Improvised Explosive Devices : The Paradigmatic Weapon of New Wars

✍ Scribed by James Revill (auth.)

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 149
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book begins with an account of the evolution of improvised explosive devices using a number of micro case studies to explore how and why actors have initiated IED campaigns; how new and old technologies and expertise have been exploited and how ethical barriers to IED development and deployment have been dealt with. It proceeds to bring the evidence from the case studies together to identify themes and trends in IED development, before looking at what can realistically be done to mitigate the threat of IEDs in the new wars of the twenty first century. The book suggests that the advance and availability of a combination of technological factors, in conjunction with changes in the nature of contemporary conflicts, have led to the emergence of IEDs as the paradigmatic weapons of new wars. However their prevalence in contemporary and future conflicts is not inevitable, but rather depends on the willingness of multiple sets of actors at different levels to build a web of preventative measures to mitigate – if not eradicate – IED development and deployment.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xviii
From the Gunpowder Revolution to Dynamite Terrorism....Pages 1-18
Dynamite Terrorism and the Fin de Siècle....Pages 19-33
IEDs in the Twentieth Century....Pages 35-57
IEDs in “New Wars”....Pages 59-76
The Diffusion and Adoption of IED Technology....Pages 77-90
Strategic Governance of IEDs....Pages 91-109
Back Matter....Pages 111-134

✦ Subjects

Military and Defence Studies;Terrorism and Political Violence;Security Science and Technology;Conflict Studies;Comparative Politics