transforming defence capabilities: new approaches for international security
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This article was downloaded by: [University of Kent]On: 19 November 2014, At: 15:15Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
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Transforming defence capabilities: newapproaches for international securityKamil Zwolski aa University of Salford , Salford, UKPublished online: 08 Sep 2010.
To cite this article: Kamil Zwolski (2009) Transforming defence capabilities: new approaches forinternational security, European Security, 18:4, 506-508, DOI: 10.1080/09662839.2010.505236
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2010.505236
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states that were most critical of their principal supplier’s domestic politics. Finally,
European oil and gas companies retained a distance from the bloc’s external energy
policies and more often followed than led their governments’ strategies.
Overall, a broader picture emerges from this detailed analysis. The EU’s
institutions and member states have not entirely abandoned their foreign-policy
values in ruthless pursuit of energy security, but nor have they united firmly behind
them. In consequence, Europe finds itself in the unsatisfactory position of having an
energy strategy that is neither particularly principled nor particularly effective. The
implication is clear. If the EU genuinely wishes to promote a Liberal, rules-based
agenda, in areas where it is not in a position of strength its members must act
collectively. Youngs demonstrates the validity of this maxim with regard to energy
security but, in an international environment in which Europe is likely to find its
stature steadily diminished, this finding is of much wider relevance. By highlighting
the logic of this conclusion in such an objective and coherent manner, Youngs
ensures that this book will be of importance, not only to students of energy security
and intra-EU politics, but to scholars of international relations and foreign policy
more broadly. The only obvious weakness of the publication is its anodyne title,
which fails to do sufficient justice to its intriguing contents.
James D.J. Brown
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, UK
# 2009, James D.J. Brown
Transforming defence capabilities: new approaches for international security, edited by
Scott Jasper, Boulder, CO, Lynne Rienner, 2009, xi � 259 pp., $65.00 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-58826-634-7
The volume edited by Scott Jasper constitutes a thorough, advanced and highly
focused contribution to the debates on contemporary military capabilities. The
main purpose of the book is to explain the importance of the so-called capabilities-
based approach to addressing contemporary security challenges, by focusing ‘more
on how adversaries may challenge us than on who they might be or where we
might face them’ (p. 2). To this end, the volume provides an in-depth analysis of
the process of transformation of military capabilities, mainly in the USA and
NATO.
The book is divided into two parts: conceptual and empirical. In the first part,
four chapters discuss various aspects related to the idea of transformation. For
example, Moran examined the concept of military revolution, particularly in the
context of military advancements in the two world wars. Friman and Higgins analyse
the impact of the Information Age on the transformation of military capabilities,
underlining the role of factors such as connectedness and innovative education.
Garstka focuses in his chapter on the idea of innovation, distinguishing sustaining
and disruptive innovation. Whereas, the first kind improves existing products or
services, the latter leads to the creation of new products or services. The author then
applies this model to analysing innovation in military organisations, focusing on the
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experiences of the two world wars. Finally, Moreland and Mattox identify a number
of issues requiring close attention of military decision-makers, in order to effectively
respond to contemporary security challenges. These include, for example: compat-
ibility and interoperability, deployment planning and execution, information
sharing, military operations in urban areas, as well as joint and multinational
training.The second part of the book discusses the actual implementation of transforma-
tion, mainly by the US Department of Defence and NATO. Significant part of this
empirical part is structured around so-called ‘concept development’ and ’defence
experimentation’. These stages of military transformation represent key elements in
the capabilities-based approach of modern defence bureaucracies. The role of
concept development is ‘to solve problems through the design of new capabilities
before potentially dangerous elements in the environment impinge on us (. . .)’(p. 119). After a new transformational concept is developed by appropriate military
structures, it then needs to be tested. A separate chapter discusses the process of
experimentation, which is ‘a practical means of testing, assessing, and validating
concepts prior to implementation’ (p. 134).
Following the chapters on the role of concept development and defence
experimentation in developing a capabilities-based approach, Butler, examines the
impact of terrorist attacks from 11 September 2001 on the transformation of US
military capabilities. After outlining key transformation documents guiding the USDepartment of Defence, the author focuses on each individual service: Army, Navy,
Marine Corps and Air Force. He noted that, for example, ‘[t]he air force has
revolutionised UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] operations, using them not just for
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions but also as kinetic kill
vehicles’ (p. 160). Giarra evaluates in his chapter the NATO Response Force
initiative (NRF), constituting a symbol of NATO’s efforts to transform itself in
the changing international security environment. The author outlines the history of
the NRF and assessed its early performance. Finally, Chalopuka and Solomon
analyse a capabilities-based approach to transforming US Pacific forces by US
Pacific Command.
If this brief overview creates an impression that the volume is written in a highly
technical language full of military jargon, it is because this is precisely the case. The
large majority of contributors are current or former military and/or government
officials. Only a few come from academia. Such a combination of authors allows for
considerable first-hand knowledge and expertise, making this volume, as intended, ‘a
detailed reference for common and accepted principles and practices that can be usedto implement transformational concepts and procedures’ (p. vii).
This observation is not to suggest that the editor should have invited a more
diverse group of contributors, making the volume more accessible for a non-military
expert. This would undermine the aforementioned purpose of the book and the
intended audience, consisting of international military decision-makers. As a result
of this highly technical and military-focused approach, wars are discussed in this
volume exclusively from the perspective of the effectiveness of military capabilities.
For example, to illustrate their point, the authors often refer to the Second World
War and the effectiveness of Nazi army. The point of such references is to explain the
role of transformation in defence capabilities, as the title of the book accurately
suggests. Consequently, the approach taken in this volume may be considered too
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narrow for some scholars of international security. Nonetheless, it fulfils the promise
of providing a highly detailed overview of various aspects related to the
transformation of military capabilities.
Kamil Zwolski
University of Salford
Salford, UK
# 2009, Kamil Zwolski
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