Good strategic assessment does not guarantee success in international relations; but bad strategic assessment dramatically increases the risk of disastrous failure. The most glaring example of this reality is playing out in Iraq today. But what explains why states and their leaders are sometimes so good at strategic assessment--and why they are sometimes so bad at it? Part of the explanation has to do with a state's civil-military relations. In Shaping Strategy; Risa Brooks develops a novel theory of how states' civil-military relations affect strategic assessment during international conflicts. And her conclusions have broad practical importance: to anticipate when states are prone to strategic failure abroad; we must look at how civil-military relations affect the analysis of those strategies at home. Drawing insights from both international relations and comparative politics; Shaping Strategy shows that good strategic assessment depends on civil-military relations that encourage an easy exchange of information and a rigorous analysis of a state's own relative capabilities and strategic environment. Among the diverse case studies the book illuminates; Brooks explains why strategic assessment in Egypt was so poor under Gamal Abdel Nasser prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and why it improved under Anwar Sadat. The book also offers a new perspective on the devastating failure of U.S. planning for the second Iraq war. Brooks argues that this failure; far from being unique; is an example of an assessment pathology to which states commonly succumb.
#825740 in Books Princeton University Press 2006-04-16Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .98 x 5.98l; 1.42 #File Name: 0691120773448 pages
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. More than WastelandsBy M. ZavalaMasco has written an interesting study of a post-WWII American phenomenon: a national security-obsessed collective dependent upon a destructive technology controlled by expertise and set apart from the very public that has obsessively turned to it even when lacking direct threats. More than this; it's also a helpful study of a little explored topic: aging hazardous technology producing difficult to contain risks. This is a very long ethnography ranging from the experience of the Native Americans living adjacent to the bomb test sites; the scientists working in the test lab; and the experiences of New Mexicans that serve as a means of analyzing the country's experience with the a-bomb at large. Masco also offers historical/archival data for contextualizing his project. His studies of technology and national security are unique contributions to contemporary anthropology; but are an asset to readers interested in a variety of subjects; from security and technology; to pollution; risk; STS; and more.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Nuclear EthnographyBy EverybodyLovesJimMasco's work is informative; has an interesting narrative; and is unlike most other texts about the nuclear weapons industry. Although much of the text involves a discussion of how nuclear weapons testing impact(s/ed) Native American communities - or "down winders" - the book covers a good deal of scientific information; as well as cultural theories involving the nuclear weapons complex. While pursuing a history undergraduate degree; I wrote my thesis on the nuclear weapons industry; this was by far my favorite book on the subject. Although scholarly; it is accessible. Although accessible; it is not sophomoric. If you are at all interested in the American experience with nuclear weapons; read this book!11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Academic but mind-blowingBy Eric P. PerramondI've read Masco's book twice now; and keep finding insights throughout it. This is not a straightforward narrative history of "how the bomb was developed." If you want such a book; there are hundreds out there. It is admittedly more academic in treatment; language (jargon); and scope than other books -- but I love the analogies; metaphors; and analysis that Joseph Masco brings to bear on the bomb (and I love alliteration).Along with Jake Kosek's "Understories" (Duke U Press); I'll be using this book next time I teach the Political Ecology of the Southwest. If you are an anthropologist; or just play one on weekends; and have any interest in what the atomic age has meant for the nation-state of the U.S.; I urge you to read this book. Yesterday.
