Ground Wars

Ground Wars PDF Author: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400840449
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Political campaigns today are won or lost in the so-called ground war--the strategic deployment of teams of staffers, volunteers, and paid part-timers who work the phones and canvass block by block, house by house, voter by voter. Ground Wars provides an in-depth ethnographic portrait of two such campaigns, New Jersey Democrat Linda Stender's and that of Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, who both ran for Congress in 2008. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen examines how American political operatives use "personalized political communication" to engage with the electorate, and weighs the implications of ground war tactics for how we understand political campaigns and what it means to participate in them. He shows how ground wars are waged using resources well beyond those of a given candidate and their staff. These include allied interest groups and civic associations, party-provided technical infrastructures that utilize large databases with detailed individual-level information for targeting voters, and armies of dedicated volunteers and paid part-timers. Nielsen challenges the notion that political communication in America must be tightly scripted, controlled, and conducted by a select coterie of professionals. Yet he also quashes the romantic idea that canvassing is a purer form of grassroots politics. In today's political ground wars, Nielsen demonstrates, even the most ordinary-seeming volunteer knocking at your door is backed up by high-tech targeting technologies and party expertise. Ground Wars reveals how personalized political communication is profoundly influencing electoral outcomes and transforming American democracy.

Ground Wars

Ground Wars PDF Author: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400840449
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
Political campaigns today are won or lost in the so-called ground war--the strategic deployment of teams of staffers, volunteers, and paid part-timers who work the phones and canvass block by block, house by house, voter by voter. Ground Wars provides an in-depth ethnographic portrait of two such campaigns, New Jersey Democrat Linda Stender's and that of Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, who both ran for Congress in 2008. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen examines how American political operatives use "personalized political communication" to engage with the electorate, and weighs the implications of ground war tactics for how we understand political campaigns and what it means to participate in them. He shows how ground wars are waged using resources well beyond those of a given candidate and their staff. These include allied interest groups and civic associations, party-provided technical infrastructures that utilize large databases with detailed individual-level information for targeting voters, and armies of dedicated volunteers and paid part-timers. Nielsen challenges the notion that political communication in America must be tightly scripted, controlled, and conducted by a select coterie of professionals. Yet he also quashes the romantic idea that canvassing is a purer form of grassroots politics. In today's political ground wars, Nielsen demonstrates, even the most ordinary-seeming volunteer knocking at your door is backed up by high-tech targeting technologies and party expertise. Ground Wars reveals how personalized political communication is profoundly influencing electoral outcomes and transforming American democracy.

American Soldiers

American Soldiers PDF Author: Peter S. Kindsvatter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
Some warriors are drawn to the thrill of combat and find it the defining moment of their lives. Others fall victim to fear, exhaustion, impaired reasoning and despair. This book synthesizes the wartime experiences of American soldiers, from the doughboys of World War I to the grunts of Vietnam. Focusing on both soldiers and marines, it draws on histories and memoirs, oral histories, psychological and sociological studies and even fiction to show that their experiences remain fundamentally the same regardless of the enemy, terrain, training or weaponry.

Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars

Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars PDF Author: Robert H. Gregory
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1612347312
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
"Clean Bombs and Dirty Wars: Air Power in Kosovo and Libya explores how the U.S. public, policymakers, and military services perceived and utilized air power and precision munitions before, during, and after Operation Allied Force in Kosovo in 1999 with incorrect assumptions"--

The Iraq Wars and America's Military Revolution

The Iraq Wars and America's Military Revolution PDF Author: Keith L. Shimko
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316139018
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Many saw the United States' decisive victory in Desert Storm (1991) as not only vindication of American defense policy since Vietnam but also confirmation of a revolution in military affairs (RMA). Just as information-age technologies were revolutionizing civilian life, the Gulf War appeared to reflect similarly profound changes in warfare. A debate has raged ever since about a contemporary RMA and its implications for American defense policy. Addressing these issues, The Iraq Wars and America's Military Revolution is a comprehensive study of the Iraq Wars in the context of the RMA debate. Focusing on the creation of a reconnaissance-strike complex and conceptions of parallel or nonlinear warfare, Keith L. Shimko finds a persuasive case for a contemporary RMA while recognizing its limitations as well as promise.

