Command: The Twenty-First-Century General
Cambridge University Press, 2/28/2019
EAN 9781108700276, ISBN10: 1108700276
Paperback, 506 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.9 cm
Language: English
In the wake of the troubled campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, military decision-making appears to be in crisis and generals have been subjected to intense and sustained public criticism. Taking these interventions as a starting point, Anthony King examines the transformation of military command in the twenty-first century. Focusing on the army division, King argues that a phenomenon of collective command is developing. In the twentieth century, generals typically directed and led operations personally, monopolising decision-making. They commanded individualistically, even heroically. As operations have expanded in range and scope, decision-making has multiplied and diversified. As a result command is becoming increasingly professionalised and collaborative. Through interviews with many leading generals and vivid ethnographic analysis of divisional headquarters, this book provides a unique insight into the transformation of command in western armies.
1. Command in the twenty-first century
2. The division
3. Defining command
4. Twentieth-century operations
5. Twentieth-century command
6. Leadership
7. The counter-insurgents
8. Kandahar
9. The march up
10. The new headquarters
11. Distributing command
12. The decision point
13. The crisis
14. The command collective.