation, 1955–1991, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993. Pp.x + 286, biblio. index; £33.50. ISBN 0–691–06982–4.     

Defence expenditures and economic growth: The externality effect

In a series of articles published in the Fall 1990 issue of Defence Economics Alexander (1990), Atesoglu and Mueller (1990) and Huang and Mintz (1990) have all specified and empirically estimated defence‐growth models based on a neoclassical production function. We now isolate the externality component in our model, re‐estimate its coefficients using data on the U.S. economy 1952–88 and compare specifications and results with Atesoglu and Mueller (1990) and Alexander (1990).     

Book reviews

Military Strategy in a Changing Europe: Towards the Twenty‐first Century.. Edited by Brian Holden Reid and Michael Dewar. Brassey's (UK), London (1991), ISBN 0–08–037706–8 £27.50 (US$49.95)

On Future War. By Martin van Creveld. Brassey's (UK), London (1991), ISBN 0–08–04179–65 £22.50 (US$38.25)

American and Soviet Intervention: Effects on World Stability. Edited by Karen A. Feste. Taylor and Francis, New York (1990), ISBN 0–8448–1632–9. £40.00

Soziale Deutungsmuster von Bataillonskommandeuren der Bundeswehr: Ein Beitrag zum beruflichen Selbstverstandnis einer militarischen Elite. By Georg‐Maria Meyer. Deutscher Universitätsverlag (1992)

The Laser in America: 1950–1970. By Joan Lisa Bromberg. MIT Press, Cambridge MA (1991), ISBN 0–262–02318–0, £26.95     

Book Reviews

Iain McCallum, Blood Brothers Hiram and Hudson Maxim: Pioneers of Modern Warfare. London: Chatham, 1999. Pp. 224, 33 illus., 2 maps, biblio., index. £20. ISBN 1–86176–096–5.

Eric Ash, Sir Frederick Sykes and the Air Revolution, 1912–1918. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1999. Pp.xviii + 268, 20 illus., 3 maps, biblio., index. £42.50/$59.50 (cloth), £18.50/$27.50 (paper). ISBN 0–7146–4828–0 and ‐4382–3.

Azar Gat, Fascist and Liberal Visions of War: Fuller, Liddell Hart, Douhet, and other Modernists. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Ppviii + 334, biblio., index. £45. ISBN 0–19–820715–8.

David B. Woolner (ed.), The Second Quebec Conference Revisited: Waging War, Formulating Peace: Canada, Great Britain, and the United States in 1944–1945. Basingstoke; London: Macmillan Press, 1998. Pp.xiii + 210, index. £32.50. ISBN 0–333–75970–2.

Jeffrey Grey. Up Top: The Royal Australian Navy and Southeast Asian Conflicts 1955–1972. St Leonards NSW: Allen &; Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 1998. Pp.xx + 380, 110 illus., 12 tables, 23 maps &; diagrams, appendices, notes, biblio., index. NP. ISBN 1–86448–290–7.

Susan L Carruthers, The Media at War. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000. Pp.321, biblio., index. £14.99 (paper). ISBN 0–333–69143–1, also available in hardback.

Edward J. Marolda and Robert J. Schneller Jr, Shield and Sword: The United States Navy and the Persian Gulf War. Washington DC: Naval Historical Center, 1998. Pp.xxi + 517, 120 illus., 14 maps, biblio., index. NP. ISBN 0–1604–9476–1.

Marvin Pokrant, Desert Shield at Sea: What the Navy Really Did and Desert Storm at Sea: What the Navy Really Did. Both Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Pp.xxiii + 265,9 illus., biblio., index. £44.95. ISBN 0–313–31023–8. Pp.xxiv + 329,12 illus., biblio., index. NP. ISBN 0–313–31024–6.

David Kaularich and Ronald C. Kramer, Crimes of the American Nuclear State: At Home and Abroad. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999. Pp.xviii + 195, biblio., index. £42.75. ISBN 1–55553–371‐X.

Stanley Hoffmann, World Disorders: Troubled Peace in the Post‐Cold War Era. Lanham, MD: Rowman &; Littlefield, 1998. Pp.viii+279, notes, index. $29.95. ISBN 0–8476–8574–8.

Lawrence Freedman (ed.), Strategic Coercion: Concepts and Cases. Oxford: Oxford‐University Press, 1998. Pp.400, index. £48. ISBN 0–19–829–349–6.

Stephen J. Cimbala, Coercive Military Strategy. College Station, TX: Texas A&;M University Press, 1998. Pp.229, biblio, index; $39.95. ISBN 0–89096–836–5     

Becoming a disarmament champion: the Austrian crusade against nuclear weapons

ABSTRACT

The making of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) has put Austria and its involvement in nuclear disarmament in the spotlight. This study highlights several factors that led Austria to become a prominent voice in nuclear-disarmament debates. First, its involvement dovetails with the emphasis on humanitarian disarmament it has promoted since the 1990s. Second, a strong antinuclear identity pervades Austrian society. This “nuclear allergy” combines antimilitarism inherited from the Cold War and, more broadly, an aversion to nuclear power, including for energy purposes. These two considerations form the background to the increased activism of the Austrian Foreign Ministry on nuclear disarmament in international fora. But, equally, Austria’s crusade for the TPNW can be attributed to the engagement of a small team of diplomats implementing personal as well as national preferences in favor of disarmament.     

