Philip Towle

Going to War

British Debates from Wilberforce to Blair

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Britain has a culture which encourages interference overseas. It has been involved in more wars than most countries and founded many Non-Government Organisations. Going to War looks at how pressure groups, religious bodies, armchair strategists, science fiction writers, military officers, commentators and journalists have tried to influence public opinion, governments and Parliament to restrain or encourage overseas intervention. It shows how the old idea that the great majority were simple-minded enthusiasts for foreign incursions has been discredited by pollsters, and conlcudes with an analysis of Britain's current involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, suggesting ways in which the governmental system could be modified to reflect public opinion and avoid foreign incursions in future. An analysis of how the media, NGOs, Churches, military officers, Parliament, novelists, armchair strategists and public opinion have shaped British debates about going to war over the last 200 years

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan / Palgrave Macmillan UK / Springer Palgrave Macmillan
• Artikelnr. des Verlages: 978-0-230-23793-3
• 2009
• Seitenzahl: 227
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. April 2009
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 213mm x 137mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 305g
• ISBN-13: 9780230237933
• ISBN-10: 0230237932
• Artikelnr.: 29919609

Autorenporträt

PHILIP TOWLE has worked for the Australian National University in Canberra and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He has taught in the Centre of International Studies at Cambridge University, UK since 1980 and was previously its Director. This is his twelfth book on International History and Security.

Inhaltsangabe

Preface Chronology Introduction Culture and Circumstance The Anglican Church and War Civil Society The Media and War War and Literature The Rise of the Armchair Strategists The Professional Military Parliamentary Debates Public Opinion Iraq and Afghanistan Do Debates Matter? Brief Biographies References Bibliography

Rezensionen

' It is not easy in a thousand words to do justice to Philip Towle's latest book ... it offers a rich and often absorbing account of decisions to go to war made by British governments over the last 200 years. It is a taut book, written with remarkable economy [yet] the ground covered is extensive and his survey is typified by wide knowledge and a searching fairness.'

- Hugh Berrington, RUSI Journal