James Gow

This volume examines the concept and phenomenon of war through a variety of lenses. Each of these approaches illuminates war and its various relationships to society, offering a different aspect of understanding. While a range of approaches probably cannot be exhaustive, it offers a rounded introduction to and exploration of war. Indeed, the attempt to capture the scope of war in one volume is rather ambitious, given that the most important and influential writer on war in modern times – Carl von Clausewitz – died with his massive multi-tome work unfinished. And that was a work which sought out the essence of war, but in doing so did not even begin to examine certain aspects of the subject – as an ex-officer, his emphasis, broadly, was on understanding war in order to know better how to conduct warfare. Clausewitz’s great legacy is to have identified the centrality of politics in war. This is an understanding embraced generally throughout academic literature on war, even if the focus in such work has been elsewhere – on battles, on outcomes, and so on. While some approaches have investigated aspects of war connected with values, including the study of the laws of war and the issues surrounding war crimes, none has identified the centrality of values in war. This volume, based on research and reflection on many aspects of war, argues that values, ethics and rules are central to defining and understanding war. The book examines different aspects of war, beginning with an exploration of the term ‘war’ itself, which serves as the departure point for analysis of different aspects of war. This book will be essential reading for students of war studies and strategic studies, and recommended reading for students of military history, security studies and IR.

This volume examines the concept and phenomenon of war through a variety of lenses. Each of these approaches illuminates war and its various relationships to society, offering a different aspect of understanding. While a range of approaches probably cannot be exhaustive, it offers a rounded introduction to and exploration of war. Indeed, the attempt to capture the scope of war in one volume is rather ambitious, given that the most important and influential writer on war in modern times – Carl von Clausewitz – died with his massive multi-tome work unfinished. And that was a work which sought out the essence of war, but in doing so did not even begin to examine certain aspects of the subject – as an ex-officer, his emphasis, broadly, was on understanding war in order to know better how to conduct warfare. Clausewitz’s great legacy is to have identified the centrality of politics in war. This is an understanding embraced generally throughout academic literature on war, even if the focus in such work has been elsewhere – on battles, on outcomes, and so on. While some approaches have investigated aspects of war connected with values, including the study of the laws of war and the issues surrounding war crimes, none has identified the centrality of values in war. This volume, based on research and reflection on many aspects of war, argues that values, ethics and rules are central to defining and understanding war. The book examines different aspects of war, beginning with an exploration of the term ‘war’ itself, which serves as the departure point for analysis of different aspects of war. This book will be essential reading for students of war studies and strategic studies, and recommended reading for students of military history, security studies and IR.

This book examines how and to what extent academic research in politics and international studies has had 'impact' — in doing so, it also considers what might characterise ‘world-leading’ research impact. International Relations was always meant to have impact – it was intended to make a difference in the world, when the subject was formally founded to understand and prevent war in 1919. This volume addresses the concept of ‘impact’ and offers a typology of the term — instrumental, conceptual, capacity building and procedural. The authors examine 111 impact case studies in the UK Research Excellence Framework (2014) that were classified as having achieved the highest level of evaluation, and they identify eight characteristics that mark ‘world-leading’ impact. The book concludes that process and public and media engagement are previously underestimated aspects of impact in official approaches. It further demonstrates that achieving the top levels of impact in international relations is possible, but that factors such as the nature of the subject, the approach of researchers and mean-spiritedness in the peer review process inhibited this. This book will be of much interest to students of politics and international studies, as well as educational research and policy makers, and anyone interested in, or working on, research impact.

This book examines how and to what extent academic research in politics and international studies has had 'impact' — in doing so, it also considers what might characterise ‘world-leading’ research impact. International Relations was always meant to have impact – it was intended to make a difference in the world, when the subject was formally founded to understand and prevent war in 1919. This volume addresses the concept of ‘impact’ and offers a typology of the term — instrumental, conceptual, capacity building and procedural. The authors examine 111 impact case studies in the UK Research Excellence Framework (2014) that were classified as having achieved the highest level of evaluation, and they identify eight characteristics that mark ‘world-leading’ impact. The book concludes that process and public and media engagement are previously underestimated aspects of impact in official approaches. It further demonstrates that achieving the top levels of impact in international relations is possible, but that factors such as the nature of the subject, the approach of researchers and mean-spiritedness in the peer review process inhibited this. This book will be of much interest to students of politics and international studies, as well as educational research and policy makers, and anyone interested in, or working on, research impact.