From Culture Wars to Common Ground

From Culture Wars to Common Ground PDF Author: Don S. Browning
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
What is the status of the American family? How is it changing? Are these changes making anything better? What is the future of the family? Does religion offer an answer?Not since Habits of the Heart has one book confronted issues with such personal and societal impact. Using in-depth case studies and national surveys, this groundbreaking book presents arguments for a creation of a new family ethic that must be central to the agendas of both contemporary society and the church. This second edition offers an updated Preface and Appendix. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

The Pentagon Wars

The Pentagon Wars PDF Author: James G Burton
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612513697
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
From the late 1960s through the mid-1980s, a small band of military activists waged war against corruption in the Pentagon, challenging a system they believed squandered the public’s money and trust. The book examines the movement and its proponents and describes how the system responded to the criticisms and efforts to change accepted practices and entrenched ways of thinking. The author, an air force colonel and part of the movement, worked in the pentagon for fourteen years. He presents a view of the Department of Defense that only an insider could offer. He exposes serious flaws in the military policy-making process, particularly in weapons development and procurement. The details he gives on the unrelenting push for high-tech weapons, despite their ineffectiveness and extraordinary cost-overruns, provide a strong case for the charge of ethical bankruptcy. The second half of the book deals with the author’s attempts to get frontline equipment tested under combat conditions. For the first time, readers learn the nasty details of his battle with the army over line-fire testing of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle—a battle that he eventually won, leading to the personnel carrier’s redesign and the saving of many lives. Never reluctant to name names and reveal details, James G. Burton presents a forceful case. And his revelations offer insights not found elsewhere into the motivations and actions of the people who wield power from within. Nor does he stop at the walls of the Pentagon. In his epilogue he tells what happened in the field during the final hours of the Gulf War that allowed Hussein’s elite Republican Guard to escape. Now back in print after having inspired a feature HBO film, this explosive account of insider corruption is sure to serve policy-makers for generations to come.

Ground Zero

Ground Zero PDF Author: Linda Bird Francke
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Military, the battle of the sexes will never be over.

Air power in three wars

Air power in three wars PDF Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428982108
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description


Media, Wars and Politics

Media, Wars and Politics PDF Author: Ekaterina Balabanova
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351153145
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
The interaction between media and foreign policy is a critical dimension of the so-called age of 'new military humanitarianism'. The media is now more effective in gathering and distributing information all over the world and media coverage of humanitarian wars allows for information and images to reach a wide audience with great immediacy and realism. For policy making, the 24/7 news cycle means high levels of exposure to fast-breaking international stories receiving global attention and producing a powerful 'do something!' effect. This topical book widens the debate beyond US media and policy making by considering the case of Western and Eastern European media and policy processes. It tests the wider application of existing theoretical approaches and provides useful comparisons, allowing the reader to draw conclusions on the media-policy relationship. It is an excellent resource for all those interested in political communication, European politics and media studies.

On Desperate Ground

On Desperate Ground PDF Author: Hampton Sides
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 1101971215
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
"Superb...A masterpiece of thorough research, deft pacing and arresting detail...This war story — the fight to break out of a frozen hell near the Chosin Reservoir — has been told many times before. But Sides tells it exceedingly well, with fresh research, gritty scenes and cinematic sweep."—Washington Post From the New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and In the Kingdom of Ice, a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war. As he was speaking, 300,000 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 men of the First Marine Division, the Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set for the vainglorious MacArthur along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic--and harrowing--operations in American military history, and one of the classic battles of all time. Faced with probable annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded, and hugely outnumbered, Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage as they marched their way to the sea. Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly detailing the follies of the American leaders, On Desperate Ground is an immediate, grunt's-eye view of history, enthralling in its narrative pace and powerful in its portrayal of what ordinary men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances. Hampton Sides has been hailed by critics as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. As the Miami Herald wrote, "Sides has a novelist's eye for the propulsive elements that lend momentum and dramatic pace to the best nonfiction narratives."