War by What Means, According to Whose Rules?

Description

"These proceedings summarize a workshop that researchers from the Israel Democracy Institute and RAND attended. The workshop is part of a collaborative effort aimed at developing new strategies to cope with asymmetric conflict in all its dimensions, including military operations, human rights and the role of law as it affects conflict, media, public opinion and political warfare, international diplomacy, the internal politics that come with democracy, and the preservation of civil liberties. The objective of this effort is to create an analytical framework, doctrines, and strategies that will enable democracies to effectively defend themselves against asymmetric threats while maintaining their commitment to democratic principles and humanitarian values. The proceedings presented here summarize two days of discussion that underscored the wide range and complexity of on- and--increasingly--off-the-battlefield issues that are part of contemporary conflict, the necessity of candid dialogue rather than the defense of established positions, and the objective of formulating the right questions instead of jumping to conventional answers. Underlying the discussions at the workshop was a sense of frustration that military superiority, even military success, no longer counts as it did in past conflicts. This was accompanied by a healthy humility about being able to find the correct formulas for success and concern that asymmetric conflicts are having a pernicious effect on the democracies being defended, luring them toward increasingly oppressive measures."--Back cover.

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