The laws of war have always been concerned with issues of necessity and proportionality, but how are these principles applied in modern warfare? What are the pressures on practitioners where an increasing emphasis on legality is the norm? Where do such boundaries lie in the contexts, means and methods of contemporary war? What is wrong, or right, in the view of military-political practitioners, in how those concepts relate to today's means and methods of war? These are among the issues addressed by James Gow in his compelling analysis of war and war crimes, which draws upon research conducted over many years with defence professionals from all over the world. Today more than ever, military strategy has to embrace justice and law, with both being deemed essential prerequisites for achieving success on the battlefield. And in a context where legitimacy defines success in warfare, but is a fragile and contested concept, no group has a greater interest in responding to these pressures and changes positively than the military. It is they who have the greatest need and desire to foster legitimacy in war by getting the politics-law-strategy nexus right, as well as developing a clear understanding of the relationship between war and war crimes, and calibrating where war becomes a war crime.

One of Europe's smallest countries, with a population of less than 2 million, Slovenia has an ancient and distinct national culture. It emerged in 1991 after fighting a brief war of independence to leave behind the remnants of Tito's Yugoslavia. Traces of the Slovene language are found in documents of the ninth century, a system of peasant democracy is recorded in medieval times, and a Slovene Bible appeared as early as 1557. This volume provides a comprehensive survey of Slovenia and its people, including details of political, economic, military and cultural life. There are few books available on Slovenia and this new edition of a classic has been revised and expanded to bring the reader up to date.

James Gow's A Short History of Greek Mathematics (1884) provided the first full account of the subject available in English, and it today remains a clear and thorough guide to early arithmetic and geometry. Beginning with the origins of the numerical system and proceeding through the theorems of Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes and many others, the Short History offers in-depth analysis and useful translations of individual texts as well as a broad historical overview of the development of mathematics. Parts I and II concern Greek arithmetic, including the origin of alphabetic numerals and the nomenclature for operations; Part III constitutes a complete history of Greek geometry, from its earliest precursors in Egypt and Babylon through to the innovations of the Ionic, Sophistic, and Academic schools and their followers. Particular attention is given to Pythagorus, Euclid, Archimedes, and Ptolemy, but a host of lesser-known thinkers receive deserved attention as well.

This book examines how image affects war and whether image affects our understanding of war. Crucially, how can moving-image representation of conflict affect the legitimacy, conduct and outcome of contemporary warfare? The collapsing Twin Towers of September 11; the hooded figure at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; the images of beheadings on the internet; the emaciated figure in a Bosnian-Serb concentration camp; the dancing flashes across the skylines of Baghdad as US-led air bombardment deals blows to another ‘rogue’ regime: such images define contemporary conflict. Drawing on a wide range of examples from fiction and factual film, current affairs and television news, as well as new digital media, this book introduces the notion of moving images as the key weapons in contemporary armed conflict. The authors make use of information about the US, the UK, the ‘War on Terror’, the former Yugoslavia, former Soviet states, the Middle East and Africa. War, Image and Legitimacy will be of great interest to students of war and security studies, media and communication studies, and international relations in general.

This book examines how image affects war and whether image affects our understanding of war. Crucially, how can moving-image representation of conflict affect the legitimacy, conduct and outcome of contemporary warfare? The collapsing Twin Towers of September 11; the hooded figure at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; the images of beheadings on the internet; the emaciated figure in a Bosnian-Serb concentration camp; the dancing flashes across the skylines of Baghdad as US-led air bombardment deals blows to another ‘rogue’ regime: such images define contemporary conflict. Drawing on a wide range of examples from fiction and factual film, current affairs and television news, as well as new digital media, this book introduces the notion of moving images as the key weapons in contemporary armed conflict. The authors make use of information about the US, the UK, the ‘War on Terror’, the former Yugoslavia, former Soviet states, the Middle East and Africa. War, Image and Legitimacy will be of great interest to students of war and security studies, media and communication studies, and international relations in general.

What is the West? Why does it need to be defended? From what, by whom, and how? These are thorny questions that international society must grapple with in order to meet the security challenges of the 21st Century. This little book provides answers to these questions. In it, James Gow sends out a clarion call for a radical re-interpretation of the right of self-defence within the terms of international law and international politics. The world is a wonderful, but dangerous place. There are any number of threats to peace and security, ranging from new forms of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to environmental degradation, famine and disease. Defending the West matters to everyone, regardless of colour, creed, or nationality. It matters to those who are seeking to destroy it as much as it does to those seeking to protect it. Defence of the West requires pre-emptive action, but it cannot be undertaken on a unilateral basis and outside the law. Instead of outlawing pre-emptive action, we must acknowledge that it is necessary and ensure that it can be taken in a framework of partnership and legitimacy.