Targeting National Security: The True Mechanism Behind Effective National Coercion
Abstract
The military instrument of national power is commonly called upon to settle international disputes. The military can settle these disputes in many different ways ranging from total military defeat to coercion or intimidation. Military coercion occurs both in and out of combat. In combat, coercion is used to obtain favorable conditions to end the conflict without requiring total military victory over the adversary. Military coercion outside of war elicits concessions from an adversary without the high cost usually associated with conventional military action. Therefore, other things being equal, successful coercion is usually less costly than total military victory. Many theories have arisen to describe how best to use the military as a coercive tool. This thesis develops another of these coercive theories. This is a security-based model that I believe describes the actual mechanism behind effective military coercion. This theory Targeting National Security (TNS) is based on the nation's need for security and how security erosion can begin a sequence of events that leads to coercion. To develop this theory, this thesis uses a case study approach involving Japan's surrender in W.W.II, the Rolling Thunder and Line-backer air campaigns in the Vietnam War, and Operation El Dorado Canyon, the 1986 US airstrike on Libya. These cases span the spectrum of conflict from total war to retaliatory raids. These cases also span the spectrum of demands from unconditional surrender to modifications in the subject nation s behavior. As this theory is developed, TNS is also compared to denial, a theory proposed by Robert Pape in Bombing to Win. This comparison allows us to determine if TNS or denial best describes the mechanism behind national coercion. The results of this study show that while TNS does provide the descriptive power necessary to help us better understand coercion, denial has some significant shortcomings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA391889
Entities
People
- Billy R. Shrader
Organizations
- Air University