Castles, Battles, and Bombs reconsiders key episodes of military history from the point of view of economics—with dramatically insightful results. For example, when looked at as a question of sheer cost, the building of castles in the High Middle Ages seems almost inevitable: though stunningly expensive, a strong castle was far cheaper to maintain than a standing army. The authors also reexamine the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II and provide new insights into France’s decision to develop nuclear weapons. Drawing on these examples and more, Brauer and Van Tuyll suggest lessons for today’s military, from counterterrorist strategy and military manpower planning to the use of private military companies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"In bringing economics into assessments of military history, [the authors] also bring illumination. . . . [The authors] turn their interdisciplinary lens on the mercenary arrangements of Renaissance Italy; the wars of Marlborough, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon; Grant's campaigns in the Civil War; and the strategic bombings of World War II. The results are invariably stimulating."—Martin Walker, Wilson Quarterly
"This study is serious, creative, important. As an economist I am happy to see economics so professionally applied to illuminate major decisions in the history of warfare."—Thomas C. Schelling, Winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics

Castles, Battles, and Bombs: How Economics Explains Military History

Business & Money

Brauer, Jurgen

van Tuyll, Hubert

Economics

University of Chicago Press

Castles, Battles, and Bombs reconsiders key episodes of military history from the point of view of economics—with dramatically insightful results. For example, when looked at as a question of sheer cost, the building of castles in the High Middle Ages seems almost inevitable: though stunningly expensive, a strong castle was far cheaper to maintain than a standing army. The authors also reexamine the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II and provide new insights into France’s decision to develop nuclear weapons. Drawing on these examples and more, Brauer and Van Tuyll suggest lessons for today’s military, from counterterrorist strategy and military manpower planning to the use of private military companies in Afghanistan and Iraq. "In bringing economics into assessments of military history, [the authors] also bring illumination. . . . [The authors] turn their interdisciplinary lens on the mercenary arrangements of Renaissance Italy; the wars of Marlborough, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon; Grant's campaigns in the Civil War; and the strategic bombings of World War II. The results are invariably stimulating."—Martin Walker, Wilson Quarterly "This study is serious, creative, important. As an economist I am happy to see economics so professionally applied to illuminate major decisions in the history of warfare."—Thomas C. Schelling, Winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics

Countries that spend scarce resources to import arms from abroad often require arms sellers to 'reinvest' part or all of the proceeds back into the arms-importing country. These so-called 'arms trade offsets' are therefore thought to enhance domestic economic development. But does this process actually succeed? This book examines the theory and policy applications of arms trade offsets and looks at more than a dozen case studies drawn from across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The chapters, based on original research and published here for the first time, are all written by leading experts. That an impressive, lucid and cohesive volume such as this will interest defence economists can be taken almost for granted. The book will also be a useful and enlightening read for those interested in international development economics, military studies and policy-makers across the globe.

Arms Trade and Economic Development: Theory, Policy and Cases in Arms Trade Offsets (Routledge Studies in Defence and Peace Economics)

Dunne, Paul

Routledge

Arms Trade and Economic Development (Routledge Studies in Defence and Peace Economics)

The inherent dangers of war zones constrain even the most ardent researchers, with the consequence that little has been known for certain about the effects of war on stable environments. War and Nature sifts through the available data from past wars to evaluate the actual impact that combat has on natural surroundings. Examining conflicts of various kinds—the long war in tropical Vietnam, the relatively brief and highly technical wars in the Persian Gulf, and various civil wars in Africa and South-Central Asia fought with small arms—Brauer asks whether differences in technology, location, and duration are critical in causing environmental and humanitarian harm. A number of unexpected conclusions are drawn from this data, including practical agendas for collecting scientific evidence in future wars and suggestions about what the world's environmental and conservation organizations can do. One thing War and Nature does is to show us how globalization can be a force harnessed for good ends.

War and Nature: The Environmental Consequences of War in a Globalized World (Globalization and the Environment)

AltaMira Press

Reference

The open challenge to the widespread acceptance of lethality and lethal intent trespasses the limits of an ideology for social change entailing a new scientific model based on the refutation of killing-accepting science. This volume brings together 24 authors and 14 disciplines (Anthropology, Arts, Biology, Economics, Engineering, Geography, Health Sciences, History, Linguistics, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology and Sociology) to seriously consider the prospects for the realization of nonkilling societies and to challenge each discipline’s role in the necessary social and scientific transformation.

Toward a Nonkilling Paradigm

Politics & Social Sciences

Evans Pim, Joám

Younger, Stephen M.

Urbain, Olivier

Sponsel, Leslie E.

Tyner, James

Giorgi, Piero P.

Marlin, Tepper

Haws, David

DeGue, Sarah

Social Sciences

Center for Global Nonkilling

Arms Trade and Economic Development: Theory, Policy and Cases in Arms Trade Offsets

The Economics of Regional Security: NATO, the Mediterranean and Southern Africa

The Economics of Regional Security: NATO, the Mediterranean and Southern Africa (Routledge Studies in Defence and Peace Economics)

This important book explores the threats and challenges to regional security, for Nato, in the Mediterranean, and in the sub-Saharan countries, namely southern Africa. Written and edited by leading researchers, the volume's significance lies in its demonstration of how concepts from economics and other social science disciplines can be applied to important issues of defence, conflict and peace at the regional level.

The Economics of Regional Security (Routledge Studies in Defence and Peace Economics)

Hartley, Keith

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