Description
Just two decades ago, observers spoke of the US as a "hyperpower"--a nation with more relative power than any empire in history. Yet as early as 1993, CIA director James Woolsey pointed out that although Western powers had "slain a large dragon" by defeating the Soviet Union, they now faced a "bewildering variety of poisonous snakes." In The Dragons and the Snakes, the eminent soldier-scholar David Kilcullen asks how, and what, opponents of the West have learned during the last quarter-century of conflict. Applying a combination of evolutionary theory and detailed field observation, he explains what happened to the "snakes"--non-state threats including terrorists and guerrillas--and the "dragons"--state-based competitors such as Russia and China. He explores how enemies learn under conditions of conflict, and examines how Western dominance over a very particular, narrowly-defined form of warfare since the Cold War has created a fitness landscape that forces adversaries to adapt in ways that present serious new challenges to America and its allies. Within the world's contemporary conflict zones, state and non-state threats have increasingly come to resemble each other, with states adopting non-state techniques and non-state actors now able to access lethal weapon systems once only available to governments. A counterintuitive look at a vastly more complex conflict environment, this book both reshapes our understanding of the West's adversaries and shows how we can respond given the increasing limits on US power.
Product Details
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Publish Date | March 03, 2020 |
| Pages | 336 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Hardback |
| EAN/UPC | 9780190265687 |
| Dimensions | 9.4 X 6.4 X 1.3 inches | 1.4 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
"Kilcullen is a welcome guide, offering a neat summation of how both nation-states and terrorist groups alike learned to cope with America's conventional military primacy... Kilcullen's approach offers readers accessible insights into what are complex and dynamic trends."--Diplomatic Courier"An impressive exposé on how terrorists and non-state actors outmanoeuvre conventional militaries... [Kilcullen] has a commanding view of a geopolitical landscape."
--Financial Times"Kilcullen argues persuasively that while the United States has been mired down in forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, our current and potential adversaries have gotten the jump on us. His book offers readers a skillfully annotated road map of contemporary conflict, describing in clear, measured prose how and why the days of American strategic and military preeminence are now behind us."--Daily Beast"Kilcullen's The Dragons and the Snakes is a timely invitation for the West to get its strategic house in order with some new thinking."--The Bridge"An incisive work that has deservedly garnered a great deal of attention and is likely to be of enduring importance in debates about the decline of Western power."--RealClearDefense"The Dragons and the Snakes is the best single piece out there-concise, well-written, and nuanced. It is both a timely introduction to the topic for the unfamiliar and a source of new discoveries and insights for the expert; an important book during changing times."--PRISM
"Thanks to Kilcullen's serious military experience, access to policymakers, thorough research, and eclectic academic interests, this Australian scholar has become one of the sharpest commentators on modern conflicts."--Foreign Affairs
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