Defense And Diplomacy In Israel's National Security Experience: Tactics, Partnerships, And Motives [Hardcover]

David Rodman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1845190734 | ISBN-13: 978-1845190736 | Publication Date: August 30, 2005

This work defines the central concepts of Israel's national security doctrine as deterrence, geography, manpower, quantity versus quality, offensive manoeuvre warfare, conventional versus unconventional threats, self-reliance, great power patronage, and peripheral partnerships. The author describes and explains how these concepts have influenced the war fighting experience of the Israel Defense Forces, including the air force and the navy. Special attention is paid to Israel's relationships with the United States, Turkey, and India as they relate to the Jewish state's national security, and in particular offers a new interpretation of what really drives these relationships; the motives behind Israeli foreign policy and Israeli arms export policy; and whether Israel's national security doctrine ought to include a capability to threaten the existence of hostile Arab (and Islamic) governments. Sections of this book have been used to teach a class on strategic studies at the National Defense University in Washington, DC.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book of essays examines a wide range of topics from the role of the Air Force in Israel's National Security strategy, to Israel's bilateral relationship with Turkey and the US, to Israel's arms export policy and the factors motivating its foreign policy. However, these, and a number of other issues, are all linked together by their centrality to Israel's complex, and at times contradictory, national security requirements. Given the challenges facing the Jewish state this work is very timely, all the more so because the author brings a deep knowledge to the subject. All in all a highly informative work that makes an important contribution to the literature on Israeli strategy and involvement in the international arena." -- Professor Efraim Karsh, Head, Mediterranean Studies Programme, King's College, University of London.

About the Author

David Rodman has written numerous articles, review essays, and book reviews on various aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict for professional journals, including Middle Eastern Studies, The Journal of Strategic Studies, MERIA Journal, Israel Affairs, Defence Studies, and Air & Space Power Chronicles. He has also contributed chapters to Israel: From War to Peace?, Review Essays in Israel Studies: Books on Israel, and Between War and Peace: Dilemmas of Israeli Security.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Sussex Academic Pr (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845190734
• ISBN-13: 978-1845190736
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,109,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Short, Insightful Book About Israel's Strategic Thinking, October 1, 2007

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This review is from: Defense And Diplomacy In Israel's National Security Experience: Tactics, Partnerships, And Motives (Hardcover)

As Efraim Inbar from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies related, this is a short, insightful book about Israel's strategic thinking, where Rodman provides a clear overview of Israel's national security doctrine. He reviews the evolving impact of several variables, such as deterrence, geography, manpower, quantity versus quality, offensive maneuver warfare, responses to conventional versus non-conventional threats, self reliance, great power patronage, and regional partnerships. He then analyzes Israel's use of force, diplomacy, its relations with Washington, recent strategic partnerships with Turkey and India, the appropriate paradigm for the analysis of Israel's external strategy, and Israel's rare attempts to adopt far-reaching goals such as targeting hostile governments. Defense and Diplomacy in Israel's National Security Experience offers a good introductory text to the intricacies of Israel's strategic dilemmas and behavior. It also includes a useful bibliography for further research.

The author is correct in his evaluation that Israel's remarkable success in becoming a vibrant and prosperous democracy, despite its Hobbesian predicament, has been due in no small part to a pragmatic and effective strategic calculus. Israeli leaders have generally had a sophisticated understanding of the regional and international environments and have been adept in using military power in a measured way to achieve security and limited political goals.

Although well organized and well written, the reader gets the impression that the book is a compilation of articles written at various times with separate focuses, with not much effort made to integrate and update their materials. For example, the chapter analyzing the patron-client relationship between the United States and Israel does not include any analysis of post-Cold War realities. Similarly, devoting two chapters to the discussion of whether Israel's defense and foreign policy was driven by realist or Jewish ethno-cultural factors is probably not proportionate to so short a book. Lastly, the conclusion fails to bring together the many themes that were otherwise mostly well addressed.