Introduction

ABSTRACT

The new nuclear history can make a critical contribution by forcing us to reconsider or reframe the theoretical premises of the concepts we apply to our understanding of the present – and with which we try to navigate the future. It bears on fundamental questions, such as: How should the US manage its alliances? Should it establish a multilateral nuclear policy dialogue in Asia? In what depth should it discuss issues of doctrine and targeting with its Asian allies? What capabilities might reassure European allies in light of current Russian revisionism? Could nuclear war be limited and controlled in an East Asian maritime arena? Do nuclear weapons strengthen an alliance, or do they introduce a divisive bone of contention? Is extended nuclear deterrence (END) stabilizing or is it on the contrary pushing the allies to ask for more? What is the relationship between nuclear and conventional forces in END credibility? How do nuclear alliances contribute to international security and international order? The lessons and insights from these papers, which look at five historical cases of US extended deterrence during the Cold War, should help us think about crucial current issues, and be of use both to historians who want to have a better understanding of the Cold War past and to policymakers who are currently grappling with these issues.     

Bridging the Gap: Mobilisation Constraints and Contractor Support to US and UK Military Operations

The increasing use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) has attracted considerable scholarly attention due to its corrosive effects on US democracy. Drawing on neoclassical realism, this article provides a comparative dimension to the study of the political drivers of military privatisation by analysing contractor support to US and UK operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Domestic political constraints have shaped both US and UK response to the need for more boots on the ground, increasing the propensity to use contractors as a force multiplier in spite of their problematic impact on military effectiveness.     

Pakistan’s response to US foreign policy towards South Asia 1977–1993

Relations between the USA and Pakistan have been tenuous since the 1947 partition of British India and the subsequent creation of the former. The 1979 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan focused the attention of the international community on South Asia. This article will examine the foreign policies of three successive US Presidential Administrations between 1977 and 1993, and how their decisions and corresponding actions were interpreted by the Pakistani government and its people. The key finding is the trend of the ebb and flow of US interest in Pakistan. The primary research conducted for this article shows that Pakistanis recognize this trend and consider it hypocritical of the US government. The current conditions in South Asia are ominously similar to those of 1992 with the drawdown of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan. Policy-makers would be wise to review the events of 1977–1993 so that the cycle is not repeated again.     

美军作战试验与鉴定发展研究

当前,军队装备试验鉴定正由性能试验向作战试验、在役考核全领域拓展。在装备试验鉴定体系全面重塑的历史背景下,为适应军队装备试验鉴定发展新变化,探索装备试验鉴定新理论,推进装备试验鉴定自主创新发展,亟需开展装备试验鉴定技术研究。美军相对较早开展了装备试验与鉴定工作,在作战试验与鉴定工作方面已形成了较完善的法规制度体系和规范的操作流程,有较成熟的理论与方法成果可供借鉴。与此同时,美军作战试验与鉴定工作也面临许多新问题。本文剖析了美军作战试验与鉴定的内涵和管理模式,研究了2018和2019年美军作战试验与鉴定的重点技术领域,并进行了对比分析,以期掌握近期美军作战试验与鉴定工作的发展变化。     

美国陆军网络装备作战评估及启示

作战试验能有效地推动装备体系的建设发展,本文通过分析美国陆军网络集成评估与联合作战评估的作战试验特点,提出军队开展装备作战试验的几个建议。首先,总结了美国陆军网络集成评估到联合作战评估的发展演变,主要包括网络集成评估的地位和作用、网络集成评估的实施流程以及13次网络集成评估和3次作战评估的有关情况;其次,分析了网络集成评估的一系列作战试验特点,诸如实际作战需求牵引、逼真场景构建、试训一体化模式、部队战斗力的直接生成以及作战能力的军民融合式发展等;最后,提出了网络集成评估带来的若干启示,从满足实战能力需求开展作战试验、突出装备体系的互操作能力评估、探索试训结合的作战试验模式、组建专门的作战试验部队及鼓励工业部门参与作战试验等方面推动军队作战试验的发展。     