Special Air Service Books to Choose From

Barry Davies, Joining the SAS: How to Get In and What It's Like.Miami: Lewis International Inc., 1998. Pp.214, photos, index. $22.95. ISBN 0–966771–4–2.

Peter McAleese and John Avery, McAleese's Fighting Manual: The Definitive Soldier's Handbook.London: Orion, 1998. Pp.179, illus. £18.95. ISBN 0–75280–063–9.

Steve Crawford et al.The SAS Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the World's Crack Regiment.Miami: Lewis International Inc., 1998. Pp.288, photos, maps, index. $29.95. ISBN 0–9666771–0–2.

Barry Davies et al.The Complete Encyclopedia of the SAS.London: Virgin Publishing Ltd, 1998. Pp.288, photos, maps, no index. $39.95. ISBN 1–85227–707–6.     

Book reviews

John Horsfield, The Art of Leadership in War. The Royal Navy From the Age of Nelson to the End of World War II. Westport, Conn. and London: Greenwood Press, 1980. Pp. 240; £14.75.

John Joseph Timothy Sweet, Iron Arm: The Mechanization of Mussolini's Army, 1920–1940. Westport, Connecticut &; London: Greenwood Press. 1980. Pp. 207; £15.50.

Peter H. Merkl, The Making of a Stormtrooper. Princeton, N.J: Princeton U.P., 1980. Pp. 328; £8.60.

Greg Herken, The Winning Weapon: The Atomic Bomb in the Cold War 1945–1950. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980. Pp. 425; $15.00.

Geoffrey Smith and Nelson W. Polsby, British Government and its Discontents. New York: Basic Books, and London: Harper and Row, 1981. Pp. 202; £7.95.

Seweryn Bialer (ed.), The Domestic Context of Soviet Foreign Policy. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press and London: Croom Helm, 1981. Pp. 441; £14.95.

Jerry F. Hough, Soviet Leadership in Transition. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution and Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1981. Pp. 175; £12.00 (hb.) and £3.95 (pb.)

Edward F. Mickolus, Transnational Terrorism: A Chronology of Events 1968–1979. London: Aldwych Press, 1980. Pp. 967; £39.95.

Barry Rubin, The Great Powers in the Middle East, 1941–47; The Road to the Cold War, London: Frank Cass, 1980. Pp. 254; £14.50;

Daniel Heradstveit, The Arab‐Israeli Conflict; Psychological Obstacles to Peace. Oslo: Universittsforlaget, 1979. Pp. 234; £11.60;

Janice Gross Stein, and Raymond Tanter, Rational Decision‐making; Israel's Security Choices 1967. Columbus. Ohio; Ohio State University Press, 1980. Pp. 399; $35.     

Book reviews

Frank Zimmer, Bismarcks Kampf gegen Kaiser Franz Joseph Konigsgratz und seine Folgen. Graz, Vienna, Cologne: Styria Verlag 1996. Pp.203,49 illus., 1 map. OS 350/DM 49. ISBN 3–222–12377–2.

Saul Zadka, Blood in Zion: How the Jewish Guerrillas drove the British out of Palestine. London and Washington: Brassey's, 1995. Pp.227, chron., illus., index. £19.95. ISBN 1–85753–136–1.

Theodore L. Gatchel, At the Water's Edge: Defending against the Modern Amphibious Assault. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996. Pp.xvi+217, notes, biblio, index. $36.95. ISBN 1–55750–308–7.

Max G. Manwaring and William J. Olson (eds.) Managing Contemporary Conflict: Pillars of Success. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996. Pp.269, no index. $65 (cloth); $25 (paper). ISBN 0–8133–8969 and 9978–5

Chris Seiple, The US Military/NGO Relationship in Humanitarian Interventions, Carlisle Barracks, PA: The

Richard L. Millett and Michael Gold‐Biss (eds.) Beyond Praetorianism: The Latin American Military in Transition. University of Miami: North/South Center Press; Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1996. Pp.xv +317, index. $24.95. ISBN 1–5745–000–9.

Rudolph C. Barnes Jr, Military Legitimacy: Might and Right in the New Millennium. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1996. Pp.199, select biblio., index. £27.50/$39.50, ISBN 0–714–4624–5.     

The Sword of General Sir William Fenwick Williams,Baronet of Kars,in the Royal Armouries (IX.1841) and Aspects of High Victorian Sword Design

Abstract

The Sword of Honour (RA IX.1841) presented in 1856 by the Province of Nova Scotia to its native son, General Sir William Fenwick Williams, Bart. for his deeds at Kars, Turkey, is described, illustrated, discussed and placed both in its historical and its design context. Other notable British swords of the Victorian Age (1837–1901), the Age of Empire, are also examined and the various and influential aspects of their designs, ornament and iconography discussed.     

Book reviews

The Political Economy of Military Spending in the United States, Alex Mintz (ed), London and New York: Routledge, 1992, pp x, 334; ISBN 0–415–07595–5

Penser La Guerre, Penser L'Economie, Christian Schmidt, (Paris: Odile Jacob, 1991), 350p.

Military Production and Innovation in Spain, Jordi Molas‐Gallart, Chur (CH): Harwood Academic Publishers, 1992, pp. vii, 212; ISBN 3–7186–5280–3