A recent Wall Street Journal article reports that “thirty-seven percent of Americans polled listed East Asia as the region where the U.S. should dedicate most of its military forces.” Here are three must-read books recommended by experts
A New Strategy for Complex Warfare:
Combined Effects in East Asia
by Thomas A. Drohan
A New Strategy for Complex Warfare does much of the heavy lifting required for acquiring a proper understanding of Asian security cultures. Few works have succeeded as much as this one at succinctly explaining centuries of Asian cultural history and contextualizing that history to current security issues in the region. Members of the security community will greatly benefit from this unique perspective. … Drohan excels in explaining the implications cultural histories have for US security strategy and prescribes both philosophical and pragmatic changes practitioners should make. ” —Parameters
About the author: Brig Gen (ret) Thomas Drohan (PhD, Princeton University) formerly headed the Department of Military & Strategic Studies at the United States Air Force (USAF) Academy.
A New Strategy for Complex Warfare: Combined Effects in East Asia by Thomas A. Drohan
Available in paperback and ebook formats. Order here.
The Gathering Pacific Storm:
Emerging US-China Strategic Competition in Defense Technological and Industrial Development
by Tai Ming Cheung and Thomas G. Mahnken, eds.
This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the intensifying strategic competition now underway between the United States and China. The authors analyze the most important dimensions of that rivalry, including missiles, space and counterspace systems, military aviation, surface and undersea warfare and artificial intelligence. Best of all, the volume offers a set of sensible proposals for military planners and civilian policymakers seeking to preserve America’s vital, but increasingly challenged, advantages in military technology.” –Aaron L. Friedberg, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
About the editors: Dr. Tai Ming Cheung (PhD, King’s College London) is the director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) at the University of San Diego and the leader of IGCC’s Minerva project “The Evolving Relationship Between Technology and National Security in China: Innovation, Defense Transformation, and China’s Place in the Global Technology Order.”
Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken is President and CEO of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), Senior Research Professor at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at The Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and the editor of Net Assessment and Military Strategy.
The Gathering Pacific Storm: Emerging US-China Strategic Competition in Defense Technological and Industrial Development by Tai Ming Cheung and Thomas G. Mahnken, eds.
Available in paperback and ebook formats. Order here.
Trust and Distrust in Sino-American Relations: Challenge and Opportunity
by Steve Chan
Well organized … a book well worth reading … the most important contribution of this book is the introduction of the concept of ‘trust’ into the international relations theory literature. Chan’s contribution to the literature is taking a step further from the descriptive studies that characterizes the works of many scholars of US–China relations and Sinologists. Rather than stick to the idiographic level of analysis, as Sinologists or Americanists would do in their studies, Chan raises the analysis to the nomothetic level where the concept and indicators can be employed for studies beyond the contemporary US–China relations to relations between other powers in the future. Yet, there is something in this excellent book for every type of student and scholar here to take away. For Sinologists and students of Sino-American relations, it provides them with the big picture and an explanation of China’s place in it. For international relations students, it gives us an additional variable—an instrumental variable—as such to help us enhance and enrich extant theories of major power relations.” —Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs
About the author: Dr. Steve Chan is College Professor of Distinction at the University of Colorado.
Trust and Distrust in Sino-American Relations: Challenge and Opportunity by Steve Chan
Available in paperback and ebook formats. Order here.
These books are part of the Rapid Communications in Conflict and Security (RCCS) Series
(General Editor: Dr. Geoffrey R.H. Burn).
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