Managing Contemporary Conflict: Pillars of Success.

The use of military power in the post-Cold War setting has become a complicated enterprise because of the lack of a global rival, an increasing number of threats, and the fact that such threats require more complex solutions than the simple use of military force. In this context this volume is a good attempt at discussing the goals and objectives of U.S. national security policy in a post-Cold War world. It focuses on three aspects of policy: a theory of engagement to deal with the new world disorder; the tools of power and appropriate weapons systems; and the creation of a management structure to cope with the challenges of national security.

In the first part William Olson discusses the different type of threats that may require the use of American military force. David Miller, as well as Max Manwaring and Edwin Corr, spell out the conditions under which U.S. troops should intervene in conflicts, what should be the objectives of intervention, and how to define a military intervention as being successful. …