Understanding Victory and Defeat in Contemporary War

Bringing together leading contributors in the field, this volume analyzes how victory and defeat in modern war can be understood and explained.

Preface Notes on contributors 1. The Problem of Victory and Defeat in Modern War Jan Angstrom Part One: The Nature of Victory and Defeat in Modern War 2. Defining Post-War Victory Robert Mandel 3. in the Eye of the Beholder: Victory and Defeat in U.S. Military Operations Dominic Johnson & Dominic Tierney 4. Victory, Counter-insurgency and Iraq Ian Beckett 5. The United States Perspective on Victory in a War on Terrorism Jan Angstrom Part Two: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern War 6. The Paradoxes of the Strategy of Terrorism Isabelle Duyvesteyn 7. How to Lose a War on Terror: A Comparative Analysis of Counterinsurgency Successes and Failures Ivan Arreguin-Toft 8. The Origins and Implications of Western Counterinsurgency Failures Gil Merom 9. Toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan Stephen Biddle 10. Culture and the Outcome of Military Intervention: Developing some Hypotheses Kersti Larsdotter 11. Understanding Victory and Defeat: Some Conclusions Isabelle Duyvesteyn