美国陆军官方网站多模态话语分析与军队形象建构

本文以Kress、Van Leeuwen和 Painter等学者的视觉语法理论为基础,从再现意义、互动意义和构图意义三个方面对美国陆军官方网站“相册”栏目进行多模态话语分析,挖掘网页的符号资源,探寻多模态语篇生成意义、传递信息和构建形象的具体机制。在此基础上,借助Halliday、Hasan、Bateman和Bhatia等学者的多模态语类分析理论,探究模态间的互动关系,分析网页的整体设计、语类特点和宣传手段等。研究发现,该网站通过象征意义、情感互动和显著性差异等手段,影响读者对美军的认知,引导读者对美军产生积极联想,从而回避现实问题,为美军塑造正面形象。在深入发掘网页的交际目的、结构潜势和互动机制的基础上,搭建多模态语类分析框架,揭示军事网站设计和社会文化背景的复杂关系,助力军队形象建设。     

Bringing Military Conduct out of the Shadow of Law: Towards a Holistic Understanding of Rules of Engagement

In this article, I outline a holistic approach to the military concept of “Rules of Engagement” (ROE), which complements the legal aspects of ROE with considerations of operational and political requirements for the use of military force. Drawing upon two illustrative cases from the US military experience with the use of ROE, I demonstrate that ROE for any particular military operation should be formulated to balance optimally, if not harmonize fully, the legal, operational and political concerns related to the use of force. In this task, political decision-makers and military practitioners alike are confronted with unavoidable and real-life dilemmas. How these dilemmas are handled has significant implications for how legal requirements concerning accountability and concerns for civilian lives in military combat can be preserved through ROE.     

Empirical Biases and Some Remedies in Estimating the Effects of Selective Reenlistment Bonuses on Reenlistment Rates

Researchers have, for decades, been attempting to estimate the effects of Selective Reenlistment Bonuses (SRBs) on the probability of reenlistment for the military services. SRBs are targeted to specific military occupations for which reenlistment rates are lower (or expected to be lower) than what is needed. This article first identifies four primary sources of biases affecting these models: reverse causality from supply shifts (a negative bias), the endogeneity of the decision point causing coded SRBs to be higher for reenlisters than leavers (a positive bias), measurement error (a likely negative bias), and excess supply preventing the full effect of an SRB change to materialize (a positive or negative bias). The report proceeds to develop a model that attempts to address the first two biases. With U.S. Navy data from FY2001-FY2008, I examine the extent to which these two biases are affecting the estimated SRB effects. Despite these corrections, the difficulty of addressing the other biases calls into doubt studies that examine the effects of retention bonuses or even the effects of the structure of military pay in general.     

Buy now,pay later: American military intervention and the strategic cost paradox

This paper explores the notion that US efforts to evade the political costs of war paradoxically contribute to the subsequent exacerbation of costs over time. Leaders seek to purchase political capital in the short term by limiting the costs and requirements of military operations, but in doing so cause strategic and political liabilities to mount in the long run. While identification of such behaviour is not new, insufficient attention has been devoted to explaining its causes, dynamics, and manifestations in relation to key decisions on and in war. Evidence derived from studies of recent American discretionary campaigns is analysed to advance an argument with respect to this pattern of self-defeating strategic behaviour.     

美军作战实验室的现状和发展

美军作战实验室建设走在世界的前列。从20世纪90年代初至今,美军已初步建立起从技术、战术到战役、战略,从兵种、军种到联合作战的完整实验体系。分析美军热衷于作战实验室建设的主要原因,概括介绍了美军主要的作战实验室及其主要技术手段与工作程序,分析了美军作战实验室的特点和发展趋势,在此基础上得出了组织管理与顶层设计、新技术研究与应用、需求牵引与研究成果有效应用、建设投入与重点等方面的启示,对于指导我军作战实验室建设具有重要的借鉴作用。